THE MOMENT
"I'll take any excuse...," Otto sighed to himself as he waited for a reason to quit. After the things he'd seen over the past six months, all he needed was someone to word something the wrong way to give up. His sanity was hanging on by a thread. The mid-30s businessman sat on a red chair in a white office. He sat on one side of a frosted glass desk with an empty, red, highback leather seat on the other side. He only needed to wait for five minutes before the office door opened again.
He turned, then jumped to his feet at the sight of the tall, pale woman walking in. She had short, dark hair that framed her austere face and she wore a crisp white suit. He had never met her before; and, he wasn't entirely sure who she was or why he was there. But there was no mistaking that this was her office. His boss ordered him to the meeting with no other explanation. But his respect for the woman was clear in his words. Otto knew she was someone important.
"Hello, Ms. Sharp," he smiled at her and she returned a curt nod.
"Hello, Otto," she walked around behind her desk and gestured at his seat. "Please, sit down again. Let me put you at ease from the start; it's a good thing that you're here," she said.
"Oh, okay..," Otto visibly relaxed and perked up at the same time. He was interested now that he knew he wasn't in trouble.
"Loyalty and good work ethic are two of our most prized qualities here at Sharp Development...," she said. Otto's nerves stiffened again. He had a realization that felt like it came a moment too late. In his mind, he talked back with a comment about how he works for the government and not Sharp Development. That train of thought reminded him of all the corruption he'd noted in his short time there. He had quite a paper trail that tied all government spending to a corporation named Sharp Development. "... I understand that loyalty is earned and I like to do that by rewarding good work ethic," Ms. Sharp said. She continued explaining while Otto's mind sorted through the new conclusions he reached.
He was waiting to quit or get fired before going public with his findings. His position paid well enough to keep him quiet in the meantime. It wasn't that Otto was particularly selfish; but, no matter how he looked at the numbers he couldn't find any sign of anything evil. It just looked like Sharp Development was funding the government; but, they didn't seem to be enforcing any policies in their favor. And, when he thought about it, the corruption was the least horrible thing he'd discovered. He'd grown so comfortable ignoring it that he hadn't registered that he was likely meeting the owner of Sharp Development until he was in her office.
"You spent your first six months in one of our worst positions. You've seen and learned things that keep people up at night. You've been to Hell but you're always on time and you haven't taken a day off. All that makes you a valuable employee to Sharp Development; but, your consistent numbers on top of all that is why I'm here," Ms. Sharp said.
Otto felt his chest swell with pride the more she praised him. He almost corrected her; but, she did not want to ruin the moment. The truth was that sometimes he did have trouble sleeping at night; every now and then he could still see all those eyes in the dark staring back at him.
"You did well to thrive in these conditions, and I'd like to see how well you do if given better opportunities. I'm assigning you to a different department at the main Sharp Development campus," she said. "Do you have any questions?"
Otto had several questions; but, at this moment he realized that there was a benefit to not asking them. He had millions of questions over his first six months; but, he never knew who to ask. Now he was being rewarded and he felt it was important to keep doing what he was already doing.
"I'm ready to start whenever you need me," Otto replied.
"Wonderful," she gestured to the office door. It swung open to reveal a pale, plump woman with short dark hair in a black suit. "Melody will get you started," Ms. Sharp said. Melody, the woman in black nodded at Otto and then walked past him.
"Wait outside, please," she said.
"Oh..okay,..," Otto nodded and stepped out of the office into the white hall. Melody approached the desk with her eyes locked on Ms. Sharp.
"Turbo tried to wish her in with a genie," Melody said. "Are we stepping in?"
"Not yet," Ms. Sharp shook her head with a grin. "If Turbo is able to find a way out, the entire thing needs to be reworked anyway."