Unknown

The Office by Karen Blayne. 
 
Oh by the way red tape first.
©Karen Blayne 2018.
Be warned these short stories contain mature content or naughty bits and as such may corrupt you if you’re under 12, 16, 18, 21 or 25 depending where you live thus they are not suitable for you so put them back on the shelf and let them age for a year or two.
They were sort of scribbled for fun. They were first posted on asstr.org. If you’ve paid money for this book just be aware the author has not received any payment. In fact no one has permission to charge money for this book and copyright is retained by the author.
 
I’ve always wanted to run the family firm and with Mr. Emerson’s illness I’d had my chance.  He’d been ill for more than two years and not really with it for a few months beforehand.  Somehow I’d managed to employ a few more people, given raises to those who contributed to the company and overlooked those who played management games.  Profits were up, staff turnover was down and some of the research and development stuff was finally beginning to pay off.
 
Then he arrived, some sort of great-nephew or other.  He sat in the corner office and I let him make the important decisions such as what colour the coffee room office mugs should be.  It took him eight lovely weeks to decide.  Well by the time he’d had three different colour consultants in with different ideas plus sample mugs to look at and decide how much coffee they would hold.  
 
What could I distract him with next?  Then young Jennifer came to see me.  Her friend Alison who was in a wheelchair needed to feel she was doing something.  I couldn’t, could I?  “Why don’t you pop in and speak to Kane about her?”  “You mean?”  I nodded, “His weakness seems to be stockings or rather bumps where the garters clip to the stockings.”  “You mean I should flutter my eyelashes at him?”  “Certainly not, you should present your case professionally and let him decide on its merits.”  “So black stockings then?”  We both had a giggle.  “I thought you might like to spend Tuesday afternoons explaining how the company runs to him.”  Jennifer grinned like a Cheshire cat.
 
Alison started work the following Monday.  I set her up in Monica’s office hot desking temporarily whilst Monica was off sick.  Unofficially its terminal cancer but officially we all hope she’ll be back at work so we keep her office with her name tag on it.  I gave her Monica’s projects to sort out.  They’re longer term ones and are quite complicated.  Monica’s desk has become a sort of project graveyard.
 
I hadn’t been into to see Monica for a week or two and Kane showed an interest in meeting her so I ran him to the hospital.  The ward nurse said she was comfortable and they were thinking she should move to a hospice where it wasn’t quite so clinical as the hospital but they hadn’t quite managed to raise the subject with her and her husband.  “They tell me its stage four so I’m not going to recover am I?”  Monica spoke to me surrounded with a dozen monitors.  “I don’t think you are.  Would you like to move to a hospice?  You wouldn’t be prodded quite so much and we make sure you have flowers.”  “I’d like that.  I don’t really see what difference a few flowers make but they tell me procedures for controlling infections in some areas are very strict.”  “I’ll see to it then.  I assume you’d prefer do not resuscitate?   Is Tom comfortable with the ideas?”  “Oh yes we’ve talked it over but he doesn’t want to question the doctor’s orders.  Could you ask your young man to go and talk to Mrs. McGillicuddy in the next bed?  She doesn’t have any visitors.”  I dispatched Kane to talk to her and slipped down to talk to the ward nurse to fill the forms in.  As I came back, I noticed the monitor above Mrs. McGillicuddy’s bed had fallen to a steady line.  Kane was holding her hand.  The nurse came up and tapped him on the shoulder.  “She’s gone.”  He looked up and blinked.  “It was a good death, holding the hand of a handsome young man at the last.  She’d have liked that.”  She pulled the curtains round the bed and I gathered Kane up to carry him off.  “I never dreamt I’d hold someone’s hand as they were dying.  She whispered something about giving me the gift but it didn’t make any sense to me.”
 
Alison was quite bright and had hoped for better things when she’d been injured in an accident.  She had a settlement that gave her enough to live on in and had brought her adapted apartment but she’d felt isolated and had wanted to do something and not volunteer at the cancer centre either.  She managed to sort out the graveyard and mentioned if she knew a bit more of the technical side she thought one or two might show some promise.  We didn’t really have any available good technical resources.  One or two had retired recently and we really missed them.  It was on my to-do list, find a few technical people.
 
