A work of fiction: WEDNESDAY MORNING

It was a colder than usual morning. And it was raining. Heath arrived to work before 8:00 am, as he usually did. He often wonder just why he does this; he could just as easily get an extra hour or so of sleep in and come in a bit later. But, no, Heath felt the need to be one of the first people to work.

Unfortunately, Erik was also always one of the first people to work and Erik loved to bother Heath. Every morning, Erik would walk into Heath's room and tell him some stupid story which would always make Heath very uncomfortable. Heath often wondered just what he did to deserve such punishment. Today was no exception.

Heath was just trying to get some god damn work done when Erik showed up. "So..." Erik started, "I need to make a major decision by today."

"Mmm..." Heath responded.

"Yeah, last night my fiancée informed me that she was offered a job in the Green Zone in Iraq or Baghdad or whatever as an EMT."

"Mmm..." Heath responded.

"It would be for six months and she would be making $400,000. I could come along with her and work as an administrative assistant in a gym. I'd be making $300,000 for those six months of work. However, I don't want to go because I'm afraid I'll get blown up"

Heath realized $300,000 was a shit load of money, especially for only six months of work and that outweighed the risk of getting blown up. Still, a quite "Mmm..." was his only response.

"I need to make my decision today."

Heath wanted to scream "GO! Go and leave me alone so I can do my god damn work," but his response was actually a very unenthusiastic "Yeah. $300,000 is a lot of money."

Erik stopped and thought for a moment. "When I cam back I'd by my F-250 I want and then give you guys a call and get my old job here back. But I don't want to go... It seems so dangerous in the Green Zone! My fiancée says that I have just as much of a chance of getting shot staying here, what with Obama as president and all. But I told her, 'Well, his people are all over there!' Plus, I don't speak Islam."

Heath wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. It took all of his self control not to. So, he just sat there at his desk staring at the rain coming down outside. What did he ever do to deserve this?