College Boy

The snarl was back and I thought I heard a whimper from Billy. Although it was more likely the way that he shrank into himself like a scolded puppy that made me think that.

‘To look at a car.’ The new entrant into the ring was Jaz. Jaz was such cool looking guy. Nice blue suit, which as a bonus was slim cut and actually fitted him in the ways that a good suit was supposed to. His hair was short at the sides and back but floppy in a Hugh Grant sort of way at the top. He was smiling, which served to highlight his perfectly symmetrical and gleaning white teeth. He lounged back in his seat, displaying a combination of confidence and arrogance that indicated he felt pretty sure that this quick answer would propel him out of the danger zone and into safer territory. Of course not.

‘Jeesus flip. Am I surrounded by a bunch of half wits?’ Another rhetorical onslaught. ‘Seriously. Are you all idiots?’ If they could have, Frank’s eyebrows would be sitting an inch above his forehead in mid air. As it was, they were perched high so above his eyes I wondered if they would ever return to their normal position, this being burrowed deep within a perpetual scowl. He spread his arms wide and splayed his hands out as if pleading for a degree of mercy and he was the victim of some cruel injustice. He head jerked around the room in a bird like motion as he settled his gaze on us one by one.

He paused, while his gaze locked on to the next person. ’What about you college boy? You’ve got a degree so why don’t you tell these numpties what they should all know.’ He was smiling now. In the way that lips are parted and teeth are visible. These teeth were something to behold and I could see why he chose to seldom expose them. They were like a row of tombstones laid out at various angles and in such a poor state of repair that someone had thought that throwing a coat of whitewash at them using a bucket instead of a brush would enhance the look. It also looked like some pigeons had been along later and crapped all over them. It took me a moment to realise that he was not only looking at me but that he expected me to answer. All other heads in the room had also turned towards me. I could see the gleam of hungry anticipation in their eyes. Where were all my colleagues of half an hour ago? Frank did a tiny thrusting motion with his head that I sensed meant I should answer quickly. As a new boy I was being given an extra slice of time to prepare my answer. I had no idea what the right answer was, or at least what it was that Frank was looking for.

‘To buy a car?’ I held his gaze while I said this. These were not normal eyes I was looking at. They were grey in the main, but in the same way that storm clouds boil and tumble as they change from black to shades of grey, Franks eyes were constantly in motion, not the pupils themselves - they remained rock solid in the a similar way to a big cat when it has locked onto a prey and is now stalking it. We’ve all seen the David Attenborough films. This threw me, causing me to stop there while I wondered just what kind of man he was and just how could you fathom out someone who was quite possibly mad. There was also the slightly bigger concern that he actually knew who I was. He had in fact checked me out. There was a look of triumph on the face of my colleagues as they now turned to Frank to see just how much of a pasting he was going to give me. They all saw the look on his face. I would categorise it as disappointment.

‘Well well… ‘ There was a pause. ‘Just listen to college boy,’ he said softly, shaking his head very slightly from side to side and allowing his arms to dangle limply at his sides.’ He looked at Billy and then at Jaz. ‘How did you pair of useless bastards not say that?’ This was said in the usual mild conversational manner I had already got accustomed to. He paused for a heartbeat and the next sentence came out like the storm I had seen gathering in his eyes earlier. ’He’s been here for five flipin’ minutes and that ponce is telling you how to do your flipin’ jobs.’