Kane was getting bored again.  You could tell the signs, poking his nose in and reading the letters he was supposed to sign and asking questions.  Go away, I run the company very nicely thank you.
 
I saw Rita on the way in looking glum so I steered her over to the cafeteria and we talked.  Eventually the problem came out, her husband had been fired.  “Well I know he’s not a people person but he’s really good at analysing things.”  “Have you thought about asking Kane nicely for a job for him?”  “It would have to be one that paid slightly more than his old job just so he could hold his head up high.”  I took her back to my office and pulled out pair of silk stockings and a garter belt.  “Kane’s weakness.”  She looked at me dubiously.  “That’s sexist.”  “Do you want Manuel to get a job or not?  The longer he’s out of work the more difficult it will be.  Kane is free this morning for an hour.”  She gave me a dirty look and I shrugged my shoulders.  It was her decision and she knew it.  She took them and popped off to get changed.  I took a quick peep at Kane on the monitor.  Well I can keep an eye on how low his coffee mug is.  The video conferencing cameras are very good quality.
 
I made a fresh coffee for Kane and passed it to Rita as she returned.  “Go and take him his coffee.”  “You make his coffee for him in this day and age?”  You could feel the disbelief rolling off her.  She knocked and entered the lion’s den.  She put his coffee down on the desk and mentioned her husband was looking for a job pulling out his CV and placing it down next to his coffee.  “What do personnel say?”  “We don’t have a Personnel Department.”  Kane looked puzzled.  “Ms. Starmer?”  I snorted Ms. I’ve been Miss for too long to change to Ms. Besides one day my knight on a white charger might turn up and I’d hate for him to not realise I’m still available.  I had a terrible thought but fortunately my microphone boom was up which switches off the microphone.
 
“She thought you might have some ideas?”  I could see him skimming through the CV with a confused expression on his face as he came across yet another bit of jargon.  “Gardener?”  Rita moved round the desk to stand besides him.  Then she slid one thigh forward parting her wrap over skirt and exposing a lot of thigh and stocking top.  There was a deep intake of breath.  Poor soul, Rita was wearing perfume so he got a double hit.  “I’m sure you can do better than that.”  Her hand wandered across the back of his neck in a caress then down the back of his shirt.  “Well I’m sure we can find him something.”  “Shall we settle his pay now?”  “Pay, yes pay how much do you think he’s worth?”  Rita was perched on his lap, now Kane was lost.  She named a sum that caused another intake of breath.  “I could come and give you a personal update on my project every Wednesday afternoon.”  She slid off his lap and lent forward running her hands over his thighs moving in for the kill.  “Stockings?”  Kane gasped.  She pulled at the waistband and the skirt pooled to the ground.  The phone rang distracting me “I’m sorry he’s in conference at the moment I’ll have him call you back later.”
 
I looked at the monitor to see Rita committing adultery leaning over Kane’s desk with Kane thoroughly aroused ploughing his way in and Rita looked to be enjoying every moment of his attention.  I added Rita’s husband’s name to the payroll at her asking price, and Rita’s name to the dairy for Wednesday afternoon, another afternoon filled.  “Successful?”  I inquired as she came out looking a bit distracted.  “Oh yes.” She said “Most successful but we didn’t exactly decide what he was to do.”  “Get him to pop in the morning and leave it with me.”  Perhaps pop in was the wrong thing to say as she turned a deep red and scurried out of the office.  I snuck the Blu-ray out of the burner and slipped in my bag, something to watch tonight.
 
Next morning I still hadn’t the faintest idea what to do with Manuel when he turned up in my office.  I took him down to the graveyard.  Oops wrong turn of phrase.  “Alison someone technical to help you.”  I announced and left them to it.
 
I saw Rita on the way in the following morning.  “How is Manuel settling in?”  “Pretty good I think.  He’s in a small office with a girl in a wheelchair who has lots of projects and he’s helping sort out which ones go where.  She seems easy to get along with.”  Oh good that would save me having to find somewhere else for him.  I mentioned the existence of the specialist clothing fund if she had need of anything, “Just pass me the receipts.”  There now that should keep him quiet and distracted.
 
