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It was twelve o’clock the next day before Joel woke to the sound of his mobile ringing. It felt like he was in the bell tower of a church and the pain made him want to be sick. He pulled the mobile phone out of his pocket and tried to focus his eyes on who was ringing. Slowly, as his eyes focused. He could see it was his boss Derrick.
“Hello.” Joel said, in a croaky voice.
“Joel. Where the fuck are you?”
“I’m err...”
“Hey, you don’t need to bullshit me again. The security guards already told me and again they found your empty Vodka bottle. What the hell is going on?”
“Sorry, I just stayed late and had one too many.”
“No Joel. This was the last time. You must get this drinking under control. You did remember the shareholder meeting today, didn’t you?”
Joel had not, and he was just remembering last night's revelations that his long-suffering wife had left him. This dream he had created was now falling apart and everything suddenly looked like it was pointless and the last thing he needed right now was a long boring meeting with a load of over privileged rich bastards.
“What time is it?”
“Jesus Joel. You know how important it is to keep the money machine turning the cogs or this project isn’t getting past the test stage, let alone the human trials that you do know are in less than two weeks or has that slipped your pickled brain also!” Derrick said sarcastically.
“No, I have not, and I will be at work in an hour.”
“You had better be, and any more of these slip ups and to be honest. I cannot guarantee your position at this firm any longer. Management is already having concerns and if you insist on drinking yourself out of a career here, then that’s your choice, but me and you being old friends isn’t going to stop that happening.”
“Okay... okay I get it.”
“I hope you do because we are so close now, and if you mess it up at this stage, don't bother to come back.”
“An hour okay.”
They both rang off and Joel sat back in the chair and looked at the photo that he had next to him, as he sat there staring at it, thinking how he could put all this right. There was no way other than to clean up his act and do what he knew he should not be going to do. It was his last hope to get Susan back and this time tomorrow, Joel felt like he would be the man she had always wanted, fertile.
––––––––
An hour later, Joel was walking into his lab with Derrick sat at his desk looking over the results that Joel had been calculating the previous night. He looked up at Joel and was not impressed at what he saw.
“Really Joel. You have not even put a suit on. Did you not hear me when I said we have a meeting today and in less than one hour, and you look like shit?”
Joel did feel rough and right now, all he wanted was a shot of Vodka to try to take the edge off, but with this crap he had to wade through today. It looked like it would have to wait, and he was just hoping the sweats and shakes would hold off. The demon in his head was already banging the door and it would not be long before he showed he was not waiting for his next drink.
“Look, you're in no state for this today, and I am not letting any of them see you like this. Take the day off. I can see the final tests are all looking complete so it's a green light for the human trials and that’s all they will want off us today.”
“I’m fine, a couple of coffees and a wash and I will be good to go.”
“No, you won't, and take my advice and this is off the record. Get some help, because this drinking is killing you and do it before you lose this job and everything else.”
“It's under control.”
“No, stop this denial Joel. Look at yourself, go look in the mirror. You are sweating like a pig and I bet you have the shakes. You're an alcoholic and it pains me to say this, but you need help and quick or all this will be gone, and I dread to think what Susan is thinking.”
“She’s left me.”
“Fuck Joel, you should have said.”
“It doesn’t matter. It's all turning to shit so what’s the point.”
“Don’t you bail on me now. There is a lot of money invested in this and you had better keep it together until after the trials or I swear I will kick your ass all over this place. Look, take the day off and get yourself some sleep and stay off the booze. We can manage the project from here and the human trials need to be approved so that gives you two weeks to sort your shit out.”
Joel just half smiled and turned to make his way out the office. He had been good friends with Derrick for many years, and he knew he was just looking out for him and a good sleep would help right now. It would hopefully clear this mist that was clogging his brain.
––––––––
Derrick watched him leave and was disappointed at such a great friend and scientist, that had fallen so far in such a short time. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he had no choice and was going to have to put him on indefinite leave and if he did not show signs of getting better, he was going to have to fire him. It would not be easy having been close friends for so long, but this was a business, and he could not keep overlooking the drinking and it would only be a matter of time before the mistakes started to creep in and with so much money involved. He had to look after the business interests first.
Derrick flicked through the last of the final test results and everything was looking good and as he turned the final page of Joel’s report, there it was. The glitch he was hoping was not there. There was a spike in the chemical reaction part of the results, and it was a massive spike that should not have been there. It looked like that there was going to have to be more testing to find out what had caused such a large reaction, but it would have to wait for now, and he would have to conceal it until Joel could see if it were going to be a problem before they gave this new drug to the test subjects in two weeks’ time. Hopefully, it was nothing, Derrick mused. It was a hiccup he could have done without at this late stage. He had his own plans to sort out and this was going to delay everything he had been wanting for such a long time. Derrick was never blessed with a huge manhood. It worked fine, but his wife had taken the piss out of him for years over it and how he could only last for a few seconds before he went limp again. He had grown to hate her and had even planned to divorce her if he had the balls. The only trouble was, Derrick did not like being broke, because it was her family that had inherited the family money, and she never let him forget that for a second. He could have given up work years ago, but the thought of being in the house with her moaning and complaining about their sex lives all day long, he just could not face that day in day out and so work became his hide away from her, but he would have the last laugh one day, Derrick thought, as his mind went back to the job in hand.