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A Well Greased Wit

I stopped on the way home last night to pay my rent. The office has been redone: new beige carpet; fancy pink and beige chairs — very nice. The manager was on the phone so I sat in one of the chairs to await my receipt. A man walked in. He looked more like a mechanic’s grease rag than a mechanic. He said he’d come straight from work to sign his lease.

The manager, craddling the phone on her shoulder and writing on a note pad with her right hand, waved a stack of papers at the fellow with her left. “I’ve been expecting you,” she said. “Read the papers. Initial wherever you see yellow highlighting.” She swiveled her chair to hang up the phone. “You can just have a seat at the table.” She looked up at the guy for the first time, took in his greasy attire and added in a squeak, “But don’t touch anything!”

The fellow looked at the pink and beige chair. He looked at the table. He winked at me, then he turned to the manager. “Since I haven’t learned to levitate yet,” he said. “Is it okay if I just stand?”

Quilly is the pseudonym of Charlene L. Amsden, who lives on The Big Island in Hawaii. When she is not hanging out with Amoeba, she is likely teaching or sewing. Or she could be cooking, taking photographs, or even writing. But if she's not doing any of that, she's probably on Facebook or tinkering with her blog.

16 Comments

  1. Funny!!! I cannot believe those are the colors….pink???? For an office????? I think they will come to regret those colors and I bet by this time next year, the office will be redone in more customer friendly colors.

  3. When I was about twenty years old I had a job shovelling up spilled grease in the world’s largest grease plant. I remember one spill that took me all day to clean up. I wish I could have been able to levitate. I hope he didn’t get any on YOU. 🙂

  9. haha, well you can tell that he wasn’t from Georgia, here, he would have sat down, belched, scratched, signed the lease, and then smeared grease where ever….

    And never noticed anything except that the chair was a sissy chair…….a real man doesn’t like pink you know. haha

  11. Ha! that’s what I was thinking. Maybe he “cleans up good.” Beige and pink. sorry, that makes me nauseous just thinking about it. But the story was good. Sounds like one of the many well described narrative lyrics from Lucinda Williams album, “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.” Great album, bet you’d like it if you don’t know it already. Peace, Tom

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