The Night Rider

[spikyone]

Prologue

The day had been really hectic. Work hard, play hard had never seemed so difficult a phrase to follow. Then again, I had only myself to blame. Looking back, it had been a combination of on the job training and working in the medical line, first as a trainee, then progressing slowly up the work order to taking responsibility for single night duties only within a period of three months. I then continued slogging on for the next two years. But what was it all for?

[spikyone]

THE BURNOUT

As I lay on the bed with my eyes closed, I methodically thought back to what I had become. For the past two years, I had seemingly fallen deeper into depravity, had become a hollow shallow shadow of my former self. Working hard had taken its toll. To maintain my lifestyle, I had resorted to working two to three night shifts almost every fortnight. And all for what? For the money....


Luckily I had the sense to realise that I had burnt out.

"Thank God I was able to take the week's leave on such short notice. Otherwise I might have died.

[spikyone]

"Get a degree, get a good paying job and get promoted"

My parents' words rang in my head. Being the oldest of three meant that I had my responsibilities. That's why they had sent me to Australia to study the then revered Bachelor of Sciences degree.

For three years I had struggled with Biochemistry and Chemistry while being able to answer the casenote questions of my B. Commerce peers without any formal training. At least I had been able to graduate.

Armed with that $120,000 piece of embossed paper, I had returned home and tried to secure a job. The phrase "..dog eat dog.." came to my mind. For three months I tried and ended up in a law firm as a "legal assistant" due to my background in DNA in my studies.

For $900 a month.

Young and fresh (full of energy!!), I continued my job applications undeterred and finally struck gold when one of the hospitals accepted me a month later for $1,500/mth exc overtime. Saying bye bye to a desk job had never been so rewarding in my life.

[alan0338]

camp for more...

[assrammer]

knn...... study DNA only get $900 starting pay? road sweeper earn the same leh........ wtf??!?!?!?? ........ anyway........ continue story bro........ hehehhe.......

[Spikerman]

camping camping camping

[spikyone]

Haha during my semester breaks I did attachments in Various labs. The longest one was in a DNA lab. Thats why the law firm hired me, without a law degree, for $900 just for that few mths of DNA experience. Mind you, I was a freshie and not in law.

[HarryPotter1]

camping here too .....

[spikyone]

THE "DREAM JOB" LOCATION

"Hi G, welcome to our workplace. We've been looking forward to having you here. Its about time, staff has been difficult to come by. Let's get you introduced to the rest of the staff and brief you on the working style and equipment.

In the beginning, you will be directly under me as you need to come up to speed with the equipment. Once you are familiar, then I will second you and then hopefully after three months you will be able to take the night calls."

"Thank you for accepting me, Mr. Y. I understand"
"Good. Let's go and introduce you to your new colleagues then."

So this was it. To finally work in a place which I was trained for. It was good. Well equipped and segregated in an open format, with seven of us. The hierarchy was simple. My boss, Mr. Y, Mr. L, his second in command and his secretary Ms. S. Then came the rest of us four horizontally on the chart, each responsible for a section with Mr L running his own section.

Work in the beginning was hard, as you can imagine with only four floor staff. But it was happy times for me as I finally felt that I belonged in a place I should be.
This went on for about three months. I was getting to grips with the machines and the workflow, as well as my colleagues. By this time I was able to work the machines myself as well as do the perfunctionary paperwork. In other words, I was almost ready for the night duties.

I also observed a couple of things during my first few months there. Everyone was keen to see the newbie. Our location was in the lowest level, which meant that while the other departments were higher, ours was the only one which looked out towards the sea not even five hundred metres away. The best part was we were located a stone's throw from the hospital cafe.

What did this mean?

It meant that everyone, from doctors to nurses, receptionists and secretaries passed by our front door to the canteen. With a strict one hour lunch break, most times I could be seen lunching alone while other departmental cliques had their lunch groups. Needless to say there was a lot of peeking in our door and I was the subject of most lunch conversations for those few months.

Now, by nature I'm not an outgoing person. And I had a chip on my shoulder. I felt the need to prove myself.

[spikyone]

THE DECADES PRIOR

When I was very young, my parents had been poor, but they worked hard to climb. Being raised in that situation had given me a lot of experiences. Imagine being sent to a school where kids were being dropped off in luxury cars, basketball cards were traded freely and spending on Tamiya toys and Sega games every other month.

Me?

My dad had a coin tray, like most every other Chinese household has. Everyday he would empty his wallet of coins into that tray and I was allowed to take from there for my allowance.

