Always Complicated

HERO

Hey, what are you doing this weekend? My boyfriend, Garrett, texted. I glanced at my coworker, Chuck, before I sat back to text him. 

“Hey, are you listening? We need to focus,” Chuck said as he snapped his fingers. I eyed him as I set my phone down. “The coastal wetlands are getting dried up. What would be the most valuable thing to tell people that would make them care about this ecosystem?” I leaned forward as my mind raced for suggestions. 

“We could get them interested in the animals that are found only in the wetlands,” I proposed. He laughed the same rude way he always did and was about to reply with a snood remark before his phone rang.  

“Hold up. Boss is calling. Think of better ideas I can give the boss as I give him the best idea I have.” He answered as he headed for the door. “Hey boss… of course, I was thinking we could convince people the animals found in wetlands are worth keeping the wetlands for…” I glared at him as he shut the door. 

I have work. Sorry, but my job is taking all my time. I can’t hang out with you, in case you wanted to. I sighed as I set my phone down face up. 

No worries Cupcake. Maybe next week will be better. I smiled as Chuck came back into the room. 

“Boss didn’t like your idea. He said it sucked.” 

“I thought it was your idea,” I said as I glared at him. He ignored me as he pointed at a pie chart on the whiteboard in the front of the room. 

“According to recent research, the coastal wetlands are depleting faster than some of the other ecosystems. The boss said we have to figure out a way to stop it. Why aren’t you thinking? A person would think you didn’t have a bachelor’s in environmental science like the rest of us.” I bit my tongue, trying to hold back the comebacks that were itching to leave my mouth. After a long moment of silence, he scoffed and left the room. I glared at him as he left and watched the door sometime longer after he had disappeared.  

I don’t like my coworker, I texted Garrett as I eyed the door. There must be a better coworker that I could work with to change the world. 

Why don’t you quit? I’m sure you could find a better job somewhere. I sighed and put my phone on the table before opening the work laptop in front of me. I attempted to find information about the Coastal Wetlands that I didn’t already know, but everything I found was not useful information I knew my boss would like. 

Suddenly, a notification popped into my inbox. Curious, I clicked to check it out. 

Dear Ms. Woodall, 

You have done some excellent work in your research. Here at HERO, we have taken notice of you. We have found you were at the top of your class at LSU. Because of your grades and your reputation, we have found you would be an extraordinary candidate to join our company. 

At HERO, we pay for our researchers to travel the world, researching in person ecosystems that are in trouble because of human activities. Our website, https://the.help.environment.recover.organization.com/thZ5Yf5en2B1, is capable of telling you everything about our mission and goal. A job we suggest applying for, traveling environmental scientist, can be found on our website as well. We hope you apply and help us change the world, one environment at a time. 

My heart was racing as I read the email, each line sinking in. I clicked on the website, searching every square inch to find out all I could about HERO. It paid 25K more than my current job and the environments they studied were areas others begged to study in college. The research showed I would have to stay six months in one environment before moving to the next location to study everything in the habitat. At the end of every six months, the team I would be getting and I would submit our research before moving to the next location. All the credit will go to every person who writes their section of the research.