EXTRACT FOR
Inventory Time
(N S Howard)

      Jordon drove into the parking lot and then checked her face in the small vanity mirror. She noticed one other vehicle in the lot, a black SUV.

      "Must be Derrick's. That's his style alright." She muttered under her breath as she walked to the steel door to the warehouse. She tugged the bottom of her green T-shirt down over her blue jeans. The tight-fitting jeans had a tear on the back of the right thigh and a hole on the left knee. They looked fashionable but also suitable for work in a warehouse.

      The door was locked and her knock on the steel plate seemed to absorb all of the impact. Then she looked to her left and saw a buzzer. She pressed it and shortly after was rewarded when Derrick opened the door.

      "Hi there, Jordon. You're two minutes late. That'll have to come off your coffee break." He grinned at her.

      "You're a mean boss."

      "You don't know how mean I can be yet." He smiled at her.

      "I'm not worried; you don't know what I can take."

      "Maybe we'll find out that later." 

      She gave a smile back and looked around. The small office consisted of an old steel desk, a table, chairs and file cabinets. Just outside the office was a set of double garage doors used for delivery of goods. Beyond that, she saw rows of steel shelving that held boxes of inventory. In the far corner, a mesh wire screen room held a few more boxes.

      "Where's Sarah?"

      Jordon shrugged. "Late as usual, I guess."

      "Could be trouble for her then."

      "Does she lose her whole coffee break then?" She grinned.

      "Might be worse. I might have to net out special discipline."

      Jordon giggled. "Can I watch?"

      "You, my lady, have a wicked side."

      "Do I get punished for that?" She gave him a smile and walked away to the desk. "What do we have to do here?"

      He took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled. "Each of those sheets lists inventory items. We count the items, write it down and hope the number corresponds to what is in the database."

      She looked at a sheet of paper. "So what does "Std Sz Pc 8736" mean?"

      "Standard size paper clip model number 8736, obviously." He smiled. "You'll figure out the codes after a while."

      "Somebody shoot me."

      He laughed. "Just pick an item on the shelf, count it, and find it on the sheet."

      A few minutes later Jordon heard the buzzer announcing the arrival of Sarah. 

      Jordon gave Sarah a smile as she sat next to her. "You may be in for trouble, showing up late."

      "Oh, some trouble I like." She smiled back at Jordon and took a look behind her where Derrick was working among the metal shelves.

      "Yeah, well I think his getting into trouble may refer to a different kind of discipline." Jordon twisted in her chair, lifting her leg and smacked the side of her ass.

      "Oooh, that kind."