Hiding in the dark

Ever chew on a shoe?  Suck on your toes?  It's not very fun.  I know cause I did this last night.  8:30pm. I was at Wheeler and had just finished up with a customer dinner.  I was talking to Paul (Uncle), and Brian (Cousin) in the lobby after everyone had left when the elevator door randomly opened, but it was empty.  The Ghost of JK Wheeler was in the building.  Paul went on to explain that that is what they say when the elevator does that, because JK (Wheeler's founder) died in his office.  This was news to me and Brian.  So Paul took us down to where his office used to be which is now part of the merchandise area.  As we walked through the merchandise area, all the lights were out, everyone was gone for the day.  We went back and looked at the former office turned vending machine room.  As we were back there I was reminded of a story my dad told me a few months back about Martin Cruz, the 80 year old parts department greeter who has been working at Wheeler for about the last 78 years.  It goes like this in his own words.

So there I was 15 or 20 years ago.  It was a Saturday morning, about 7am.  The phone rang and it was Martin.  
 - "Mr. Campbell, I'm just calling to let you know that my wife passed away last night."
- "Martin, I'm so sorry to hear that.   Please let me know if there is anything I can do."
- "Thank you, I will."
Fast forward 10 minutes.  Phone rings again.
  - "Hello"
  - "Hi Mr. Campbell, it's Martin again.  I'm just calling to let you know that my wife isn't dead.  Have a nice day."
- "Ummmm .....ok......glad to hear......."
I've never dared ask him about what happened that morning with his wife.


Naturally since we're talking about people passing away, I tell Brian and Paul the story.  We all get a good chuckle out of it and start walking back to the lobby.  As we're walking back I walk in front of Martin's desk. Out of the corner of my eye, I see that the light is on at his desk.  And Martin is sitting there.  I say "Hi Martin" and keep walking as fast as I can.  Why he was sitting alone in the dark in the parts department that closed 3 hours before, I don't know.  I do know that I am never going to ask him why he was there.  Open foot, insert mouth.