It was difficult sitting in the cubicle next to him, knowing that he was a complete piece of shit.
Although I didn't care to know him personally, he never gave any of us a choice whether we wanted to or not. He intruded himself on everyone in the office. His conversations with clients were loud; when no one was talking to him, he was talking to himself too loudly. He had his wife on one call and his mistress from the temp pool on the other while simultaneously talking to a second potential mistress. I asked my supervisor if I could be moved to another desk in our division. Anywhere but next to this guy."Henry, I would love to oblige you, but we're full," Keith said.
"I'll clean out a broom closet, if that's what it takes," I told him. "Just please, I'm tired of Gaylen's shit. I have to hear it and deal with it every day! It's too much!"
"Well then, file a complaint, and send it to HR!" Keith was fed up, too, because complaints about Gaylen came in every day. "I've got a pile of them on my desk and believe it or not, I myself have filed complaints about the complaints!"
"This is bullshit," I said while walking out. Sure enough, as I'm walking back to my desk, there's Gaylen headed toward me, walking that hurried, really going nowhere, but look at me walk.
"Wassup, Henry?" He asked in that local has been, never was, local football coach tone of voice.
I ignored him and kept walking, not waiting to see or hear what delinquent ass-o-nine thing he was going to say. Instead, he chucked his kulolo that was still wrapped in its Saran Wrap at the back of my head. Even before he could say, "Brah, what's your fucking problem?" I rushed him and took him down. We crashed into Irma Costilio's desk, knocking one of her staplers to the floor. I grabbed and began stapling Gaylen on his arms and the side of his face. He screamed and pushed me away, so he could regain his composure and try for another attack. I used the stapler to hit Gaylen on the bridge of his nose and punched him several more times before I stopped. Security was called, and eventually the police as well, because Gaylen wanted to press charges. Was I fired? No, but I was transferred to another division. Did that help stop the Gaylen Imata problem? No, it didn't.
Life went on, and I received a promotion that gave me a substantial raise, allowing me to move to a nicer location with my family. We continued to do all the family things that families do who live in places like the Waikele condos or in the matchbox houses in Kapolei. We were at a picnic in Kapolei Regional Park having KFC together. My wife also made musubi and somen salad, along with her own recipe for corned beef hash. The peach iced tea was also her own concoction that was passed down to her from her mother. Our youngest son, Olin, was all about it. Our oldest, Hawk, wanted to be at home gaming with his friends online.
"We could be doing this at home," Hawk groaned. "I don't know why we have to have this picnic in public."
"It's a family picnic," my wife reminded him.
"We can be a family at home," he shook his head while looking around to make sure that no one he knew could see him with us.
"As soon as I start making money off of gaming, I'm moving out," he groaned again.
"You don't have to wait until then," my wife replied. "Start walking home now, pack your things, and move out. Don't let us stop you from your dreams."
"Mom!" He shrieked with disbelief. "Are you serious?"
"It's what you want, right? Your father and I don't want to stop you from living your dreams," she said while chewing on a bite of her musubi.
"Daaaaaad!" Hawk was now pleading his case to me. "She's crazy!"
"I told you it's not me you have to worry about, it's your Mom." I shook my head. "Say you're sorry and eat your lunch."
***
An hour later, we're packing up and putting everything away. Hawk is only too glad to help, while Olin doesn't want to get off the jungle gym. I go over to fetch him, and I run into one of my friends from my former division.
"Henry!" It's Kendra Kamaha'o. "How you? Where's Kathy?"
"Over there with Hawk," I pointed toward our picnic table. At this point, Olin got off the jungle gym on his own and took off running to his mother. He didn't like being introduced to our adult friends for some reason.
"So, did you hear that there's a ghost haunting our division now?" She spoke in an ominous tone.
"A ghost?" Was she serious.
"Keith called a Kahuna, a priest, a feng shui, and all kine to bless our division, but nothing is working. The ghost won't go away." She said.
"There wasn't a ghost when I was there," I told her.
"There was, but the ghost wasn't a ghost yet," she began. "It was still a person!"
"Hah?" I was confused now.
"Gaylen Imata," she stepped closer. "One of those ladies he was sleeping with, her husband found out and came down to our division and shot Gaylen in the heart. Not too long after that, his ghost started showing up!"
"How come it wasn't on the news?" I asked.
"Keith knows all the news people, so he called the station and asked them to keep it hush, hush," Kendra said. "Anyway, I gotta get back to my kids before they start killing each other. I'm gonna say hello to Kathy real quick, then I'd better get going!"
Stunning news, of course. Who would have thought that Gaylen would meet his end that way? I thought he'd get fired at some point or die from gout or something. I never thought he would end up being killed at work in front of the whole division, no less. What's worse is that it's not the end for Gaylen Imata; he's back at work haunting his cubicle. That's a desk that Keith can never move anyone to, even if he offered someone a raise.
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