Two weeks later Alison rolled into Kane’s office.  Well I didn’t think it would do any harm for him to get updated on the projects that were in limbo.  I glanced at the monitor, his eyes were glazing over as Alison described the third project in detail.  He shook himself  “Humour me.  I want you to tell your right knee to bend.”  He had a look of concentration on his face and after a while he asked her to bend her left knee.”  I had visions that he was losing a grip on things.  She’d damaged her spine.  There was no feeling in her legs nor any movement either.  Oh well such are the whims of management.  I lifted out a cake I’d brought in and cut three slices.  I waited until they’d finished doing whatever they were playing at.  Alison I knew liked a cup of Earl Grey so I added two mugs of coffee and a china cup of Earl Grey to the tray then carried it in.  Alison took the plate with cake on it and placed it on her knee.  She had a troubled expression.  “Are you OK?”  I asked lifting the plate away since it seemed to have caused the problem.  “Could you touch my knee please.”  It sounded an odd request but I thought I’d better do it rather than have Kane be done for sexual harassment.  A look of wonder came over her face.  “I have feelings.”
 
“Oh dear I hope they aren’t mystical or are you going to foresee the future?”  Came the unhelpful comment from the other side of the desk.  She glared at him.  “No in my legs.”  “I think we’d better take you down to see your doctor straight away.”  I bundled her into the converted minivan we’d brought to make her journey to and from easier.  At the Doctor’s I asked to see her doctor urgently.  Well if she’d recovered even part of her feelings it was important that she didn’t have a relapse.
 
“Well these things have been known to happen if the nerves decide to reroute themselves.  I think the important thing is we examine you first.” Did she want a scan?  “No thanks I’ve had enough of them.”  “In that case it’s a physiotherapist we need to get you walking again.”  “Is there a chance?”  “I think so but it will take some time to build the muscles up again.”  I took her home and left the poor girl in shock.  I recalled there was a physiotherapist in the office building so I booked two hours physio a day for the next two months.
 
“So what happened?”  “Do you remember the old Irish lady who died whilst I was holding her hand?”  I nodded.  “Well it seems crazy but I got a sudden feeling that if I just connected this bit to that bit it might all work again.”  “Hence the lift your left foot up etc.”  “Yes.  You won’t say anything about it will you.  I’m sure you have to be licensed or something to practise medicine.”  I smiled at him.  “My lips are sealed and I’ll see to it that Alison’s are as well.”
 
She made a remarkably quick recovery.  “You had something to do with it?”  I heard her accuse him.  “I may have said a prayer for you.”  “Yeah right.”    Needless to say she took Thursday afternoon up in the dairy.  
 
“Can we go and do a hospital visit to my old ward?”  I drove them over.  Can you imagine he doesn’t drive.  “Come and meet Anita.”  Anita was tetraplegia and lying in a mysterious bed that moved bits up and down every now and then.  “It’s to prevent bed sores.”  Mentioned the nurse who was by the side of the bed, Alison and Kane exchanged looks.  “I could do the talking.”  Offered Alison.  Kane touched Anita’s finger as it was lying on the bed clothes.  Alison turned to Anita “I want to play a game with you.  When I ask you to move something, I want you to pretend you can and move it for me.”  A pair of eyebrows were raised.  “Now to start with wiggle the thumb on your right hand.”  The nurse blinked then quietly turned to me.  “I’m supposed to be on break but there is no relief today.  Could you keep an eye on her and call me if you need me or if you’re ready to go before I get back?  I think she’ll be fine.”  We exchanged phone numbers.
 
I sat back and closed my eyes listening to Alison’s gentle voice.  I must have dropped off to sleep because the nurse was back giving me a little shake.  “Sorry I was so long but we had a bad car accident come in so it was all hands on deck in Emergency.  All quiet?”  The nurse walked down the ward checking on patients as she did so.
 
Alison seemed to be just chatting now and I thought perhaps it was time to leave before we exhausted Anita so I stood up.  Kane did as well and turned to Anita.  “It’s been very nice to have met you.  I’m sure we can find you a job if you manage to walk into my office in the next three months.”  As we left, Alison gave a tiny wave with her fingers to her friend who gave a tiny wave back with her fingers of her right hand.  Even I caught the look of surprise on the nurse’s face.  I carried everyone off before too many questions could be asked. 
 
