It had been a most exhausting day. Nothing seemed to go right; it was one obstacle after another.

But to his credit he never gave up, not for a second. After all he was determined his actions not go unnoticed and that the hand of the beautiful maiden, Olivia, who worked in the front office, would be within his reach.

But today was not his day. From the get go things had gone unexpectedly wrong. The kettle had sprung a leak, the toast burnt to a crisp and his morning cereal tasted decidedly nasty.

He had great plans that today was going to be a day when he impressed not only Olivia but his bosses as well. But as we know sometimes luck does not shine upon us and as he stood on the train station and heard the announcement that his train had been cancelled he knew he would be more up against it than he anticipated.

He even bought a small chocolate to leave on her desk, but he knew by the time he arrived at work now he had to catch a later train it might well be morning tea time. It was a hot day as well and soggy chocolate was not going to impress anyone.

So eventually he arrived at his work place, looked around and saw everyone hard at it, his boss staring daggers at him but with a slight shrug of his shoulders in his direction he settled himself to the task at hand. He then noticed that page six of an important report was missing, he needed page six as it held the summation of the report and without it he couldn’t move forward and couldn’t meet the deadline. He searched everywhere, on his desk, the floor, the bin; it was nowhere to be seen. He had everyone in the office looking as well just as Olivia came in carrying the next lot of work assignments.

He gulped as he saw her, he lowered his head as he heard his co-workers say they were looking for something HE had lost, he dared not look in her direction in case she too was showing dissatisfaction at his perceived incompetence.

He retraced his steps and discovered the missing paper, buried under his mouse pad. Feeling relieved and stupid at the same time he doubled his efforts.

He skipped lunch to try and make up for the lost time.

By afternoon tea time he was onto the newly arrived tasks and was feeling good when he took a bathroom break going via the front office where Olivia worked. There he saw her flirting with the head cashier and his heart sunk. He stopped and asked her a question, one he regretted, after all who was he to ask her how her day was going. She replied politely obviously aware of his earlier indiscretions.

As he left the front office he heard the muffled giggles from those conversing instead of working. He felt his face redden, hoped the floor would open up and swallow him.

As the day came to an end he wondered what could possibly happen now, his chances of impressing Olivia and anyone for that matter had all gone down the gurgler.

He was quite despondent as the day ended, the prospect of the walk to the train station, the inevitable wait and the real possibility of delayed or cancelled trains didn’t do anything to life his spirits.

An email appeared on his computer: A message from Olivia: “Would you like a lift home?”

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2016/11/10/tale-weaver-93-november-10-never-give-up/