Louise was applying make-up when Mike walked in. “Good Morning Mrs President,” he said while cuddling her from behind.
“Morning chirpy, what are our plans for today?”
“Well I was thinking we could go buy a Porsche,” Mike said jokingly.
“Keep dreaming,” Louise rolled her eyes.
“Fine, but a Porsche would look nice in our drive way. Actually your mother called and invited herself over for lunch, I agreed of course. Have to keep the mother-in-law happy.”
Louise turned to face Mike and kissed him, “You really are a great husband.” Louise then added light-heartedly, “if my mother is coming for lunch, we still have the morning to enjoy.”
“I like you’re thinking,” Mike grinned. The phone began to ring interrupting their conversation. Louise picked up the call while Mike walked outside to pick up the newspaper from the driveway.
“Louise where are you?” Louise knew immediately who was calling.
“Hi Ray, I am at home.”
“Get to the office now,” he demanded. Louise went to reply but the phone line dropped out. She quickly got dressed in her work clothes when Mike returned, paper in hand.
“That is a bit formal for your mother isn’t it?” he said acknowledging her outfit.
“Sorry love, Scary Ray just called and I have to go to work immediately.”
Sensing Louise was worried Mike offered to drive her. On the way to work, Louise was running through her head what could be wrong. Nothing came to mind. By the time Louise arrived to work she was a nervous wreck. “It’s okay Louise; I am sure he just wants to look at some paper work. I will find a car park. Call me when you are finished. I will call your mother to cancel lunch.” Mike kissed Louise on the cheek.
Louise opened her office door to find Scary Ray peering outside the office window. He turned around, “Louise thank you for coming. I brought you here to fire Tim.” He showed no emotion on his face.
“Why is that Ray?” Obviously Louise did not mind. Tim was patronizing and self-centred. He needed to be pulled back to reality.
“Tim is slack and has made a disgrace of the company.” Scary Ray handed Louise the paper. The front page showed a picture of Tim slapping a woman’s bottom. Louise skimmed the article to discover Tim was being accused of sexual harassment. “I want him gone immediately, call him now,” Scary Ray pointed to the phone.
With Scary Ray watching, Louise had to be careful in the way she worded the conversation. She dialled Tim’s number, he picks up and she heard some ruffling in the background. “Tim, this is Louise Gemfield. Obviously you have seen today’s paper. What do you have to say for yourself? Don’t say anything. You have disgraced and embarrassed the company. Your contract has been terminated, effective immediately. Your personal items will be delivered to you by the end of the week,” Louise said feeling powerful and liberated.
“Louise,” he begged. “Please, my reputation will crumple; nobody will want to hire me. I know we have not gotten on well in the past. But if you gave me a second chance.”
Louise cut him short. “Tim you had a chance to prove yourself when you were appointed the job, and you failed.” On that note, Louise hung up the phone, sensing her luck was shifting into something superior. Good bye Tim, Louise thought to herself. Louise turned to Scary Ray who seemed impressed by her firmness with the matter.
Scary Ray changed subjects quickly, “how is the contract with Densely Indigo travelling?” Louise pulled out the draft contract from her top draw and they sat down to go through the contract together. Scary Ray seemed to lighten up and not seem so scary. Louise chuckled to herself at the thought. “What is so funny?” Ray asked. Louise watched as a small smile spread across his face.
“Oh nothing,” Louise stirred.
“Come on, you can tell me.” His voice spoke in a playful tone.
Feeling like they were getting on well, Louise decided to tell him. “This is the first time; I have seen you act like a human being.”
He laughed at this revelation then paused for a moment before commenting. “I guess the reason I am so firm is because I want people to respect me.”
“You definitely manage that,” Louise laughed.
Mike appears at the door, looking from Scary Ray to Louise. Scary Ray looked up, “Can I help you?”
Louise looked up to see Mike. His face is stern and unforgiving. “Yes, I am looking for my wife,” he spoke in a twisted voice.
“Ray, this is my husband Mike,” Louise said gently, trying to defuse her husband’s irrational anger.
Ray stood up and shook Mike’s hand. “Nice to meet you Mike, you must be very proud of Louise’s recent success,” he smiled kindly.
“Yes I am,” Mike replied brusquely.
Ray turned to Louise, “Thank you for coming in on a Saturday. We have finished everything that I wanted to go over today.”
“My pleasure Ray,” Louise said as she quickly walked out, grabbing Mike’s hand to drag him away.
Mike and Louise did not speak a word until they reached the car. Mike turned to Louise in a fury. “You always speak about how your boss is scary. Instead I catch you two flirting,” he said trying to keep his voice even.
“Mike we were not flirting. Ray was just being nice,” Louise soothed, not responding to his rage.
“Oh it’s Ray now, what happened to Scary Ray or is that just his pet name?”
“Mike, stop it, your embarrassing me,” Louise whispered as she looked around the street. People walked by quickly, with their heads down.
“Why are you embarrassed Louise? Tell me. I will tell you why you’re embarrassed. Because you were flirting with your boss and if I had not arrived, who knows what would have happened. Is that what got you promoted, because you’re having an affair with him?” Mike spat out the words in disgust. Then pounded the car roof with his fist.
“Mike please calm down, you are scaring me.”
“Oh, so I am scaring you now? Is that how your love affairs begin. You like to feel inferior?”
“No Mike,” Louise could barely get a word in.
“How many other men have you been seeing since we have been together?” he demanded.
