Lucas - Short Story

8/15/2019 Lucas - Short Story

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Lucas hunched over his desk, and as soon as he did, he arched back, straightening out

his spine. He was now holding his upper body in a completely straight pose, so straight

in fact, that it was asking of him a serious effort, just to keep steady. As he struggled

with his peculiar pose, he thought about how his back would never be as straight as

one's back should be, and how his own was doomed to stay in its unnatural state, having

been the truth long before he had ever noticed his so called deformity.

The truth was that the curvature of his spine was as curvy as anyone's, yet Lucas was

convinced it was more than anyone's and he might as well be taunted for it and called a

"hunchback". His pain sure as hell made him feel like one his assumption had always

been that hunchback's hunches caused them considerable pain so the pain he was

feeling could have not been brought by nothing, except a too-curvy spine, he thought.

As he thought about the hunchbacks and his new self-imposed moniker, he patiently

waited for the dull pain in his lower lumbar region to fade away.

According to the website he had visited, his lower backside in medical lingo was to be

termed the "lower lumbar region". The website was packed with information and in its

F.A.Q., it stated in one of the answers that sitting for long periods of time was a typical

cause for back pain. Lucas had thought that standing up and walking around every once

in a while might have been a good idea, but had he given himself such opportunities at

work, he would have never been able to catch up with the daily workload.

The whole dreadful morning, the mystery pain kept coming back in flashes.

By mid-afternoon he had made a habit out of moving his torso to and fro every time the


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pain resurged. The repeating action helped sooth his pain for a few seconds granting

him more pain-free time than straightening his backside did in the morning.

After having worked on his report for nearly one pain-free hour, the pain rushed back

and Lucas twisted his torso once more. The report was due soon, so the pain had been

easy to ignore by then an important task was expected at the end of the day. But the

pain had had come back full force, and this time it was hard not to notice. Lucas

swerved in his place, moving his torso violently to his left and right, all the while typing

out meaningless business jargon on the screen. His chair gave out shrill squeaks, as if it

telling the man sitting atop to stop harassing it with his jerky movements. The small

black rolling chair he was sitting on stood uneven; one of its legs was missing its rolling

ball. There was a compressed ball of paper towels under the handicapped leg, and the

weak paper-based support was now stretched and worn out from the week's wear and

tear.

Lucas was sure the paper-ball support was a sign of disrespect from the company. It

was most certainly reasonable to assume that the paper-ball support was an

accumulation of the utter contempt they had for him, yet he had no means of proof for it

other than the paper ball. But the ball was enough. It justified his reasoning, and it made

perfect sense. What sort of appreciation is the office management showing a talented

employee if they offer a broken chair, and a miserable office space as a reward for hard

work? He had wanted to point out this logic to his boss ever since he was given the job.

Lucas sighed and stood up.


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From afar, had it been possible to have watched him stand up, it would have been easy

to liken him to a prairie dog, peering out of his hole, slowly moving its head to

investigate its surroundings.

The sounds that his cubicle walls had isolated so well, were now invading his ears. It

was the liveliness of it, the scattering of people, the footsteps and busybodies moving

around that overwhelmed him with a feeling of being crowded in. There was a mixture

of keyboard clicks, printers whirring, a few gravelly toned "uh-huh's" and the most

resounding presence was that of a mousy sort of whispering of a few of the women who

were in the cubicles to his right.

Then a piercing sound drowned out all others, which prompted him to cock his head.

Then he saw her. She was walking towards him, yet paying no mind to his presence.

Only he could see her, not the other way around. From her view, one could only see a

head, popping out of a square but he saw her completely. As she walked by each

cubicle, she peered her head in every opening and let out a shrill "hellooo" to which a

mutter or a small "hi" was heard in response.

The rows of cubicles lay all around him as his lay smack in the middle of the large

room, serving as the midpoint for a large, elaborate maze. The room was divided into 4

areas; the accounting, human resources, marketing and legal departments.

There were four wide, gravelly columns in the middle of the room. Together, they

formed the corners of a square, with the space between them measuring roughly a meter


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It was her.

Lucas quickly nodded, and was quick to give the woman a fast look. As he did, he

chuckled a bit to himself. The woman took this as a sign that everything was all right.

Lucas had always thought that the womans face was pressed up against itself. Her nose

was like a pug's and her eyes were big, maybe a bit too together, definitely too much

and he knew he was right, because the whole office thought so. The woman was short,

and had very thing legs. Her shoulders were broad, and her upper body boasted huge

breasts and a small potbelly. She had a whole crop of curly hair on her head, yet she

was balding, it was a strange sight for Lucas. If one looked closely, her head resembled

a microphone top. Her whole physical appearance amused Lucas, which had always

been a cause for embarrassment ever since he started the temp job. Because he had

never been able to hide his laughter, he was always quick to look away when the

woman his boss - spoke to him.

"Yes, I'm fine" Lucas answered. As he did so, he laughed under his breath.

The woman straightened her skirt.

"Lucas, I need the report in a few minutes. The meeting is in half an hour and I want to

look over them soon," the man said.

Lucas nodded.


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The woman turned and left, then turned back.

"Lucas, I am aware this is your last day, and I wanted to wish you good luck now, I

won't be able to later I'm heading to the airport after the meeting."

The woman stretched out her hand. Lucas grabbed it, but gave her a loose grip. The

woman scoffed, and quickly let go of Lucas' hand.

With a quick polite smirk, she left Lucas's small space.

As Lucas straightened out his fallen chair and sat down, he thought of the long days that

were soon to be over. The promise of a new work setting had always been a source of

excitement for him, yet that Friday morning, the thought of changing jobs was souring

Lucas's mood.

It was a personality quirk, his mother used to tell her friends. "Lucas couldn't hold a job

if his life depended on it," she would say.

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Lucas - Short Story