Craig returned to his office with a coffee in his hand. He knew he needed a break when he had to read a report twice before making sense of it. The coffee would wake him up a little and the slight break he had towards the kitchen will also do justice to his overcrowded mind. Craig was not sure if his lack of concentration had to do with his tired mind because it kept drifting somewhere else. He always thought time passed quickly in the big cities, but time sure passed way quicker at the coast. They have been in Saldanha for over a month now and still, it felt like a week. He wondered where Ferris was today. Ferris had been booked off work for a week, but he was supposed to be back already. Maybe he was on the plant somewhere. Surely he would have reported back for duty. That was the standard procedure.
Craig dialled Ferris's number. As the phone rang, Craig felt guilty at the same time for not checking in on Ferris while he was booked off. He had promised Ferris that he would and he had a whole week to do that.
'Hi Craig,' Ferris answered. He sounded tired.
'Ferris, where have you been today?' Craig asked. 'I've not seen you around. Are you at work?'
'I'm afraid not,' Ferris said.
'You could not call to tell me that you're not coming in?' Craig asked a little agitated. It sounded like Ferris just woken up from an afternoon nap.
'I'm sorry Craig. I couldn't get myself to call you,' Ferris continued.
'Why would that be Ferris?' Craig asked. He felt his face turning red from anger. He could not understand what could be so hard about phoning your boss to tell him that you are not coming in for work.
There was a pause on the line and Craig wondered if Ferris was still there, 'Ferris?'
'I'm afraid things got worse with my hand, much worse,' Ferris sounded even more tired. For a moment Craig wondered if he was talking to Ferris. It sounded like someone else doing the talking. Ferris spoke slowly as if drugged.
'What do you mean man? Talk to me,' Craig said, shifting in his seat.
'The doctor doesn't know what's wrong with me. The medication was useless, and I didn't want the people at work to see me like this. There's something else I didn't tell you.'
'What? You better tell me now. You should have told me a long time ago. Come on man, you know you can talk to me, Ferris,' Craig encouraged. His anger had been replaced by a deep concern for Ferris.
'Not over the phone. Please understand,' Ferris said.
'What's your address? I'll come to see you after work,' Craig asked.
There was another pause. Craig could hear Ferris breathing on the other end.
'Not sure you want to do that Craig.'
'Either you give it to me or I get it from Human resources,' Craig demanded.
Ferris explained half-heartedly how to get to his house. Craig wondered what was going through his colleague's head, and why he sounded so depressed and tired. Surely a hand could not have such an effect on a person, but then again, if Ferris's hand regressed from what he had last seen, it certainly could drive any person crazy, especially when it was your own.
Craig phoned Sarah to say that he will be home a little later because he had to go and see Ferris. He detected something in her voice that was not like her at all. Maybe she was brought back to the past where he always made excuses to screw some other woman whenever he had the chance. Craig knew he was to blame. He was the one who had broken her trust. He realised it was going to take much more time to build their marriage up again, but he also knew it could never be fixed properly. It would never be the same again. Sarah had said that she wanted to talk to him about something.
'Fuck, what now?' Craig thought out aloud when he hung up the phone. 'What have I done this time?' He leaned back in his seat and stared at the ceiling.