“I have not had any affairs Mike,” Louise proclaimed wide-eyed. Terrified of where Mike was going with this. In a fury rage, Mike kicked the car tire and then drew in close to Louise standing only inches apart.
“Go home, if you feel you have to. I might see you there.” He stomped off in anger, not once looking back.
Louise felt sick. She looked around nervously hoping that nobody saw the wild commotion. She opened the car door and sat behind the car wheel, her hands trembling. She drove to a nearby alley, parked the car and then burst into tears. She did not want anyone to see her crying. She had never seen Mike so angry. She rummaged through the series of events in her head, starting with Ray then Mike exploding. What if Mike left her? More tears cascaded down her cheek. The thought of leaving Mike did not even poke its ugly head to Louise.
Louise managed to drive home, arriving with swollen cheeks and red eyes from crying. She walked into their home feeling lost. The house was the same as they left it. Tidy and clean. It held no secrets, but the warmth had faded. Louise went to the bathroom to clean her face. As she washed her face, her eyes roamed in the mirror to see the toilet door. With no more thought, Louise made herself sick. In emotional pain more tears flowed, forcing her fingers down her throat. She fell down on the bathroom floor crying. With the smell of vomit looming, Louise felt ill yet had no energy to pick herself up. Due to the physical and emotional exhaustion, she fell asleep on the cold wet floor.
#
The weekend had arrived and Grace had driven to the Eumundi Markets. This was a monthly ritual for Grace. The markets always exceeded her expectations. Grace walked around aimlessly taking in the atmosphere. By mid-morning the place became crowded. The markets were a town favourite. She arrived at a section where a man was singing and playing the harmonica. A large crowd had gathered round him. Grace watched the crowd happily humming to this guy’s cool tune.
The atmosphere felt here, was completely different from the city. Nobody was in a rush to go anywhere; everybody was enjoying being in the moment.
Grace enjoyed visiting the markets as it reminded her of her childhood. As a family, Grace used to go to Eumundi Markets frequently. It was their favourite destination. When her parents died in a car accident on the way home from work, their lives crashed too. Her sister was 18, her brother 16 and Grace was only 13 years old. The court left the children to fend for themselves. But the stress became too much for the oldest sister. One day she just packed her bags and left with a boy Grace had never seen before. Grace had not seen her sister since.
Grace and her brother lived at their Grandparent’s house, but when her brother turned 18 he moved out as well. Grace’s Grandparents were astounding and understood the sadness Grace held for her now non-existent family. When Grace turned 16 she began work and put everything into her work and school, leaving limited time for friendships or hobbies. She was really hurting inside. By the time Grace turned 18, she had enough money saved to either put a deposit on a house or go overseas on a trip. But why go overseas by herself? Paris would not feel the same if she had no one to share it with.
Grace rented a unit while she continued to work full time. Even though she was a high achiever in school, she did not plan to go to university. This was partly due to her lack of confidence in herself. Grace had heard all about the wild parties and social circles. She would not be able to turn herself into a social butterfly even if she tried. It was not who she was. She was living just to live. Grace worked all day and all night, letting work consume her. Being young and naive, her employers embraced it.
Within two years of starting in the workforce full time, Grace went from receptionist to sales trainee to sales consultant. The pressure to reach targets and be the top consultant was high. Grace was competing against a range of people, with a wealth of knowledge and experience.
One day when Grace was in the office working early, a cleaner approached her. “Excuse me miss, but isn’t it a bit early for you to be working?” she asked politely.
“No, I start at this time every day,” Grace replied.
“I heard that you don’t go home till late either,” she looked worried.
“That’s correct,” Grace said proudly.
“You are only young; maybe you should take a break and enjoy life,” she suggested kindly.
All those years where people had abandoned Grace, the emotions arose and she let loose, “If I take a break, than maybe I will end up like you.”
The cleaner responded to Grace’s harsh words calmly, “Dear girl, I am a cleaner by choice. It is the only job I can do that has flexible hours. I have two small children at home. And when I get home they wake up and then the day begins. I am only looking out for you. As I can tell you now, your employers will use you, if you let them,” she challenged.
“How dare you say that? You have no idea how they treat me,” Grace defended.
“Let’s just say, I would never work for a job that did not pay me overtime for doing the hours you do.” Grace fell silent. Overtime, what is this nosy cleaner talking about?
The cleaner walked away with sadness. She thought if she tried to reach out to the girl. She would realise there was more to life to be discovered.
Grace was shocked at this woman’s behaviour and felt so angry that she was convinced to tell her manager about it. In the hope that the cleaner would get fired. Nonetheless a small inkling told her to check the company’s policy regarding overtime. Grace opened all the work documents, read them and re-read them. Shock, anger and hurt arose. How could her managers have treated her like this?
When her Managers arrived to start work, Grace marched straight into their office, holding nothing back. Everyone could hear the yelling match. Grace could not believe all the years she wasted working for this company. She really believed they truly cared about her and respected her. This was obviously not the case at all. They had ripped her off completely and now owed her two years of overtime pay. She threatened them with legal action and surprisingly they took her threats seriously and paid her what she was owed. Then Grace resigned. Grace vowed never again to place her life before work. She would work hard and be proud of her achievements but would never let work come before herself.
When Grace met Miranda and discovered that she worked all the time and had no other life outside of work, she knew she had to help Miranda discover the brighter side to life.
***
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Copyright 2012 by Melanie Toye