alarm goes off without a sound, the silence is so loud;
Darrien Oakes had a hole in his sock.

That was, all things considered, the last thing he needed, especially since he had stepped in a rather generous snowdrift, meaning that his right foot had been completely buried long enough for his work boots to betray him. Obviously, he needed another pair; they weren’t supposed to leak. They were supposed to be completely airtight, watertight, whatever-else-tight, if only for safety reasons. At least the caps in the boots were still doing their job. Still, given the small leak that had resulted in a damp foot that he really didn’t appreciate, it probably wasn’t the best idea to wear them on site. So he had borrowed someone else’s, simple as that. Darrien hadn’t known the guy’s name, but he had seen him around a few times, and given his position and responsibilities at the site, the workman had been more than willing to ‘swap’.

Swapping boots. Huh. Not exactly something he was used to doing, but at least these ones didn’t leak. His foot was still cold and damp, but he would put up with it. There were more important things to concern himself with, and kicking up a stink about his sock was hardly going to earn him the respect of other people on site. Taking a hat and jacket from a workman closer to the entrance of the building, Darrien donned both before making his way up to the arranged floor, coming out of the checked and cleared service elevator doors when they opened. Some people preferred to use the stairs, but Darrien hadn’t made himself a career by being wary of other people’s work; he trusted the other people here, and that was a vital part of working in a team like this.

“Hey, Dar’, we thought you’d decided not to join us,” one of the men said, looking up from the blueprints he was perusing with a small team around him, individuals with various qualifications and roles that suited the group as a whole. Kenneth Raines flashed him a grin, one that the mechanical engineer didn’t return, but he did offer a crooked smile.

“Footwear issues,” he said simply, coming to a stop beside a familiar figure, one he looked down at in acknowledgement. Kenneth was discussing — of all things — random options for dinner that evening during the window Darrien had inadvertently created with his arrival, giving him the chance to greet the structural engineer beside him; “Fancy seeing you here.”


( MACKENZIE )