Holiday

Ted stamped a row of staples along the edge of his empty lunch bag and threw it into the wastebasket. He shoved the remains of an orange after it, and leaned back. The afternoon whistle would come soon, so he thought about invoices and freight bills, but the thin stapled duplicates slipped through his mind like wax paper. He put his feet on the jumbled desk and sat, not thinking.

Mrs. Foley said, “I told Maddy and Schultz to do it themself. Always trying to shove things on me. Honestly.” She switched her scrawny neck to one side and waited for the secretary to say something.