Stranger Things

In the dictionary, between “ordinance” and “ordination” is Julius Strange. Julius, or Jules as his friend calls him, is the very definition of ordinary; usual, customary, mediocre, regular, like a high fiber diet. From his fluffy brown hair, to his average sized feet, everything about him is normal.

The only oddity surrounding Julius is his last name. The Strange family prides itself on its unusual name. Many of Julius’ relatives look at it as permission to act like crazy people. His family has a surplus of wacky uncles, and slightly off, possibly retarded cousins. Given his family’s pedigree, Julius was expected, almost required to act a little quirky.

“If someone asks,” Julius’ father used to say, “Just tell them you’re Strange!”

Apparently, it’s ok to be eccentrically flamboyant when your last name calls for it, but Julius didn’t want people to ask. He liked normal; ordinary was his best friend, simplicity his way of life, and beige his favorite color. He was fine with being fine, and his life reflected it.

As a desk jockey at Globitrex, a massive mega media conglomerate, his job was as safely boring as he could hope for. When the stock market crashed in 2010, the country looked to giant corporations like Globitrex, Microsoft and General Electric to help pull it out of debt. The economy took a hit, the balance of power shifted, and America sat on shaky legs for a while. Fresh out of college, Julius managed to snatch a position as a data processor for Globitrex. His father said it was because of his memorable last name; Julius liked to think it was because of his outstanding resume full of internships and fry cook experience.

His workdays usually consisted of eight hours of number crunching, mulling over vague fact sheets and invoices he was taught to read, punctuated by a thirty-minute lunch break, where he ate his usual turkey and cheese sandwich, original flavor baked Doritos, and a juice box. The days blended together, as there was little to distinguish one from the other. It seemed to be a place full of Julius Strange’s, ordinary people working ordinary jobs, at an ordinary super company.

Normally, Julius wouldn’t be excited about going in to work. It’s not that he didn’t like it; he loved the predictability of it all. It just wasn’t the kind of job that kept him up at night shaking with anticipation. Nothing special ever happened at Globitrex. Except for today. Today would be a special day. Not only was it Julius’ birthday, but it was also the day he would receive the completion bonus.

When Julius started two years ago, his superiors, who communicated through a pop-up video window on his computer monitor, promised him and his fellow data crunchers, a special completion bonus when all the data was completely crunched. Today, Julius would scan his final report, type in one last string of numbers, and then he would celebrate. What the special bonus was, or what he would do after the work ends was a mystery, but knowing Globitrex, the next merger, takeover, or buyout was just around the corner. As much as he liked the normalcy of his job, having a single special day after 573 consecutive ordinary days was kind of exciting.

Julius straightened his cream colored tie, threw on his beige cloth satchel, smoothed his shaggy hair down and took one last glance at the mirror. The rumor going around the office was that the best data cruncher would get an extra bonus—a bonus bonus. He didn’t know much about his coworker’s productivity, but he was confident that he was at least in consideration for the prize. His reflection smiled at him. Today was no ordinary day.