Friday Five — The Backstory

It’s Friday, so it must be time for The Friday Five writing prompt! Five different words each week to get the creative juices flowing. To visit the other participants, click here.
This week’s words are: hell, railroad, chief, abridge, past
More #SaveFred … You can find the last entry here.
The Backstory
“So… give me the low down on what exactly is going on here.” Joel flipped the little metal key case for my Land Cruiser around in his palm. His worn office chair squeaked as he leaned back and gave me his complete attention.
That made me unreasonably nervous. Desperate for a distraction to make me stop thinking of him watching me so closely, I grabbed for the fanny pack I had strapped around my middle. I dug madly for my ID, thinking we’d finally come to the end of Fred’s unjust and hellacious imprisonment. “My business partner and I have had a bit of a falling out. The business is slowly dying, and I’m ready to give up the ghost. As chief financial officer, I can make that decision though I do need her approval. But she thinks we should ride it out and is trying to railroad me into trying to resuscitate it. Petra and I have quite a past, you know, we’ve known each other basically since birth. I mean, I remember when she lost her first tooth, and she comforted me when I was devastated by my first break up.” I stopped to take a breath, and Joel held up one hand, palm out.
“That’s way more than I need. Can you give me the abridged version?” He tapped the key against his chin.
“AHA!” I triumphantly held up my driver’s license, then finished my story in a rush of words. “Petra’s mad and she knew the best way to hurt me was to hurt Fred.” I waggled the license in front of him. “Now, can I please get my rat?”