How much? Sixty cents. Just enough for a rice packet. That's how poor we were initially. How does a kid expect to make friends when there is no common topic?

"Hey do you trade cards/play ball/tamiya?"

"Umm, no. Sorry."

"Oh, ok. Thought you did."

Of course my parents had focused on the necessary, sent me to a good school and make sure I had good nutrition and tuition, I am forever grateful for that. And by now they had done pretty ok but those early years had shaped me.

From sharing a rented house with two other families, to moving above the company workshop, to accompanying my parents to buy their first commercially built house, and subsequent ones, I had witnessed and been a part of the struggle in the early years' struggles of the typical salaryman in the early 90's. One particular incident stays fresh in my mind, even until today.

My dad's boss had been wanting to trade in his Land Rover for a while now and my dad had been tasked with finding a replacement which would involve finding anyone willing to take it in for a decent trade in. This was around the time I had finished my Form Six and was looking for universities.

One day, my dad came back and put a cheque down on the dining table.

"Son, is this enough for your studies?"

I looked at the figure. I looked up at my dad, with my mum having a contemplative look in the background.

"One hundred and twenty thousand dollars only, cash A/C Payee non negotiable."

"Yes, that's enough. Where did you get that from?"

"No lah, boss decided already. ABC Motors decided to take his car. That's for his new Audi A6."

"Oh"

Now my dad knew I had a real passion for cars, it still burns brightly today.

That was just his version of a teaser for me, a kick in the pants for me to get off my butt and make a decision to study and get working as soon as I graduated.

He knew that by showing me that it would inspire me to get going so I could study and graduate to earn a decent wage to buy the cars I wanted to buy. What parents I had.

[NewM00n]

Sounds promising . Waiting for next instalment.

[spikyone]

BACK TO WORK

Finishing my lunch early, I stood up and promptly spilled my drink onto my lap. Great. Then I heard laughter from the table on my left. Not a condescending one, the type of giggling that can only come from a group of girls that have been watching you. Looking left, I saw the clinic receptionist with her clique giggling. At me. Shrugging my shoulders with a comical gesture of defeat, I waved goodbye and went to the lab locker to clean up.

As I sat down at our receptionist's table, I saw the door open and lo and behold, guess who walked in?

The then hottest wanted receptionist from the clinic upstairs, followed by her clique of two others.

"Hi, G.", the three of them chorused in tandem.

"Hi..." I replied.

"What can I do for you?"

"Oh nothing, we just wanted to come in to see you. Its lunch break anyway and we had nothing to do. Where is A?", the prettiest one asked.

"A" was my colleague on lunch duty at that time.

"A is inside working and I'll need to relieve her later so she can go for lunch."

"Oh I see. Ok then. By the way, my name is E and my friends here are C and D. We work in the clinic upstairs. Anyway we'll be seeing you around then."

With a swish and a wave, she walked out with what I think was a purposely exaggerated sway of her hips. As the door closed, A walked in.

"Waah G. Itu E kah? Macam nak kenal you saja?"

"No lah, I'm sure she just wanted to know who works here to facilitate her work communications la."

"Ya ke? Haha ok la, I go for lunch now ya?"

"Ok ok I'm here anyway. Enjoy your lunch"

Sitting there, I started processing what had just happened. Now E was wanted by all of the single guys working in the hospital, and I'm sure some of the married ones as well.

She wasn't tall, in fact she was petite, with a slim waist and flaring hips, with a heart shaped face and pouty lips a guy would die for to see on his member. She was also the hospital chairman's great niece.

I guess that was why she could get away with the dusty brown hair, fitting cut uniform and heels.

"Hey G, back so fast from lunch?"

"Hi Mr Y, yes, I didnt go out. Well, I guess its time to get back to work then."

"Sure. Oh by the way, your performance is not bad, think you're ready to start night duty already. How does next week sound? You can take my last two for the month. Don't worry, I will supervise you for the first few night calls while you do it then we'll see how it goes from there."

"Ok Mr Y, thanks."

Finally. Now was the chance to earn some money. Each call typically took about 40 minutes and overtime was calculated at $20/hr which meant that I would be compensated for the driving time too. On a typical night there would be around two to three calls as well as the early morning call so there was quite some money to be made.

Smiling to myself, I set about doing my work.

[spikyone]

A GUY'S FIRST LOVE

I had been assimilated into the work routine quite well now. In the six months I was there, I had already been initiated into night duty, had finally made some friends and lunch buddies from the Engineering and the Procurement Department. E had also been coming down on and off to chat with us, I think to chat with me primarily, and oh, I bought a new car.

