Geez-Louise, Heather shook her head. Is he just acting, or can anyone really be that stupid? Practically everyone in the company knew Peter was gay. What was Bob’s fixation with Peter anyway? Why did it matter to him whether he was gay or not? That wasn’t Peter’s biggest problem.
Whenever people would talk narrow-minded, Heather was quick to correct them, although she’d guessed long ago that it probably didn’t make much of a difference. Bob was one of those people, whom you could give daily lectures about the facts of human life, and still, he wouldn’t get a clue. In her opinion, people who talked stupid, simply were stupid. It would take more than just lectures to enlighten his type of people. Heather felt fortunate that she didn’t belong to that group of people.
"I once had a friend who turned out to be gay," Bob confessed one day. "I called him a fag right in front of his deathbed and told him he no longer was my friend."
"You did what?" Heather had lost her breath for a second.
"Well, I didn’t know he was gay until I visited him in a hospital and found out he was dying of AIDS. We used to be hunting buddies. For many years we’d camped out and slept in the same tents and cabins together, and not once had he mentioned anything about being gay."
"But how could you be so mean to someone on his deathbed?" Heather gasped, not believing what she’d just heard.
"Well, it’s a sin to be gay." Bob replied. "He never would’ve been my friend in the first place, if he’d told me he was gay."
Heather had the biggest desire to walk over to Bob, slap him across his face several times or even punch him in his big, fat, sloppy gut. How could anyone be this cruel? She started to feel even more compassionate towards Peter because he had to work with a creep like Bob everyday.
Peter had been working in the company just a few months longer than Heather. Peter also was a sales associate, although you would have never guessed this by his appearance. Unlike Bob, Peter needed few words to get anyone’s attention -- it was difficult to ignore his 6’-5" stature. Unfortunately he didn’t just get noticed for his loftiness.
Peter had long black hair which he’d allowed to grow wildly below his broad shoulders, dropping dandruff on him daily. Most of his clothes looked shabby or wrinkled, and often didn’t fit him. He mostly wore dirty, worn-out shoes that had salt rings formed around them during winter days. On most mornings he also looked hung over, dopey, or just plain sleepy.
Sometimes Peter reminded Heather of Jack Nicholson, the ugly but very funny actor. Peter was only slightly better looking. Heather loved the various characters Jack Nicholson portrayed in many movies, and could easily imagine how one could forget Jack’s troll-like look after learning of his devilish and charming personality.
Unfortunately, this was not the case with Peter. Peter’s character matched his undesirable image all too well. He was rude, selfish, impatient, and absolutely vain, just to name a few of his flaws. Considering the person as a whole, it was difficult to imagine Peter having any sexual relationships, be it man or woman.
Heather considered herself lucky that Peter hardly noticed her, for whenever he did acknowledge her, he made sure she received little respect. Regardless, Heather could not poke fun at Peter just because of his sexual orientation. On any other working day, Peter was able to steal attention away from anyone in the company, but then something very unusual happened.
It started early, on one gloomy Monday morning. To Heather’s surprise the company officials had decided to hire a young black woman for the new customer service position. The woman couldn’t have been older than nineteen, was tall, slender and absolutely beautiful. She had big brown eyes, heart shaped lips and curly, black hair that shimmered in the florescent light while softly surrounding her oval shaped, mocha colored face.
Wow! The new hire could easily be a model. Heather thought. What was she doing here? Heather was puzzled. She must be too young to realize what she’d gotten herself into, she’d figured, and her motherly instincts immediately kicked in. The new hire definitely didn’t belong here!" Heather thought and wondered how long it would take before the poor girl would feel it necessary to quit.