The first fully automated workstations are in and installed.  Our customers were demanding higher quality and more consistency and my babies were delivering.  The customers were happy to pay a higher price but the bigger problem will be the capacity.  They can run virtually unattended so we have more capacity than I know what to do with at the moment.  Alison and Manuel seem to be getting on quite nicely and they’ve found me a project that uses some of our spare capacity.  More importantly I got Kane involved with the details so he’s off trying to source some parts.  They’re actually quite standard and we have the capacity to make them ourselves but Alison just gave him the dimensions so he’s off talking to sales people.
 
I looked up as Alison held the door open and Anita rolled in, in a wheelchair.  “Ready?”  Asked Alison as she applied the brake.  Anita nodded then slowly stood up and supported by Alison she walked through into Kane’s office.  “So you made it then.  Sit down anyway.”  “It’s not quite three months so I’d like a job please.”  I booked in the physiotherapist again and Monday afternoon.  I had to rearrange the offices a bit to give Alison’s area more desk space.
 
I was quite shocked on Friday to see just how excited Anita could be.  Anyone would think she hadn’t had sex for a year.  Well I suppose she hadn’t really.  She did seem really grateful for Kane nothing was too good for him and she didn’t mind sharing him with Alison.  It certainly served to keep Kane out of the way.
 
My phone rang and I didn’t recognise the number that came up.  When I answered a voice said “Hi it’s Thomasina, Anita’s nurse.”  “Would you like her number?”  “No but the guy who came to visit Anita could you bring him down to the hospital.  I’m desperate my sister’s been shot.”  I bundled Kane into a cab and we met Thomasina at the entrance.  There were police cars and ambulances everywhere.  She took us through and gave us volunteer coats to put on before leading us to the first of three trolleys in the corridor.  “Can you do anything?  The paramedics think there are no signs but they haven’t been formally signed off as dead by a doctor yet.  They’re too busy.  Can you imagine shooting a dozen female students because they were studying engineering?”  Kane touched Thomsina‘s sister’s hand then moved to the next two.  “I honestly don’t know.  It helps if I can touch them first.”
 
Two or three minutes later even I could see they were breathing.  Thomasina had me hold an oxygen mask over their mouths for a few moments whilst she grabbed and set up plasma bags.  We only had one oxygen bottle between the three of them.  Kane went quiet.  Another trolley came by and Kate quickly brushed his hand against the patient.  One girl was in surgery and since it’s a small town the others were lined up waiting to go in.  They knew they didn’t have the resources to save them all and you could see them trying to work out how to lose the fewest.  Kane touched them all then Thomasina found him a quiet chair in an office whilst he concentrated.  The first girl was wheeled out of surgery and the next wheeled in.  She came out again very quickly.  The others all went in one after the other until finally only the injured shooter was left surrounded by policemen.  “Is he going to make it?”  I heard one nurse ask.  “I hope so this guy deserves to rot in jail for this days’ work.”  Kane seemed calmer so Thomasina asked him if he could help keep the shooter alive.  It was important that he didn’t become a martyr and he’d be able to repent his sins at leisure.  “If I can touch him that helps.”  “But the police won’t let anyone near him, if I took a swab off your hand and wiped his brow?”  She tried it and Kane concentrated once more.
 
It was a very long night.  I made myself useful by handing round mugs of coffee and the cake I had in the car soon went.  At four o’clock in the morning the shooter was rolled out of the operating theatre and the surgeons and nurses stood chatting.  “I’d never have believed what happened tonight.  Normally the shock of just one of those bullets hitting someone is more than enough to kill them but not tonight.”  “Did you notice there were no complications on any of them?”  “I couldn’t believe my eyes when the first thing on opening the wound was to see the bullet fragments just sitting there waiting to be removed almost as if the body itself had gathered them up and was trying to extrude them.”  “The paramedics had noted at least six were expected to be DOA but not tonight and they’re rarely wrong.”
 
We met Thomasina the next day after some sleep and were shown into the ward where the girls were under police guard.  Kane took a chair and seemed to meditate.  “Is he all right?”  Asked a policeman.  “Oh he’s just praying to an old Irish pagan god.”  I replied.  “And no matter whichever god it is I’m sure it made a difference.” Thomasina interjected.  “The power of the mind is very important in healing.”
 
