“Uh, Mark, you, uh...you need to come see the new water end cap.”
The
manager in question didn't look up from his computer screen, letting
Jesse fidget in the doorway for a moment. The young man was always too
nervous, so Mark couldn't imagine whatever was happening on the floor
was that important. “What's going on that you can't just fix it?”
Jesse
sputtered and ducked in and out of the doorway; he would be a
hysterical wreck later this afternoon, no matter what Mark did at this
point. “You just need to come look.”
He saved his produce order
and stood up, barely repressing a sigh. He even managed to keep
sarcastic comments to himself, knowing it would trigger the young man
further. Jesse was reliable enough normally, and a hard worker, right up
until something set him off. There was no calming him down at that
point, only letting him cycle and process.
Mark was glad his unit had had no high strung men like Jesse while in Afghanistan. “Let's go.”
Jesse
started to fill him in while they headed through the warehouse to the
floor, but his babbling was barely coherent. “So this lady went up to
Dani and told her something was wrong with the water, and Dani thought
she meant the pump wasn't working and just needed refilled, so she told
her that she'd get someone to check on the machine and came and got me.”
He tittered nervously; his pseudobulbar affect was stronger once
triggered.
“I thought this was about the end cap,” Mark said in an attempt to keep the story brief.
“Turns
out it was, but I didn't know that when I went up to the machine. I did
what I was supposed to, and I looked it over, but everything was
working. So I went to find out who'd had the problem, and the lady found
me, and she was all bitchy when I told her the machine was working just
fine. She said I needed to do something about the crazy lady by the
spring water display and stop playing around with machines.”
Mark
gritted his teeth, unable to keep the exasperation out of his voice. “So
why didn't you just tell me there was a crazy lady that needed kicked
out?”
“But...I...she's-” Jesse's lower lip quivered and his eyes
went wider. He looked like a kicked puppy, and it only irked Mark
further. “You just need to see her,” the young man whispered finally.
He
turned from his subordinate and stomped toward the display in question,
wishing he'd have brought one of the handsets with him. Would make
calling 9-1-1 that much easier.
Mark heard the commotion before he
saw it, and hurried forward, heart in his throat. A crowd had gathered,
and they murmured at the woman shouting threats. He tried to push his
way through, barely registering what it was she was saying.
“Keep
your vulgar hands to yourselves! Your theft will go unpunished if you
but move aside and let me return home with what is mine. Continue to
gawk, and my wrath will be mighty.”
He made his way to the front
of the crowd where he could finally see the crazy woman. “Ma'am, we're
going to have to ask-” Mark's voice died in his throat at the sight of
her.
She was clearly humanoid, having the standard arrangement of
limbs and face, but there was no way she was human. Barely four and a
half feet tall, long and willowy, a stiff breeze could have knocked her
over, but she wielded her quarterstaff like a trained warrior twice her
size. White hair cascaded in a waterfall from her topknot, highlighting
the blue shade of her skin. Of which there was a lot; her armor
consisted of moss and weeds that revealed as much as it protected.
“You
there!” she said, pointing her staff at him menacingly. “You appear to
command this gawping crew.” He nodded once, too stunned to do much else.
“Return my blessed waters at once.”
“I-” He swallowed, shaking his head once to clear his shock. “I can't really do that. The vendors don't tell us where it-”
She
stepped forward, thrusting her staff at his face. “Knave! Those are the
incorrect words. Shall I show you what befalls those that cross me?”
Mark
really didn't want to know what would happen. It would be better to
cross corporate than this tiny naiad. “I'll go get the pallet jack.”
