The only thing David didn’t like about work was when the task meant he had to pair up with somebody. His methods for working, which he found superior, weren’t shared by the others and they both ended up working slower than if they’d done the work separately. Particularly frustrating was stowing with somebody, namely storing incoming inventory for future retrieval. He preferred to put parcels for similar locations in one place and then distribute them, while others moved the parcels one by one, resulting in a backlog of work.
One day, when he was stowing by himself, he was joined by a new girl who looked to be his age. She just said “Hi,” and started the work. Although, by this point, David was tired of explaining to his co-workers how to stow – in order to make their work less stressful and more efficient – he decided that he would tell her. She nodded and did just as he asked of her, and it was great to work together for the couple of hours they were allocated to the task.
In the middle of their work, he asked her: “What’s your name?”
Joanna,” she replied, without asking for his name.
“Mine is David,” he said.
She nodded and carried on working, evenly and efficiently, when listening to whatever she was listening to through her headphones. (Officially, they weren’t allowed to use mobile phones at work, but everybody did.) He didn’t want to disturb her anymore because talking lowered the speed of work and he himself was annoyed when other people prevented him from listening in peace. He had to admit that he was impressed and intrigued by her introversion and efficiency, which surpassed his. He also noticed that she was pretty, although behaved as if she didn’t care, wearing no make-up, having her hair in a simple bun, and keeping her fingernails short and unpainted. There was also something slightly otherworldly about her thanks to her eyes being very green. He’d never seen such green eyes as hers, except in cats.
During the lunch break, when they finished eating their food, David asked Joanna whether she would like to play table tennis with him.
“I don’t know how to play,” she replied.
“I will teach you,” replied David.
“Okay,” she said.
David explained to her what to do to play efficiently and she proved, again, a very good pupil. They finished playing only at the end of the break. For the rest of the day, they worked separately, as they were assigned to different tasks. Whenever he could, David observed Joanna and he felt that she reciprocated. However, she didn’t say anything. It was a week till he saw her again, as their shifts overlapped only once a week. They were again working as a pair for a couple of hours, and then played table tennis. The only thing different was that David asked Joanna, when they’d finished playing, whether she would like some pineapple, as they were selling it in the vending machine in the canteen. She, however refused, saying that pineapple burnt her mouth. David explained to her that this was the way pineapples tried to save themselves from being eaten by their enemies.
“Sounds like me,” replied Joanna, smiling slightly.
This was the first time David got an indication she had a sense of humour as, before, he had only suspected it. He was about to add that he didn’t need to behave like a pineapple as nobody was interested in him, but decided not to say this, as this could put Joanna off. Instead, he said: “Good to have some defences, otherwise people take you for granted.”
“What about you?”
“When people attack me verbally, I try to ignore them. I try not to engage in discussions with morons. Unfortunately, people who are on my side, politically, are usually morons. I find it depressing.”
“If you have above-average intelligence, you will find most people morons. This is a cost of being intelligent.”
“True. So what we are doing here, in the Amazon depot?”
“Maybe searching for people like ourselves. Plus, I needed the money.”
“Same with me,” said David. “Working here has two benefits. I earn money and I study at the same time.”
“What are you studying?,” asked Joanna during their next lunch break.
“Philosophy. I listen to podcasts on Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza and so on, to find out what exists and how the world is constructed.”
“I see. And what conclusion have you reached?”
“That forms exist no less really than material objects.”
“It’s interesting. I think the same, but in my case it’s based on perception, not inquiry. When I look at things, I see their contours first and their content later. Sometimes it requires much effort to fill these contours. I call it ‘ghost-busting,’ as in this old film, if you know it.”
“I do. I have watched it with my mum.”
“So, you see. I have reasons to believe that the way I see things is different from what is regarded as normal. But I don’t want to change it. It’s the way I am. In fact, I was so worried that I’d lose this ability, that I started to draw the stages of my perceptions.”
“I would be interested to see them,” said David.
“You might find it spooky”
“I like spooky.”
“Like Edward Derby, the character in H. P. Lovecraft’s story ‘The Thing on the Doorstep,’” she half-asked, half-stated.
“I don’t know that story, or the writer.”
“So read it first and then we can return to the conversation.”