A week later all twelve were back at lectures, two managing on crutches and ten wheelchairs with willing volunteers pushing them.  In the news the shooter was described as the most inept ever.  “Can you imagine he hit some of those girls with two and three shots from an automatic rifle and they lived?”  It was really odd all the normal terrorist groups seemed to shun him no matter what he said.  They didn’t want to be associated with a ‘loser’.
 
Kane seemed exhausted by his efforts which was fine by me.  I packed him off with Alison and Anita to a quiet apartment by the sea to recuperate for a month whilst I concentrated on my babies.  The software wasn’t quite perfect.  I asked Manuel to look at it whilst Alison was away.  Talk about finicky, but at last it all worked to his satisfaction and it just did.  I didn’t dare ask him how it suddenly became more robust and reliable I suspect he would have told me in full intricate detail. 
 
My office door opened and a head popped round.  “Is this where the pagan worshipper lives?”  There were giggles from behind.   I bid them come in and in trooped the dozen female engineers.  “We want to thank him.”  “For what?”  “No scars for a start, the doctors tell me they’ve never seen anyone recover from a gunshot wound and not have any scars before.”  “One didn’t believe that we’d been shot until another one pulled out the photos and scans.”  “Besides we put the thumbscrews on Thomasina and she finally admitted his involvement.”  “I suspect all he’ll admit to is saying a prayer to an Irish pagan god.”  “Shelly is into pagan ceremonies.”  “And Gemma is still a virgin.  She was saving herself until she got married but we’re quite willing to truss her up and sacrifice her.”  “I’m just waiting for the right guy.”  “By the way have you any placements?”  “Placements?”  “Placements as in somewhere for us to work on our year out.”  Well Alison did have a list of projects and with the new automated lines we had spare capacity.  I took them done to see Manuel and let him explain about the list of projects we had that had no one to sort them out.  Then I took them down to my babies.
 
“But what about the workers?”  Sandra came over “We love them.”  “But doesn’t it mean fewer jobs?”  “It’s a family firm.  My grandfather worked here and my parents did as well.  They don’t lay off.  It’s just a good steady job but if we didn’t have the new toys then our products would be more expensive and the company would go under.”  “Do you have enough engineers to supervise us?”  I called Stan over “The girls want to know if we have enough engineers to supervise an engineering placement?”  “Well now we’ve set everything up we probably do.  How many of them are there?”  “A dozen.”  “Be better if Bill didn’t retire.  His leg is playing up again but he might manage light duties.”  “What’s wrong with his leg?”  “Oh he smashed it up years ago on a motorcycle.  It has good days and bad days.”
 
You could hear them thinking.  “Can we talk to him?”  Bill was called over and the girls buttered him up.  “I’m not sure I’m up to it.”  Vivienne asked him “If we try to see if we can make some changes to your work environment will you try for us?”  Bill agreed to give it a try.  Well he didn’t have a lot of choice when faced with the determined girls.
 
“So there’s work for all of us?”  “Only if Kane says so.  He’s due back tomorrow.  I could authorise one maybe two but for more then you need to convince him.”  “How would we do that?” came the innocent question.  “You’re female and don’t know how to twist a man round your little finger yet?”  Sandra exclaimed.  “You mean do the high heels thing?  That’s sexist.”  I shrugged “How many placement offers have you had so far?”  “The boys have done better.” Came the admission.  “Sandra shall we go shopping with them and the office credit card this afternoon?”
 
I think the phrase is we shopped until we dropped.  Finding something that would appeal to Kane’s baser instincts but the girls would feel comfortable wearing was interesting.  Occasionally Sandra resorted to directive counselling whilst I just gave my opinion of what Kane’s weaknesses were when asked.  Eventually they all had at least one outfit that they looked good in.  I arranged for them to drop into the hairdressing salon in the building starting at 6:30 am before coming upstairs and assembling in Alison’s office.  By nine Kane had arrived and was ready for his mug of coffee.  I switched the video conferencing on to record and sent all twelve of them in with his mug of coffee after convincing Vivienne that sometimes if you wanted something from someone it was best to not worry too much about having him make his own coffee.
 
