A Beautiful Brain

chapter 3

Rachel Berry sat nervously in the waiting room of Evans & Rodriguez, the biggest lawfirm in Lima. It had been two years since she had awakened from her coma and after an enormous amount of crying and a great deal of therapy, she had been trying to find a decent job for many months. But who would hire someone who had trouble with big words and had trouble with numbers like she had? She had been to dozens of interviews but she had never been hired. 

Then, she heard about an opening at Evan's & Rodriguez. It was an opening for a secretary, which she was forced to admit to herself, was about the best she could hope for. Well, she had heard about Sam Evans; the man she had the appointment with and who she would be working for if she got hired, and everyone seemed to think he was a nice guy. Maybe he would give her the chance she needed so much. 

“Miss Berry? Mr Evans will see you now”, a blonde woman called out to her. Rachel stood up and walked after her, into Sam Evans office. He was young. Much younger than she’d imagined him. He smiled at her. “Welcome miss Berry, thank you for coming. Please, have a seat.”, he politely said. 

He then questioned her for more than an hour, asking about her and telling her about the company. In that hour Sam Evans got to know Rachel a little. He liked what he saw; she was nice, polite and representative. He got a nagging feeling something was wrong with her though. Everytime he asked her a question that required some thinking, she’d pause a second before every sentence. It’s not something that was really annoying, but it still bugged him. 

“Rachel, I’ll be honst with you and I want you to be honest with me. I think you’re nice, polite, representative and funny… but I need someone who can do the work as well. Now, I’ve noticed you’re taking a lot of pauses and you misunderstood me quite a few times.”, he said. 

Rachel swallowed. This wasn’t sounding too well and if she didn’t say something, she’d never get the job. And since he said he wanted her to be honest, she decided she would do just that. “Alright, I’ll tell you the truth”, Rachel said hesitantly. 

“Alright, I‘m listening”, Sam said as he sat back, his eyes focussed on Rachel. 

“Two and a half years ago, I was run over by a car. I’ve been in a coma for six months. When I woke up, the doctors say I have aphasia. I’m not very good with big words and numbers.”, she said, staring down. 

“How about writing?”, Sam asked. 

“It’s not good, but I can type over two hundred characters a minute”, Rachel tried to recompose herself. Sam was definitely impressed with that. The average typist could only type about onehundred and twenty characters a minute. But still, he didn’t know if it was such a good idea, hiring someone with so many flaws. 

Rachel looked back at him. They both hadn’t said anything for almost ten seconds. Rachel knew what he was thinking. It wasn’t the first interview that went this way. She figured he was thinking how to tell her she didn’t get the job. She hated this, having to explain these things to perfect strangers only to have them look down on you and send you away. But she was becoming desperate and she knew it. 

Sam looked back at Rachel, they both hadn’t said anything for almost ten seconds. Sam knew what she was thinking. A lot of people had probably turned her down because of her condition. Sam was unsure of what to do. He wanted to give her a chance, he really did. “It’d be nice to have a secretary like her”, Sam thought. He and his former secretary never got along well and even though she’d been pretty good at her job, he had considered firing her on more than one occasion… before she quit, of course. He then saw her looking back at him and for a second, he could see completely through her. She was desperate. 

Sam walked around the desk and stood next to Rachel. “This is it”, Rachel thought. “This is the part where he sends me away”. But what he actually happened came as a shock to her. 

“Alright Rachel, I’ll give you a chance. You’re hired”, he said. 

It took a few seconds to register what he said, but then she smiled widely and looked up at him. “Really?”, she asked nervously. 

“Really... I’m sure we can work around the little kinks. I think you’re gonna do fine”, Sam said. Rachel stood up and gave him a short hug. “Thanks Sam”, she said. Quickly realizing this is not your typical boss/employer behaviour, she quickly broke the hug and looked at him apologetically. He was smiling at her however. Rachel was so nice and spontaneous. He was glad he found her. At least she’d make a long day seem a little less long. 

“One thing Rachel, when my wife Brittney is here… call me mr Evans”, he said with a sheepish smile.