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about two feet up to the floor. David leaped out of the elevator and turned around to offer Nadine a hand.
    “Thanks,” Nadine said, taking his hand and heaving herself up out of the deathtrap that she vowed here and now never to set foot in again.
    Once on the outside, she hugged him again. There came more tears against her will. They were tears of relief.
    “I must look a total mess,” she said.
    “No,” he replied. “You made it through and that’s the important part. And, hey, you saved us. If you hadn’t kicked the side so aggressively, we’d still be in there.”
    “I got us into the situation. I can’t take any credit for getting us out. I’m sorry. I’ll never stray from procedure again.”
    “Well, I’m not going to keep you to that. Life is about straying from procedure.”
    “Not for me, it isn’t. I’ve learned my lesson.”
    “So, you don’t want to go down to the basement anymore? What about the stock down there?”
    “There are better ways of getting a bonus. Let’s go back inside.”
    They walked through the double doors and Nadine promptly took her seat again and opened her drawer, got out a mirror and examined herself.
    “Oh my God,” she exclaimed. “Frightening.” She was red in the face, her eye makeup had smeared and there were dark stains streaking down her cheeks.
    “You got scared. Could happen to anyone.”
    “I wasn’t scared. It was a panic attack. There’s a big difference.”
    “Okay,” David conceded.
    “There is,” Nadine insisted defensively. She tensed up again. She went from being a discombobulated mess to resuming her collected demeanor. There was a compact mirror in her top desk drawer that she used to get herself together. Once she had fixed her makeup stains, she dug through her purse, found some mascara and applied it.
    She looked up from her desk and caught him watching her. Why is he looking at me like that?
    “What?” she asked.
    “Nothing.” He shook his head. David smiled. “So, I guess it’s time to get back to work now.”
    “Well, yeah. Still a couple more hours left before quitting time.”
    “Nadine, I think you’re in shock.”
    “I am not.”
    “You are. You don’t realize it because you’re obviously under a lot of stress, but you’re in shock. You might want to call it quits early today.”
    “No.”
    “No?” He approached her desk. “Ten minutes ago, you thought you were experiencing the last precious minutes of your life. You can’t tell me that you’re eager to get back to whatever it is you do at your desk.”
    “Work, David,” she said in a condescending tone. “It’s called work.”
    “Okay,” he said with a tone of absolute non-belief. “If you say so.”
    “I have to get my bonus this year. It’s the only possibility. I can’t settle for anything less.”
    “All right. I’m not arguing. Back to work it is.”
    David took up the price gun and began to lay out more textbooks.
     
    * * * *
     
    A little before the afternoon shift was over, David approached Nadine’s desk. She was so engrossed in the spreadsheet she had on her computer screen that she jumped when he entered into her peripheral vision.
    “Shhh,” he said. “It’s okay.”
    “You could have me fired for endangering you and not following procedure.”
    “I’d never do that. Don’t stress out.”
    “Is it that noticeable that I’m a total stress case?”
    “Probably not to others,” he said, trying to put her at ease. “But I saw you face your own mortality this afternoon, so you can’t fool me.”
    Nadine looked directly into his eyes.
    “Sometimes I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing.” Her delivery was simple, as though she was merely stating fact.
    “Anything I can help with? I did used to deal with distributors in the past.” He motioned to her computer. He would do anything to be useful to her.
    “It’s not work,” she admitted. As though she was thinking it out loud for the first time, she said,