The Trouble with Dessert

For the next few blogs it will be Mystery. A mystery story that is and at the end, we'll see who knows what happened. This is my first attempt so please excuse the mistakes. Unless there are many then by all means, burn me at the stake. Here we go:



Mary never liked eating in the cafeteria. It was always full of noise and strange odors. However, because of her short lunch hour, she was forced to eat in the cafeteria more times then she cared to remember. Her boss, Mr. Hughs would take a 3-hour all-expense paid lunch at one of the finer restaurants in town. This left Mary with his workload. She didn't mind. She preferred her boss to be out of the office more than not. Today, she was shocked though at Mr. Hughs' choice to take a long lunch. His boss had stopped in for one of his surprise visits. Apparently, they were not impressed with Mr. Hughs' expense sheet. Mr. Hughs got raked over the coals till his face was the color of melted lava. It remained that way a long time after his boss had left. However, about an hour before Mary's usual lunch time, Mr. Hughs approached Mary with a conspiratorial smile upon his face.
"Mary, make reservations for two at Chez Monique for 1 p.m.," he told her.
"Yes Mr. Hughs," Mary was always getting in trouble for speaking her mind. That is why she couldn't resist saying, "Do you think that is wise after the visit from Mr. Cragicze?"
"Not that it is any of your business, but I don't think Mr. Cragicze will be anymore trouble," Mr. Hughs, knowing Mary's capacity for questions, left after making that statement.
Mary made the reservations at the most expensive restaurant in town. She wondered the whole time about Mr. Hughs' comment. Mr. Cragicze was the co-owner of the company. There was no way that Mr. Hughs could muscle him out of his current position. Maybe Mr. Hughs had a big connection to the other owner. Mary decided to go get coffee. Not for the coffee itself, but to receive information from some fellow gossip lovers. It must be a good day for Mary because the biggest information gatherer was sitting at a table sipping her coffee gingerly. This meant two things, that she had information that she desperately wanted to share and that her coffee was very hot. Mary made her coffee and then sat down. She really couldn't afford the time without staying late that evening. She felt like this might be worth it though.
"Hi Kim, how is your day going?" Mary asked.
"Good Mary, I heard you had quite the morning."
"Not me so much as Mr. Hughs."
"I could hear Mr. Cragicze all the way down at my desk. I don't know why he bothers though."
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Well, Mr. Hughs is married to Mrs. Hughs who owns the other half of this company.""I was wondering. He is eating today at Chez Moniques."
"I am shocked to hear that."
"Really, why?"
"This is just office gossip. However, I heard that Mr. Hughs is banned from Chez Moniques. His wife had him banned for bringing his latest armcandy there for lunch."
"That is very tacky."
"True. Mrs. Hughs allows his affairs as long as she doesn't hear about them. Taking them to her favorite restaurant is a different matter all together."
"I would say so!"
"Do you know, I wonder if that's why Mr. Cragicze chewed Mr. Hughs out this morning?"
"How do you mean?"
"Maybe Mr. Hughs wife has had enough. I heard CiCi talking on the phone. She was making an appointment for Mrs. Hughs' with her attorney."
"I didn't know that Mrs. Hughs worked here in the office."
"She doesn't. Her specialties are shopping and taking long vacations. CiCi was having a slow morning and so she received the phone call from Mrs. Hughs."
"Why call the secretary pool to make a personal phone call? Oh, I think I know. To spread around the fact that she is seeing her attorney. She won't be divorcing Mr. Hughs anytime soon."
"Why not?"
"She is letting him know in a roundabout way that he better tow-the-line. She must have worked here one time to realize how fast office gossip spreads."
Kim felt a little offended by this remark. She knew she was the one to spread most of the gossip. She quickly grabbed her coffee and said goodbye to Mary. Mary went back to her desk and worked until her stomach demanded some sustenance. She hoped that by stopping off at the horrific cafeteria she would save some of the time she wasted. She waited in the unbelievably long line. Unbelievable in the fact that this many people actually ate at the cafeteria. When she finally got to the food, there wasn't much left except a grayish Jell-O mold. Not surprising, no one else had touched it. She looked at the lunch lady in hope of more food. She just shook her head and pointed to the Jell-O. Mary went over to the mold and tried to decide whether she would take the plunge. It had a strange white looking filling. She peered closer. That is when she realized eyes were looking back at her through the Jell-O. Those eyes had no more life in them however and they belonged to Mr. Cragicze!