Free Going Down by Roy Glenn

convention in Chicago four months ago. I overheard these two guys talking in the men’s room about how dissatisfied they were with their current supplier and were thinking about making a change. I heard one say that he told Cabot to start shopping around for a new supplier. Now I had a contact name. Somebody named Cabot. All I needed now was the name of the company. So I followed them through the hotel and around the exhibition hall until I could get a good look at their nametags. Carlton Banks, President, Bandexx Corporation, San Diego, California. I immediately made a mad dash back to my room to follow up. Within an hour I had spoken to Dean Cabot and had e-mailed him information.
    It had been a particularly busy day, as days after holidays usually are. I spent the entire day in the office. Around eleven o’clock I had a free minute, so I called Angelique, but she was away from her desk. I left her a message and I called Tavarus. He had called earlier, but I was in a meeting. “Just wanted to know if you wanted to meet me after work for happy hour at the Double Tree on Peachtree Dunwoody.”
    “Can’t do it. I’m supposed to be meeting Lana tonight.”
    “So I’ll see you there, ’cause you know she’s lying. Some people steal, some people gotta drink. Lana gotta tell lies. She can’t help herself.”
    “I’ll talk to you later.” I hung up the phone and got back to work. I skipped lunch for a conference call and ordered Chinese food around three, half eating it between calls. It was six o’clock before I realized it. Everyone in the office had gone or was leaving for the day and I still hadn’t heard from Lana. No surprise there, I thought, while I finished my paperwork and called it a night. When I passed the receptionist’s desk on the way out, I noticed that there was a message slip in my box. It was from Lana, saying she wouldn’t be able to make it tonight. “She’s getting better. At least it was the same day.”
    I got in my car and decided to meet Tavarus at the Double Tree. When I got there, Tavarus was already there and had found a table close to the buffet. As soon as he saw me come through the door, he stood up and started laughing. All I could do was smile and drop my head. “Okay, so she stood me up.”
    “Correction, again. She stood you up again.” Tavarus stuffed another shrimp in his mouth. “She stood your dumb ass up again. I don’t know why you bother making plans with her. She’ll call you when she wants you.”
    “Yeah but, this time it was her idea.”
    “Yeah but, she didn’t make it,” Tavarus said, as the waitress arrived. “Bring me another Long Island Tea.”
    “Make it two,” I said, getting up to hit the buffet. I got back to the table just as the waitress arrived with the drinks. Between mouthfuls I asked, “So what’s up with you and Carmen? Y’all gonna make it?”
    “It’s not looking that way. These days the only thing that we can agree on is that we disagree on most things,” Tavarus replied. “Said she was unhappy with the way I was treating her.”
    “How were you treating her, Tee?”
    “Wasn’t spending enough time with her. Said she was tired of being last on my list. Said I made her feel like everybody else was more important than she was.”
    “What’s wrong with you, Tavarus? I’m ashamed of you. Don’t you know women take quality time very seriously?” I said, chastising him with my finger.
    “I know that, man, but dig, the way she sees it, when she’s got something to do that’s her time. But when she doesn’t have anything to do that’s her time to spend with me. If there’s anything I wanna do, I better be doing it with her.”
    “Right. Any questions?”
    “Oh, say, man. That’s not how it works. At least not from where I’m sitting. This is a two-way street. I guess I was supposed to do what I wanted to do while she was off doing her thing?”
    “Right. Any questions?”
    “You a trip, man. Then she tells me that I