The typical young Chinese "just started work" car which had some street cred-the Toyota Vios. My dad had wanted me to learn the value of a dollar so much that he had practically forced me into buying a new car on a 7 year loan and a $5000 deposit, just so I could learn the meaning of servicing a loan.

Of course I bought the manual one. And the bodykit. And the rims. Idiot. Basic manual car $18000 and the rims and bodykit cost $4000. That was high spec Vios money but I just had to have the manual.

That was probably the most well maintained car in the parking lot. The fact that I had been initiated into the monthly OT schedule meant that I had an extra $3-400 to spend every month. I was the first one to have modified lights and a carbon fibre strut bar. And the sound system. Which I upgraded. Thrice.

That was my first love. Modifying cars. By this time E was also considered a friend, along with her "gang" and we could be seen lunching together sometimes. Of course we took my car. Funny how a 10 minute drive to lunch can become a 10 minute karaoke session.

[spikyone]

THE ANNUAL DINNER

Asking Me Out?

It was then around October when I heard rumours that the hospital was finally making some money. As a reward, the Chairman had decided to host an annual dinner in some fancy golf club next to the hospital for all the staff.

Apparently this was a very big deal as it was the first of its kind ever to be organized. To be honest, I hated this kind of function. I knew I would be very awkward and besides, I couldn't dance.

"Hey G, are you going to the dinner?"

I snapped my head around from my pc only to nearly smash my face into E's.

"Wah, scared me eh. No I don't think so. Maybe I want to be the standby for that night duty."

"Why? Whaaaiiyyy? I have no one else to ask. I want you to go, I'm telling you. Otherwise you're not on my team." E pouted.

I just continued doing my work for a while. E had tried getting someone to ask me if I was going previously but I was quite coy about it and had forced her hand now. To be honest, I had a feeling that E usually got what she wanted at home and at work, plainly spoilt. It felt good.

"Ok ok. I'll try to make it, but it depends on Mr Y if he will allocate me to standby duty or not that night. So no promises, ok?"

With a face that suddenly lit up like a bulb she replied "Yeessss!! Ok I know he will let you go, for sure!" See you then."

Turning back and watching her leave, watching those swaying hips and swishing hair, suddenly I was aware of a stirring in my loins.

The closeness of her face just now had made me aware of her big watery eyes and pouty lips. I had also sneaked a peek down her translucent uniform blouse and had seen twin mounds of white globes of flesh, encased by a pink bra. I wonder if she had done it on purpose.

[spikyone]

Showtime!

It was the night of the dinner. The day before Mr Y had said Mr L would be on duty and it gave me no reason not to go. So reluctantly I went. For some funny reason the news had spread that E had asked me to be her partner and the guys were ribbing me about it. I went alone and quickly shook the Chairman's hand and sat at a corner table next to my lunch kakis.

E had arrived and was dressed in a stunning plunging necklined gown, but I tried to avoid her as much as possible in the dim lighting.

Alas it was not to be.

As the dance floor started, suddenly I was tugged onto it by none other than E herself. Resigning myself to my fate that I would be high profile after this, I decided to make the most of it. Twirling her around in no apparent dance rythm apparently was enough to satisfy her. After the whole event, I decided to walk back to the corporate carpark rather than take the shuttle bus. Thinking that it would foil E in her heels too.

Wishful thinking.

Suddenly she appeared right beside me and as we walked back towards the main building the shuttle bus passed us by, accompanied by wolf whistles.

"Why, G? You don't look happy. Is it because I asked you to dance."

"Well, yes. But anyway its done so nothing we can do about it now."

"Its ok you don't have to worry about them, just me."

Stealing a glance at her, here was a fine petite specimen of a girl walking beside me, in a gown, I suddenly had a thought.

"Let's go to my rest place."

"Let me bring you somewhere.", I said.

"Ok!" She replied, with a happy face.

I took her to the lift and went up to the top floor where our allocated rest area was. In effect it was our night duty rest room, with a bed provided and only our section held the key.

"What is this? Why you bring me here?"

"I just want to talk with you." I said.

Obviously not. We chatted a bit and I ended up giving her a shoulder massage and sent her off at the lift with a kiss on the cheek.

I waited a while and went down myself to my car and drove home, wondering what I had done.
The next few days I tried unsuccessfully to lay low as gossip had spread that I had been a partner of E and to my credit, luckily I saw her off at the lift upstairs first and witnesses saw her leaving the car park alone and that stemmed the speculative rumours about us from going off into space.