Wendy could remember the first day she started at Moulon’s Books & Supplies. Wow, it was her first job out of college, and she was really excited about earning a paycheck. As a book lover, she could envision spending a lot of rewarding time browsing and reading on the job. What she didn’t realize was that she was one of only two employees, and it turned out that there was not much time for browsing and reading. In fact, while she enjoyed the quiet, she had to admit to herself that a workplace with more people and a livelier atmosphere would be better and healthier for her, and it would provide an opportunity for her to meet and make new friends. Time to start looking.
The loud ring of the customer’s entrance door sounded. It seemed a bit early, but who knows? She was in the midst of stocking shelves with some new books. Stopping, she walked around the corner, and to her consternation, there standing with her back to her was Jennifer Collins, a high school and college buddy who ended up being her worst enemy and the one person in the world that she had no desire to see, talk to, or share the same air.
But work is work, sounding very surprised, “Jennifer, what in the world are you doing here. Did you know I worked here?”
Jennifer turned around, and her face was a mask of hate and indignation. “Wendy, you bitch, did you think you could hide from me? I’ve been trying to find you for the past eighteen months. We have some unfinished business.”
“Jennifer, this is my workplace. If you have a personal issue you’d like to discuss, we can go out after my break and talk over a donut and coffee. But you can’t come in here talking like this. And by the way, I have not been hiding from you.”
“Oh, can’t I. Did you ever stop to think about the niceties of time and place when you screwed up my relationship with John, the love of my life? I’ve come here to make you pay for what you did to my life.” Without pausing, Jennifer pulls out a long butcher knife wrapped in a cloth and rushes toward Wendy.
Wendy realizes she is dealing with an insane Jennifer. She screams as she turns around and runs. “Jennifer, stop it!” At the same time, she pulls out her cell phone and dials 911 frantically.
Wendy runs past the box of books she has been working on, still sitting on the floor. She quickly kicks the box to the middle of the aisle. Jennifer, chasing her, does not see the box and trips over it, landing spreadeagled in the aisle while losing her grip on the butcher knife, which flies to the end of the aisle. Wendy, seizing the opportunity, picks up the knife and runs to the entrance door, throwing the knife in the garbage as she exits and tells the 911 operator, “Help, I’m at Moulon’s Books & Supplies, and a crazy person with a knife is attacking me.”