Kane looked taken back when his office was invaded.  One of them dressed to please would have had an impact.  Twelve gave Kane sensory overload.  Sparks seemed to fly between him and Gemma. “We thought we’d come and thank you in person.”  A skirt was raised “Look no scar marks show when I am wearing a bikini.”  He started to sputter “My first aid course said loosen his clothes.”  Someone pulled out a tablet “It says here holding their hand may help.”  Kane didn’t have enough hands so they held whatever they could reach.  “Lay him flat on the floor so his head isn’t above his body.”  “Mouth to mouth resuscitation may help.”  Every last one of them had to try.  “If all else fails, a smoothing massage might help relax the patient.” 
 
Well what did one expect with twelve very grateful students with their hormones running high and Kane lying on the floor with his clothes loosened or should that be slid off.
 
The only part that Vivienne could reach was his hips.  She sat astride him.  “Vi just what are you doing to the poor guy?”  “I’m just giving a part of him a massage.  Look no hands.”  Three others had to try as well.  The poor guy, I went in to rescue him.  “Has he said he’ll hire you yet?”  “Am I supposed to?”  “They’re after 16 month engineering placements and we have room for them.  Would you like me to put Rita off for this afternoon?”  “Yes please to both.”  I hustled the girls out and back down to Alison’s office.
 
Kane came into my office and sat down.  “Where are we going to put them all and have we anything for them to do?”  Time to come clean maybe?  I took him down first to Alison’s area.  “Do you remember Monica?”  “We visited her in hospital?”  “Well this is her old office.  Alison and Manuel have been going through the files.  So we have lots of projects on paper but no one to sort them out.”  “OK we can create new product lines?  But have we the capacity to make them?”  I took him down to the factory floor and showed him the new lines.  “They can run virtually unattended at night and at the weekends.”  He took a seat.  “But when did all this happen?”  “Well Bill finally gave it a benediction about two weeks ago.”  “My uncle wasn’t in a fit state to authorise all this?”  I smiled at him.  Well he could hardly say no at this late stage.  “What about the workers?  Are they happy about all this automation?”  I called Sandra over.  “Are you happy with the automation?”  “Well they didn’t make it do all things I suggested but we all had a good say in the design.”  “Aren’t you worried it will put you out of work?”  “If we hadn’t had done it, we’d be out of work anyway.  No this way we can undercut the offshore companies, quicker turn round and lower transportation costs.  The firm’s been here since grandad’s time.  I’m hoping it will still be here for my grandson.” 
 
“Bill here is one of the engineers who took the ideas and designed it all.  He’s thinking of retiring since his knee is playing up following a motorcycle accident thirty years ago.”  Kane shook his hand.  “We could try that physiotherapist who worked with Alison?”  “Physio Bah!”  Bill could be blunt at times.  “I’ll book you in for this afternoon shall I?”  I caught Kane sitting down again staring towards the new machinery.  “Try it for me.”  Kane added and somehow I knew Bill would be fine in the near future.
 
I rang Monique to see if she could fit Bill in.  “For some reason I’m getting a reputation for working with patients with back injuries who’ve lost the movement of their legs.”  “Really?”  “Is this one another spine injury who has miraculously recovered?”  “No, one with a twenty-year-old knee injury.”  “Normally I wouldn’t hold out much hope but with the ones you have me look at I’m sure he’ll be running full marathons within a month.”  “Did you have a back injury in mind?”  “A rather dishy motorcycle rider who was hit by a car driver who was on their phone, money no object from the insurance company.  He’s stuck in hospital with a broken femur and totally bored I think.  At least he doesn’t feel any pain from his broken bone.”  “I’ll send some of the girls in to visit him.”  “Oh yes your dozen young ladies who rewrote medical history.”  “I can always find another physiotherapist.”  I threatened.  “But not one as discreet.”  I put my tongue out at her down the phone and sent Vivienne along to visit Monique’s motorcyclist. 
 
It seemed only natural that with the rest of them sneaking into see Marlon that Kane and I should stop in to visit.  Kane shook his hand and commiserated with him on having to put up with the girls.  He was gorgeous and stuck as he was in bed he couldn’t escape when I talked to him, not only that but he was interesting to talk to.  The girls talked him into becoming a mature student and helped him in his engineering studies.  They were really pleased when he managed to pass his first year’s exams although some of the comments such as see even a boy can manage engineering I thought were a bit sexist.  The insurance company was paying for his retraining.  
 
