The Store Manager - Chapter 1

Morten wheeled through his apartment. He was restless and part of him wanted to get out of there and do something, but that meant venturing out in ‘the real world’ in his wheelchair. While he was in rehab his therapists had forced him to go on a few ‘field trips’ and he hated every second. He felt like everyone stared at him and it made him immensely uncomfortable.  Morten hated himself for being so self-conscious; before the car accident that had left him a paraplegic five months earlier he’d been a very confident person.  Now he didn’t feel anything like the guy he’d been before the accident and he didn’t have much hope of getting back to any semblance of that. 

He was very unsure of what he should do work wise.  His job as a store manager at the flagship store of Norway’s largest chain of hardware and homeware stores was mostly administrative; the amount of time he spent working on the shop floor, interacting with customers was minimal. It generally happened if he couldn’t find a replacement for a member of staff called in sick or if a disgruntled customer demanded to speak to him.  He wondered what those encounters would be like with him in a wheelchair. Morten seriously doubted he’d get much respect; pity seemed like a more likely reaction. For now he was on sick leave, but his doctor was pushing for him to go back to work at least part time. He felt Morten needed to get back to a normal routine.

With a sigh Morten wheeled over to his desk and pushed the power button on his iMac. He figured he’d kill some time by checking his email and surfing the web.  Before his computer finished booting up his cell phone started ringing; he’d gotten into a habit of screening his calls lately, there were some people he just didn’t feel like dealing with. It was his boss, Grete. She was the regional manager in his area, and had a reputation among as a cold-hearted bitch. Morten respected her and actually liked having her as his boss; she was tough and knew what she wanted, but she was fair. They had spoken a few times after Morten’s accident and he had a strong feeling about why she was getting in touch with him now; she wanted him to come back to work.  With a sigh he reached for the phone and answered the call.

“It’s Morten.”

“Hi Morten, it’s Grete. How are you doing? Rumor has it you’re done with your rehab?”

“Been worse, getting better I guess. They kicked me out about a week and a half ago.”

“Are you at home?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I’m in area, I’ve just been at the store in Bogstadveien and figured I could drop by and say hi if you don’t mind.” Grete’s tone didn’t leave room for argument. It wasn’t really a question.

“I’m here. Don’t have much to offer you, except from coffee though.”

“Coffee sounds perfect. See you in about 15 minutes.” With that she hung up. 

Morten put his phone down and turned away from the desk. He quickly surveyed the appearance of his apartment and deemed it presentable. Heck, for a 28-year-old bachelor it was more than presentable. He wheeled into his bedroom and pulled off the faded t-shirt he was wearing, replacing it with a navy polo shirt. Looking at himself in the full length mirror in the corner was still weird. He wasn’t quite used to seeing himself in a wheelchair, but he wasn’t as startled as he had been the first few times.  His chair was a compact, lightweight manual model with a black frame, low backrest, no armrests or handles and his feet were resting on a single footrest. It was as good looking as a wheelchair could get and as he shifted his weight Morten realized he didn’t look all that bad. His legs might sit motionless on the footrest, but his upper body looked better than ever and the fitted polo shirt showed off the bulging muscles in his arms and shoulders.

“At least I’ve got that going for me…” he muttered as he pulled a comb through his unruly brown hair in a vain attempt to tame it.

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“So, when do you think you’ll be ready to come back to work?” Grete asked. She’d arrived a few minutes earlier with a bag from a local bakery in hand.

“I don’t know…”

“Listen; Elise is doing a pretty good job covering for you, you’ve trained her well, but she’s not you. The holiday season is only a couple of months away and she is totally overwhelmed by the prospect of dealing with it alone.  It would be a great help to have you back part time. You could care of the paperwork and allow her more time to be in the store. That’s where her passion is, she’s not a paper-pusher. You two make a great team, I’m sure you’ll make it work.”

“Let me think about it, okay? I’m not sure I’m ready for it.”

“I think you are. As far as I know there’s nothing wrong with your brain. Give me one good reason you can’t come back to work and take care of the paperwork,” she challenged him. 

Morten was at a loss for words. He didn’t really have a good reason. “Half time to start with, will that work?” he asked after a few moments of silence.

“That’ll work,” Grete said with a genuine smile. “We’ll ease you back into the fold. You’re one of our best store managers and we’d hate to lose someone with your knowledge and experience.”

“I miss work, I just know there are things I just can’t do anymore and I’m afraid I’ll just be in the way,” he admitted.

“I’m aware that there are things you’re not able to do anymore, but there are many things you can do. And we want you to come back and do the things you’re very capable of. How about coming in for a few hours on Monday?”

Morten thought for a second. Today was Thursday, his initial thought was to suggest Wednesday, but he decided it was better to not postpone it further. “8 o’clock?”

“Sounds good to me. What sort of schedule do you want? It’s up to you if you want to do half days or just work a couple of full days a week.”

“I’m not sure.” Part of Morten didn’t think he had the energy to pull full days, but at the same time he didn’t feel like making effort of getting to work on a daily basis.

“You’ll figure it out,” Grethe stated. She looked at her watch. “I’ve got to get going. I’ve got a meeting at the head office in about an hour.”

“Thanks for the cake and thanks for dropping by,” Morten said as he followed her to the front door.

“It was good seeing you again. I’ll call Elise and let her know you’ll be back on Monday. If I’m able to I’ll come by and say hi.”

“Good to see you too. I’ll see you at work,” A smile crept across Morten’s face, he realized he’d missed work more than he’d allowed himself to and part of him was looking forward to getting back to doing something useful.

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Friday afternoon he was seated by his desk, surfing the web and playing some random online games, while trying to figure out what to do in the evening. He’d been coped up in his apartment most of the time for the past couple of weeks and despite feeling uncomfortable about going out in public he grabbed his phone and dialed his buddy Eirik’s number.

“Morten! How’s it hangin’?” Eirik greeted him cheerfully after the fourth ring.

“Not too bad. Got kicked out of rehab a couple of weeks ago and I start working again on Monday.”

“That’s great buddy! What are you up to tonight?”

“Not much…”

“A few of us are getting together at Friday’s, down at Aker Brygge. You’re more than welcome to come if you’re up to it.”

Morten racked his brain for a few moments; as far as he could remember the bar and restaurant was accessible.  “Sounds great Eirik. Just make sure you get an accessible table, okay?”

“No problems. We’re meeting at 8:30 tonight. See you then.”

“See you,” Morten said and hung up the phone. He wasn’t sure what the hell he’d gotten himself into, but he did realize that he couldn’t stay in his apartment for the rest of his life.

To be continued...