Uranium Fist | Page 4

morning's first
ejaculation of pollen. The wind brought with it the heavy tang of a
summer storm, of moisture laden air, but the clouds were still brooding
over the distant hills that overlooked the city.
Some might take that broiling mass of highly charged air as a bad sign.
Not Edward. Ever since he could remember, he loved the exhilaration
of a good thunderstorm. Even now, he could feel that energy building
up inside his own body, crackling down his nerves to power up his own
sense of excitement. And when the clouds unleashed their pent up rage,
it brought a sense of euphoria, of revelry in the power of nature; storms
were a heavenly symphony of the elements.
"Daddy! Daddy!"
Rebecca hurled herself towards him with the tempestuous enthusiasm
that only a six-year-old can muster. She slammed into his knees with a
force that almost knocked him to the ground, but he used that childish
momentum to sweep his little girl into his arms and lift her high. She
giggled and wriggled, and released the laughter from his own heart.
Sara followed at a more sedate pace from the cool interior of the house.
She folded her arms, leaned against the doorframe and smiled. "Careful,
darling! He's not as young as he used to be."
"Not as old, surely," he said, adopting a mock frown.
She smiled with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes and mouthed her
love for him. He pulled his daughter close and moved to put his free
arm around Sara's waist. She felt good as she moved closer, and the
smell of her showered and perfumed body added nuance to the
passionate air.
He kissed her with a lingering motion. "Love you!" Then he turned and
pecked his daughter on the cheek. "And you!" Rebecca giggled loudly
and wriggled until she was in her mother's arms.

Part of his mind whispered that he was too old for this kind of display.
The warmth inside his heart said otherwise. Meeting Sara was the best
thing that ever happened to him. Rebecca's arrival completed the
entirety of his new-found happiness.
Until he met Sara, he never realised there was a gap in his life, or that
he was unhappy. As a young man, he had always felt awkward around
women, never sure how to handle himself. Quite unlike the self-assured
man he was in business and commercial circles
The result was he never found anyone, and eventually concluded he
never would. Unlike his peers - who married, divorced and grew bitter -
he threw himself into his career, and climbed the ranks. Then -
unexpectedly - he met Sara. She was one of the young analysts. She
worked for him in a distant kind of way, and he never knew of her
existence until they met in a lift of all places, both going to their
respective departments.
"Which floor?" she politely enquired, taking him for just another of the
middle managers. When he told her, she became obviously nervous.
How often had she accompanied senior management, let alone the vice
president of the bank - as he was then - on their way to the upper
echelons of power?
Something about her manner amused him and he found himself
automatically trying to make her feel at ease. It proved difficult to prise
conversation out of her; not that she wasn't talking, quite the contrary.
He recognised the interview-speak immediately, the well considered
words, chosen to convey a striking image of the speaker, without
saying anything that might be turned around and thrown back.
When they arrived at her floor, he held the lift for a while so he could
continue the conversation. It was innocent enough, but he still had his
position to consider. Offices were terrible rumour machines. He kept
their conversation as business-like as possible, trying to convey the
image of management taking a friendly - but platonic interest - in a new
staff member. Yet, he knew there was something more. He was amazed
to find himself assessing Sara at more than the professional level.

What's more, he felt her assessing him in the same way.
On impulse, he asked her to lunch. She turned him down, with what
seemed like a trivial excuse. After the initial dismay, he found himself
both amused and intrigued. Later, he found an invitation to lunch on his
internal mail. For the look of it, he left the reply for a couple of days
before accepting the proposal. Sara's voice was filled with a mixture of
surprise and nervousness. Edward discovered an entirely new avenue in
life - what's more he found himself enjoying it.
"We really must be going, Sir." Jenkins suddenly pulled him from the
depths of fond memories, snapping smartly to attention. Edward sighed
inwardly. Duty