Written In The Stars

People are not what they seem in this observant short story by Alyson Hilbourne.

Carrie shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, if this horoscope was anything to go by . . .

I’M chasing three invoices.” Justin’s voice boomed. Carrie rolled her eyes. How could anyone be expected to work with that noise? It was impossible to concentrate. Surely he could speak more quietly?

“Yes, numbers 77941, 77942 and 83206.”

Carrie looked across at her colleague, who was shouting into the phone, oblivious of everyone else in the office.

Had nobody told him how loud he was?

Carrie was new to Grinsdale’s, and if she was honest she was finding the other staff a bit cliquey.

The girls knew each other well and lunched together.

She had been given a desk in the corner near Justin and it hadn’t taken her long to work out this was the least desirable space going.

Justin was too energetic. In the short time she’d been there Carrie had learned he did everything at full volume. His screen saver was a sports car.

“It’s a frog-eyed sprite,” he’d told her, bouncing with excitement as he stood in front of her desk. “I’m doing it up. Next job is replacing the brakes.”

Carrie had nodded politely. She had no interest in cars other than to get from A to B.

Justin, on the other hand, often came into work with hands ingrained with grease.

He didn’t fit in with the office girls and tended to keep himself to himself and Carrie had soon come to the conclusion they’d both been shuffled to the end of the office out of the way.

Carrie couldn’t block out his voice and it made concentrating on her own work almost impossible. “Ha, ha! Yes, all right . . .” Justin’s voice echoed off the floor and walls as he stretched out his legs and settled in for a conversation with the person on the other end of the phone.

Carrie grimaced and dragged her magazine towards her.

She opened it at the horoscopes page and put her fingers in her ears as she read.

Her birth sign was Virgo. Be more tolerant of those around you. They may reveal an unseen side. Carrie snorted.

“You don’t believe in all that stuff, do you?”

Carrie looked up and took her fingers out of her ears, hoping Justin hadn’t noticed what she’d been doing.

“Not really. Well, sometimes . . .” she said, her face colouring. “What month were you born?” “May.”

“Date?”

“Twenty-ninth.”

“You’re Gemini. Listen.” Carrie began to read his horoscope. “A medical emergency will require assistance.

“This will utilise a trait that not everyone finds attractive.”

Justin made a face. “What does that mean? It’s rubbish.”

Carrie shook her head. “I bet it’s spot on,” she said. “This horoscope usually is.”

Justin went back to his desk and began shuffling papers noisily.

****

The next morning, Carrie arrived at her desk and was surprised to find Justin wasn’t there.

She made a cup of tea and settled down to sort out her pile of invoices.

At first she relished the lack of distractions and raced through work that had been piling up.

When she stopped she looked across at Justin’s empty desk and wondered where he was.

“Is Justin sick?” she asked someone when she went to get a cup of tea. The girl shrugged.

“No idea.”

Carrie nodded, but she found it odd that no-one was bothered about where a colleague might be.

As the day wore on, she found it was too quiet. She missed Justin’s good humour and exuberance.

She hoped he was all right – what had his horoscope said? A medical emergency?

Eventually she had worried herself into enough of a state to go downstairs to Human Resources.

“We can’t give out

personal information,” the girl said primly. Carrie went back to her desk and sat staring at Justin’s desk.

Wait! He’d said he lived round the corner from a mini market and she knew he walked to the office.

There was only one shop like that in the area.

On her way home, Carrie went to the mini market and went inside to buy a box of chocolates.

Back outside, she looked around. There were four streets to choose from.

She crossed the road to some Victorian houses that had been converted into flats.

Parked in the driveway of one was a low-slung car, covered by a tarpaulin.

“Bingo!” she muttered. “I bet that’s Justin’s froggy thing.”

When she reached Justin’s door she felt silly. She hardly knew him, for goodness’ sake.

But before she could do anything there was a shrill scream from inside the flat and a rush of footsteps, followed by a crash and a cacophony of voices.

A sudden chill went down Carrie’s spine.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked sharply and stepped back to wait, her heart beating fast.

The noises from inside continued and Carrie didn’t think anyone had heard her.

Eventually she heard someone approaching.

Justin’s face appeared round the door, then two smaller, curly headed faces emerged, one between his legs and one to the side.

“Carrie!” Justin pulled his shirt straight and ran a hand through his hair.

“I came to see how you are,” Carrie said. “I thought you were sick. I brought some chocolates.”

She held out the box. “Chocolates! Yummy,” one of the children said. Justin gave a rueful smile. “Not sick, no,” he said. “Come in.”

He opened the door wider and gestured for Carrie to enter.

“Girls, give us a moment, please,” Justin said to the identically dressed girls of about five and seven years.

They giggled and dashed ahead into the living-room, where Carrie saw them tumble on to the sofa and wrap themselves in a throw, hooting with laughter.

“My nieces.” Justin waved a hand at the children.

“My sister is having chemo and it’s a particularly bad session so I said I’d take them so her husband can look after her.”

The girls came back, draped in the throw, whispering loudly.

Justin turned and roared at them, which doubled them up with laughter and sent them skipping back into the living-room.

Carrie could see they adored him.

“Right,” she said, feeling foolish. “I’ll go.”

“Wait,” Justin said. “No-one from the office ever bothered before.

“I’m just about to take the girls out for a bit. Give the neighbours a break.”

He gave a rueful smile, putting dimples in his cheeks that Carrie hadn’t noticed before.

“We’re going bowling. Do you want to come?”

It was an evening of laughter.

Justin’s nieces had inherited his voice and there was a lot of shouting and groaning as the pins dropped or the balls spun into the gulleys.

Several times Carrie found herself wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. It was lovely being part of a loud, friendly family.

After bowling they had pizza before Justin took the girls back home.

“It’s time for them to go to bed,” he said.

“I’ll see you on Monday,” he added with a smile.

Carrie walked home with the warm feeling of having had an unexpectedly enjoyable evening.

She found her thoughts sneaking back to Justin several times over the weekend, and for the first time since starting at Grinsdale’s she was looking forward to Monday.

As she strode in to her desk she could see a note stuck to her computer.

Virgo. An invitation to lunch should not be ignored . . .

She looked across at Justin and nodded.

After all, it was written in the stars.

The End.