The Shipyard Series - Part I

Stewart walked at a quick pace, slanted against the wind that came down from the north east. A front had pushed in over night and left the morning sky with a short ceiling of dark clouds that kept the sunlight stone-grey. Every so often a drop or two of rain would land on Stewart but not so much as to be a bother on his walk to work. Not as much as the wind which came in waves thick and cold, and in gusts so strong he had to lean forward or else he’d fall over. Twice now he’d nearly lost his hat and he kept his left hand pressed hard against it lest a third time should take it away with an unexpected gust. In his right hand was a black briefcase which he held in front of his stomach trying to keep his dark brown coat from flying off. Every so often a low torrent of wind, creeping along the ground and throwing dirt in his shoes would hike up his brown slacks to show little brown socked ankles and the start of a pale leg. He hummed a tune despite the wind and was thinking of his work that day. His thoughts though, the ones he pictured this morning anyway, were only distraction away from his desire. He didn’t care to think of work either at or outside of it and was not the type to plan his day, as it hardly ever needed any planning by his hand, being mostly lined out for him already. Anytime he thought of work he was really thinking of Emily and hoping that the fax machine for Mr. Upermann’s office would break. But not blatantly, not to himself anyway. He’d never dare think of her directly but found ways instead to think of everything else at work. Today was no different and as he thought of all the insertion orders and invoice counts and receipt tickets he’d have to deal with he really thought of Emily, and he hummed.

Stewart worked in the shipyards at the East Docks, just north of Midtown. Upermann and Boce had run the shipping in and out of midtown since the twenties and now only Upermann was still around. Nobody is sure what happened to Boce. Nobody Stewart that talked to anyway. The original Upermann had died a while back and the current Upermann was a grandchild or son or something of that sort. Stewart couldn’t remember which. Anyway he’d only seen Upermann once since he’d started working at the shipyard and that was years ago. Upermann kept a main office towards the back of the yard, a big red-brick, now maroon-brown, two-story building with tall glass doors. Above the doors sat a faded ghost sign with "Upermann & Boce," in black text that had faded to white against a once white now grey tinted background.

Bedtime (next time: Stewart and his love; Stewart and his gash).

The Shipyard Series - Part II