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This item was written for the "15 for 15 Contest --- Starts June 6"
 contest where participants are given a photograph and can write about it for 15 minutes onlyToday's picture showed an Indy race car driver drinking milk to celebrate his victory. To see the picture, visit the contest forum linked above. Look for "Past Image Prompts" beneath the current prompt photo, and click on "June 15" - Win. “Great news!” Kyle chirped, slapping a passel of papers to Lex’s chest. Lex looked with disdain upon upon the hand holding the papers against his freshly-pressed shirt and looked away. Even though they were business partners, his brother’s antics still annoyed him. “What news is that?” he asked, making no move to take the papers thrust upon him. Kyle raised an eyebrow and removed his hand from the folder; Lex instinctively grabbed it before it fell, then frowned. “Made ya jump,” Kyle chided with a childish grin. “What news is that?” Lex repeated, dropping the file into the mail tray on his desk. Kyle waved a folded sheet of paper beneath his brother’s nose. “The sweet smell of victory,” he began, running the letter under his own nose, inhaling deeply. “The National Dairy Association accepted our bid for its new national advertising campaign. They sent some sample photos to get us started.” Lex backed away as Kyle shoved the paper toward him. “Kyle, no. Don’t do this to me.” Feigning innocence, Kyle’s face contorted into a look of hurt betrayal. “Why Lexington, my dearest brother, what ever are you insinuating?” Rubbing his forehead, Lex turned toward his desk and the folder in the mail tray. “Don’t give me this account.” “But you’re the most experienced and most qualified to handle it,” Kyle protested, making a mock appeal. Lex knew he’d never win an argument with his younger brother. He hadn’t since they were children. His parents would either side with Kyle because he was the younger brother or they would ignore the argument so they wouldn’t have to tell Kyle he was wrong and then step in to change the subject. “Come on, Lex, just give it a quick look. I’m sure it will win you over,” Kyle insisted. Lex refused, pushing the unopened folder at his brother. “I’m not going to do it.” “Well, give me one good reason why not,” Kyle exploded. “One good reason? I’ll give you three good reasons: my integrity, my peace of mind, and my health!” Lex’s face was red with frustration as he stormed past his brother. In the hallway he filled a cup at the water cooler and swallowed a small pink pill for his heart. “Now calm down Lex; don't you think you’re making a little too much out of things,” Kyle said patronizingly. “I’ve never done anything to intentionally hurt you, have I? Have I?” Lex balled his fists and shoved them deep in his pockets. He wanted to pound his brother to a pulp but resisted the urge. “Remember the Synthe-Tech account a few years ago?” Kyle hid his guilty smirk by pretending to scratch his lip as Lex continued. “You know I pride myself on trying each and every product before I advertise them. That’s why you gave me that account. You knew I couldn’t wear plastic shoes, but to uphold my integrity, I’d have to wear them to give the best advertisement I could. And you also knew I’d keep my personal discomfort with the product out of the ads because my inability to wear plastic shoes shouldn't cancel out the millions of people who can and love them.” “But that was a very successful ad campaign,” Kyle commended. “What’s the big deal? So you wore plastic shoes for a day. So what?” “So I broke out with hives and itched for weeks; I had to take Prednisone as an anti-inflammatory drug because over-the-counter drugs weren’t strong enough to knockout the subcutaneous irritation! I swelled up like a balloon on that stuff, and when I was finally finished, I had a fungal infection on my feet and lower legs because the Prednisone caused an imbalance with the bacterium that normally control such things.” Kyle snickered, remembering. “I think I do recall something about that. Was that when you came to work in that ridiculous outfit? You know the one… you looked like a giant beach ball in shorts with too much sunscreen on your legs; and those hilarious leather sandals that made you look like a chubby, middle-aged gladiator! I have a picture of that in my office.” Lex shook his head in disgust. “That’s exactly what I mean. You do these things to me on purpose and you know it.” “Gees, I pull a stunt on you one time and you think I’m out to get you. I thought you had a better sense of humor than that,” Kyle replied. Closing his eyes, Lex felt his blood pressure rising. “One time? How about the time you gave me the Yum-Yum Snack Cake account… when I was on a diet?” “Well...” Kyle began but Lex interrupted. “Or what about the Party-Bev account? You handed me that the day after I told you I had joined AA. What, pray tell, do you think drove me to drinking in the first place?” Lex seethed. “But…” “Then it was Earth Breads, and you know I’m allergic to wheat; the Pro Club account so you could humiliate me in front of friends and sponsors because you know I don’t golf; and then there's the little matter of the Value-Time cellular service account, when you gave me the phone loaded with women’s phone numbers and paid your lady friends to call me at all hours of the day and night. Marcy almost divorced me over that prank!” Kyle bit his lip hard to keep from laughing. “Now, Lex, you can’t possibly think I did all of that; and intentionally?” “No, no, you’d never do that, would you Kyle? Who do you suppose loaded the glove box of my car with prophylactics and ladies undergarments during that same time period, knowing our other car was in the shop and Marcy would be driving me to work and keeping that one?” Kyle couldn’t contain himself and broke out in gales of laughter that echoed through the corridor. “I’m not doing it,” Lex shouted stomping back to his office. A slam of the door set the pictures crooked. His hands were shaking with anger as he straightened the frames, taking a moment to gaze into the loving eyes of his wife, trying to regain his composure. A knock at the door announced the return of his brother. “Go away and let me work in peace,” Lex said. The door opened anyhow. “Didn’t you hear me? What part of ‘go away’ didn’t you understand?” “Lex, I…” Kyle began softly. Expecting his brother might be working up to a rare apology, Lex allowed him to continue. “I just wanted to say that I, uh, well…you’re the best ad manager at the company; even better than me. And I wanted you to know that you’re the only one I trust to handle the National Dairy Association account, so I’m assigning it to you.” Kyle slid the file across the desk with a toothy grin, turned quickly and left the office, closing the door. One day I'm going to smack that smug grin right off your face Lex thought, fuming. He flipped the file open with the tip of his pencil and rolled his eyes at the photos of celebrities chugging milk and eating dairy products. Closing the file, he picked up the phone and headed for the small closet in the corner. Dialing the number, he patiently waited for an answer. After a brief conversation, he made another call. “Marcy, I just wanted you to know I’m quitting my job. I’ll be home in an hour and we’ll go to lunch to celebrate.” Lex replaced the receiver in the cradle, filled a box with his personal effects and headed for the door. Turning back to the office he thought of one final thing he needed to do. Taking a pad and pen from the desk drawer he scrawled a note: “Hay is for horses; straw is for cows; and milk is for babies, to shut their mouths.” With the box under his arm, Lex walked passed his brother’s office and slid the file under the door. As he reached the stairs, his brother’s voice caught up to him. “What’s this supposed to mean?” he cried. “It means ‘I quit’,” Lex answered calmly. “Over a dairy account? You quit over a dairy account?” “Yup. Lactose intolerant,” he replied without looking back. As he drove out of the lot he stopped and handed his brother a business card with their biggest competitor’s name emblazoned across the top. “Besides, I got a better offer: Ad Solutions has cookies.”
© Copyright 2008 justme (UN: debwrites at Writing.Com).
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