Smith came around to Joey's side and together they sunk down to see what they could see.
"OK, that's the power cable from my monitor, the cord for my mouse, the game controller, the power cord for the CPU. What's that one?" Joey realized he was whispering. He coughed, as if he had something in his throat.
Smith looked puzzled. "Is that red one coax?" He whispered, too.
Around them, the office was coming to life with the sounds of people getting ready to go home. Bailing right at 5:30 was what Joey had planned to do, too, but now he wanted to know. He put his head under the desk to get a better look.
"What are you guys doing?" said a female voice behind them.
Joey smacked his head on the bottom of his desk. Smith spun around.
"Oh. Hi, Callie," he said.
Callie was the one girl with a desk in the programmers' room. She was wearing striped black and white tights and a black denim skirt she must have saved from a shredder. By the time Joey looked up to her white shirt and black pigtails he felt himself blushing.
Smith saved him. "We think there's something under the desk. A mouse maybe."
Callie's eyebrows went up and she leaned down to get a look. "Whoa! You guys be careful down there. It looks like you could have opened a gateway to hell."
She grinned and wiggled her fingers at them. "Ever heard of Cthulhu?"
Smith waved her off, and she walked away laughing, talking to the others who were streaming out the door. Joey didn't think it was a good sign that Callie was always laughing when she walked away from him.
Smith snapped his fingers in front of Joey's face, and he blushed again as he realized he had been staring at her ass.
Smith laughed. "The gateway to hell, remember?"
Joey laughed weakly and turned back to the desk. He reached in and tried to clear away some of the paper detritus. Smith fetched a wastebasket and Joey stuffed handfuls into it.
"Man, I hope there isn't a mouse down here. They have, like, diseases and stuff, don't they?" Joey was talking in a normal voice now. The empty office gave him courage.
"I think it's called Hantavirus," said Smith, "And yeah. I think it's a pretty painful death. Like, drowning in your own bodily fluids."
"Gross," said Joey, and he decided it applied to both the conversation and the stuff he was hauling out from under the desk. Everything was covered with the goo.
Joey looked back at Smith and reached as far back as he could. "So, how do you get Hantavirus from mice? Do they have to bite you or what?"
"Nah," said Smith. "I think you just have to touch an infected one. Or their droppings."
"Oh, just what I need. Mouse turds."
They both laughed.