Vivienne decided after looking at our ageing workforce she’d see if she could think of ways to make it easier for them.  She enlisted Monique’s help and together they came up with a series of suggestions such as light touch keyboards and better ergonomic furniture.  It was expensive but cheaper than having time off sick.  It worked out very well apart from Monique making snide remarks about how Marlon had amazed everyone by being able to wiggle his big toe now.  I had a really nice dream about his big toe wiggling deep inside me that night.
 
Nine months into their placement we had lots of different widgets but no real volume customers.  I wasn’t too worried since I knew we’d make some connections at an upcoming conference.  Who to take?  I talked it through with the girls and we ended with a group rate on the flights and packed in four to a bedroom with two double beds.
 
“Now my dear can you find me the salesman who knows about this P78b model.”  Gemma counted to ten under her breath.  “Would the designer do?”   “Even better my sweet.”  “What would you like to know about it since I designed it.”  “But a booth manned by a dozen young ladies you can’t all be engineers?”  Gemma smiled sweetly, “Didn’t you read about us and the inept shooter?”  The gentleman looked shaken and asked his questions.  You could sense my girls were the stars of the show.  One of the big engineering group managers came by and offered to hire the lot of them.  “Equal pay?”  “Well yes of course.”  “But the average starting salary offered last year for your female engineers was only 70% of that offered for male graduates.”  “Each individual offer depends on a number of factors.”  “Maternity leave?”  “We let you have unpaid leave in line with industry standards.”  “Creche?”  “Well I’m sure the city or someone offers one.”  I heaved a sigh.  Somehow I thought my girls wouldn’t be leaving soon apart from going back to do their final year.  With the stack of orders we had we needed them.
 
“Is he in there?”  Gemma spoke with a determined voice.  I nodded somehow you could feel sparks were going to fly.  She knocked on the door then entered.  “Let’s clear the air.”  She closed the office door behind her so I lifted up the headphones and turned on the video conference call record button.  “First you can’t go on like this.  It’s not good for you.  You’re going to kill yourself.  There’s too many of them.”  I looked at the screen and her facial expression then at Kane’s.  “You’re going to have to give up being CEO.  She’s running rings round you.  How much time did it take to decide the colour of the mugs in the coffee room?”  Kane blanched.  “What will it be next the width of the lines in the parking lot?”  I just hoped he didn’t have the file I’d passed him that morning open on his desk.  “I understand having the correct width can reduce accidents in the car park.”  Good lad remembering the words.  “Good grief she couldn’t have.”
 
She sat in his lap.  “Give her the title and pay her properly.  She’s been running the company for years anyway.”  “But what will I do?”  “Chairman of the board?”  “That might fill a couple of days a week up.”  “Good then you can babysit the other three days.”  “Babysit?”  “We’re getting married, and we’re going to have babies.  Someone has to look after them for the first five years or so, so equal opportunities you’re just been volunteered and since we’re getting married no other females in your life.”  Kane had a sort of dazed look on his face.  Then Gemma leaned in and kissed him firmly.  “We have a deal?”  She asked.  Kane kissed her back.  “OK.  When are we getting married?”
 
I turned the recording off.  I was in shock.  Nice shock, run the company and have the title?  I made a cup of tea for myself to give me something to do.  They came out of the office hand in hand.  “Think you could arrange a wedding?”  Kane asked.  I almost asked him which variety of rice he would like thrown thinking different varieties would attract a wider range of birds but was good and didn’t.  “Oh by the way you’re now officially the CEO and we’re off to choose a ring.”
 
I stepped into my new office and tried the tall seat behind the desk.  Not bad once I’d adjusted it.  I heard voices next door.  “You’ll be fine.  It’s only a 16-month placement after all.  Look if you really want to make certain of it we found giving the CEO head then slipping his hardness inside us worked wonders.”  “You mean you think I should put some guy’s dick in my mouth?”  I recognised the horror in Marlon’s voice.  Somehow I was going to enjoy this.  There was a knock at the door and the pair stepped in.  Marlon was propelled forward by Shelly.  “Oh sorry we were looking for the CEO.”  “You’ve just found me.” 

     Cover

     @page {padding: 0pt; margin:0pt}
     body { text-align: center; padding:0pt; margin: 0pt; }
    

Office, The - Karen Blayne