It was his first day on the job. Daniel got to work five minutes early. The boss was impressed. He told Daniel he valued employees with a sense of punctuality. He told the others that they should look at Daniel as an example. Daniel smiled haughtily. The others sneered. The boss gave Daniel the keys to truck thirteen. Since he was new, Daniel wasn’t given a lot of responsibility on his first day. He only had one package to deliver. After that, he could come back and pick up another. Only one at a time.

The address was downtown. Daniel drove carelessly. He sped around a mother with her children in the back seat. He cut off an old lady in the turn lane. He didn’t wait for pedestrians in the crosswalk. He reached the front of a large office building. The clock showed that he was five minutes early. He smiled again.

The lobby of the building was large and polished. The sound of a fountain was audible, but Daniel didn’t see it. The lobby was open up to the third floor and the elevators were right in front of him. He noticed a sign that said “Reception - Floor 2.” The stairs were right next to him. He glanced to the elevator. Then to the stairs. And back to the elevator.

The elevator doors opened. Daniel stepped out and walked up to the reception desk. A man in a jumpsuit stood up from behind the desk. “I’m looking for the receptionist?”

“You just missed her.” The main pointed to the stairwell. “She’ll be back in a half hour. Lunch break.”

Daniel looked at his watch. Not even nine. “Lunch?!”

“Yeah. Lunch.”

Daniel sighed. Not enough time to wait. He had to get back, pronto. “Maybe you can help me?”

The man stood up again. “Man, I’m just the janitor. Maybe you can help me?”

Daniel sighed again. He looked at the package. Henderson, Accounting. “Can you tell me where accounting is?”

The man stood up, this time clearly irritated. “Eight.”

Daniel returned to the elevator doors. He pressed a button. He got in. He went to eight.

The hallway on eight was long and quiet. The doors all looked the same. There were no signs. He picked a direction. Closed door after closed door. Then, an opening. Daniel turned into what appeared to be a secretary’s office. A dark-haired woman looked up at him. Her deep red lips curved into a smile. Her sweater was unbuttoned one button too low. Her arms were crossed and she leaned against them, pressing her large breasts up a bit. Her legs were sticking out from beside the desk. Her skirt was short enough that Daniel couldn’t see it.

“Uh…”

“Hi, sweetie. What can I…help you with?”

“Uh…I was looking for…well, I want to find-”

“I know exactly what you want to find,” she purred with a smirk.

“Uh, yes. Well, I was looking for accounting.”

“Accounting? Someone sent you to the wrong floor, honey. But I can point you in the right direction. There’s a price, of course.”

“And, uh, what might…that…be?”

The secretary slid her chair out from around the desk. Her skirt was indeed short. She stood up and strolled over to Daniel. “A kiss.”

Daniel closed his eyes and leaned forward. The office door opened and the secretaries boss came out. “Eileen, I…what the fuck?”

Daniel entered the elevator with his box, a black eye, and no clue as to where to go. This didn’t bode well. He had high hopes of rising quickly in his new company. His manager had a nice office. A very nice one. Daniel wanted that office. He wanted to be the manager. He wanted to be the boss. He closed his eyes and picked a button. Twenty-seven.

The doors opened. This floor was much nicer. Wood floors and wood doors. Artwork. A lounge. Daniel picked a direction again. The opposite this time. He reached a door that was open. A man was on the phone. He was a smooth-talker. He was a wise ass. He was Daniel’s kind of guy. The man beckoned him in.

Daniel stood and waited for him to finish his call. He eventually hung up the phone. “That’s quite a shiner you got there, kiddo.”

“Yeah, it’s from…hockey.”

“Ah, a rough guy. I like that. Say, is that for me?”

Daniel got excited. “I don’t know. Are your Henderson, accounting?”

“Henderson? That bum? No. No way. Why do you want to see him? He’s going no where. No where in this company. No where in life. His wife’s ugly and she’s still cheating on him. That guy’s a loser, man. Say, you seem like a good kid. Nice and rough. I like that. I’m starting my own company, you know? Just hit it big in the stocks. I’m out of this heap. Starting my own business, and I need smooth and tough guys like you. How much you being paid right now?”

“Me? About-”

“I’ll double it. No, triple it. This is going to be great. You and me, kid. We’re taking this company to the top. The top, you hear?”

The man pressed a button on his phone. “Claire? Claire! Get in her. I got someone I need you to talk to for me.”

A short blonde woman walked in from a side room. She was quite attractive, but Daniel chose not to notice. “Claire, take down this kid’s information. I’m bringing him aboard.” With that, the man disappeared into the other room.

Claire pulled out a notebook. She asked Daniel for his name and contact information. He gave it to her. He was still a little stunned and it didn’t occur to him that he still had a package to deliver until he was out of the office and headed back to the elevator. He stopped and thought that he ought to just drive back to work and quit right there. But he decided to at least finish his current assignment so as to appear honorable in case the business man (who’s name he never even caught) decided to check some references.

Then Daniel overheard someone speaking.

“…went down to accounting on thirteen and talked to Henderson about…”

Things were looking up. Daniel whistled happily, forgetting all about his shiner. He went to the elevator. He laughed to himself as he got in. He though about how fortunate the day was turning out to be. He looked at the panel. Eleven. Twelve. Fourteen.

Daniel blinked. He looked around the elevator as if one of the buttons might have found its way somewhere else. He looked back at the panel. Eleven. Twelve. Fourteen.

“Shit.”

He pressed fourteen. The quality of each floor appeared to be directly proportionate to its number. Daniel stepped off. He picked a direction. The same as twenty-seven since it had been so lucky. He came to an open door rather quickly. Another cute secretary saw him. She smiled. Just get the job done, Daniel thought. “Is this accounting?”

The secretary looked disappointed. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t actually know where accounting is. I’m kind of new. Oh, but Mrs. Gaffer probably knows. She’s our department’s liaison with accounting!”

“Good. Is she in?”

“You’re in luck. She should be back from her lunch break shortly. You can go into her office and wait. She has no appointments.”

Daniel smiled. He went to her office door. “Oh, and she has some cookies in there today. I’m sure you can have a few. She won’t mind.” Daniel went in.

The office was nice. Plaques and documents in frames covered an entire wall. Books covered another. The windows were large and had a clear view down a main street of the city. A plate full of chocolate chip cookies sat on a small table. Daniel ate one. It was fantastic. He had another. And then two more. And a few more. He was wiping his mouth of the crumbs of the last cookie when Mrs. Gaffer, an older woman, came in.

“Ah, there you are! I hear you need a little help finding the accounting office. Well I’m glad to tell you I can help. Hey.” Mrs. Gaffer paused and saw that her plate was empty. Daniel caught her glance and tried to look innocent. A bit of chocolate rested in the corner of his mouth. “You ate all my cookies? You ate them all?! You sick fuck!”

Daniel entered the elevator with his box, a second black eye, and no hope. He was about to go to the lobby when he got a second wind. This office building was trying to defeat him. But he was Daniel! He wouldn’t be defeated. He could find this Henderson and his accounting section. He refused to lose.

The business man! He had known who Henderson was. Daniel pressed twenty-seven. He got off the elevator and headed to the business man’s office. He couldn’t help but notice a draft.

The office was flooded with emergency personnel. The secretary was being consoled by a couple of them. The window was broken and police tape pulled across it. He overheard some of the other employees down the hall saying things.

“…stocks crashed…”

“…unstable…”

“…poor girl…”

“…so much for his business…”

Daniel was flustered. He had wanted that pay raise badly. Now, all his good fortune was gone. He vowed to finish his job and never return to that building. “Excuse me, I need to ask the secretary a question.” Everyone looked up at him. No one moved. Daniel realized his nose wasn’t broken yet and he aimed to keep it that way. “Sorry.”

Daniel trudged back to the elevator. He looked at all the buttons. Would he have any luck on any of the other floors? Probably not. He looked at his watch. It had been a half hour. The receptionist would be back. He pressed the button for floor two. Nothing happened. A fireman walked by. “Elevators are off. Procedure for emergency calls.”

Daniel practically fell out of the stairwell on the second floor. He wasn’t in very good shape and his knees were particularly bad. The receptionist saw him. “Can I help you?”

Daniel walked to her desk. “I’m trying to deliver this package to Henderson. He’s in accounting.”

The receptionist looked at her computer. After some typing, she said, “No, no Henderson in accounting. There’s a Henderson in advertising and a Hampton in accounting.”

“No, it’s definitely Henderson and definitely accounting.”

“Let me see the package.” The secretary looked at it. “This isn’t our building. Across the street. That where you want to be.”

Daniel nearly flew off the handle, be he managed to compose himself. “Oh. Okay.”

Truck thirteen had been towed. “Fuck.”

Daniel walked into the lobby of the other building. He met James. James was his coworker. “Daniel! The boss heard about the good news. He got the call almost thirty minutes ago. Big pay-raise, huh? Well congratulations. Since you aren’t working for us anymore, I’ll take the keys to the truck and finish your delivery. Best of luck, Danny! Say, where is the truck?”

Daniel lost it. He spiked James in the face with the package. James fell over in pain. Danny ran up to the receptionist, who looked like she was about to faint. “Where the shit is accounting? Now, bitch!”

“Eig…Eighty! Oh…” The receptionist fell backwards out of her chair. Danny got in the elevator and hit eighty. When he came out, he saw security guards coming down the hall towards him. He grabbed someone walking by. She was a woman holding a cup of coffee. Daniel grabbed her so forcefully that she spilled the coffee on herself. “Where’s Henderson? Where?”

“Ow, shit. Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Where is Henderson! Tell me!”

“Henderson retired yesterday. He doesn’t work here anymore.”

The security guards tackled Daniel hard. He was carried out of the building by force. He ended up in the county jail. Eventually, he was convicted of two counts of assault. He went to prison for a short sentence. He served quietly and managed to stay out of trouble. He got out. After a long time, he got a job. It was as a low-level office worker, an errand boy. On his first day, his boss asked him to take a package to a Jameson in accounting. He quit.