Sword and Coin

The Wolf in Sheep's clothing

The light switch clicked, Marjorie was the first to enter the Nursery in the morning. Coffee mug in hand, she walked through the still empty building. It would be an hour before the first parents arrived.

She sat down at her desk and switched on the computer. Marjorie took the time to look at her desk, which was now hers. There was office stuff in the drawer, now that she thought about it, she didn't even know who the manager was before her.

A name tag greeted her in one of the drawers. Marjorie picked it up.

S. Hanson
Manager

Now she had her answer. Even if she didn't know what the person's first name was.

The working day was starting, Autumn would be in later today. There was a board meeting in the morning. Marjorie didn't know how long it would last. She wondered whether she would also become a Borad member. Well, that could wait, as today was only her second day.

There was a knock at the door. A woman entered the room cautiously. "Autumn, sorry to disturb you, but... Oh." She looked at Marjorie in surprise.

Marjorie didn't know the woman, she must be a parent. "Autumn will be in later today. But I'll be happy to help you. I'm Marjorie, the new manager," she said with a broad smile.

The woman suddenly looked relieved, she seemed happy not to have to talk to Autumn. "Petra, I'm Toni's mum. Nice to meet you... better than that grouch.." she mumbled the last words, but Marjorie heard her anyway. "I just wanted to ask about the trip to the zoo."

Marjorie felt a bit sorry for Autumn. Nobody seemed to like her. But after the first impression she had made yesterday, Marjorie wasn't surprised.

It wasn't until the morning was almost over that Autumn entered the office. She had a gloomy expression and threw her bag on the floor with all her might.

"Hello, Autumn..." Marjorie spoke.

The woman didn't answer. She sat down at her computer and started working. Autumn punched the keys. The tension that emanated from her could be felt throughout the room.

Marjorie watched her unobtrusively and wondered if she should ask if everything was all right. But Autumn cut her short. "Don't you have anything to do? Or are you going to stare at me for the rest of the day?" Her voice cut like a knife through butter.

Marjorie actually wanted to hold back and not show her quick-witted side on her second day. But the words left her mouth faster than she could think. "You seem to forget that I'm your boss!"

Autumn stopped her typing abruptly, and her eyes shot up and fixed on Marjorie. Even though she had a neutral expression on her face, a fire burned in her eyes. " You seem to forget who my father is! As quickly as you get this job, you can lose it again!"

Marjorie had to bite her tongue so hard that her mouth filled with the metaphorical blood. Autumn was right. Her father was the owner. The manager decided without further ado to start her break now and quickly left the office.

She didn't go into the break room but out the back door to get some fresh air. To her surprise, she came across a person there. Leaning against the wall was Sorscha, phone and cigarette in hand. She seemed to be on a break too.

The Irish woman looked questioningly at her new manager. "What crawled up your arse?"

"Autumn!"

Sorscha grinned slightly. " No surprise there. She had a board meeting today, right? She always comes back from them in a bad mood... well, in a worse mood than usual." She turned her attention back to her phone.

Marjorie stroked through her hair and took a few deep breaths. She didn't want Autumn to bring down her own mood. "I'll get along with Autumn...eventually."

Sorscha laughed lightly and threw away her cigarette. She walked over to Marjorie, patted her on the shoulder, and said dryly. "Good luck."

When Marjorie had calmed down, she returned to the office, as if the day couldn't get any worse, no, now another Knight was waiting for her.

Reece was sitting in her office chair, leaning backwards and swaying slightly back and forth. When he saw Marjorie, he made no move to get up. "Good to see you at your desk," a passive-aggressive statement, no hello or how are you. Reece hadn't even officially introduced himself to Marjorie.

"Hello to you too," Marjorie replied sharply.

This elicited a reaction from the man, the corner of his mouth pulled up slightly. Was he amused by her? "I like it when women are feisty."

No, he wasn't amused, he was an arsehole, Marjorie thought to herself. But she remained unimpressed. Autumn, who was also in the room, seemed to be tuned out her surroundings, not giving her brother a single glance.

Reece finally rose from the chair. Again, Marjorie realised how tall the man was as he stood in front of her. He gave her another dirty grin and held out a file. "This child will be with you from now on. The parents have moved closer to your Nursery. I would have discussed all this with the Deputy by now, but she won't talk to me."

Marjorie took the file, not breaking the intense eye contact with the man. "I can understand that if you have nothing to say but stupid remarks."

Reece grinned dirty again. "Believe me, Margie, I can do a lot more than just make stupid remarks." With that, he left the office.

"Margie!...What a idiot..." whispered Marjorie.

"Believe me, Marjorie, that was harmless. He's the wolf in sheep's clothing."

Surprised, Marjorie turned to her deputy. Who still had her eyes on the computer screen. But Marjorie saw a spark of sadness in her eyes. She herself knew what it was like not to get along with her family. Now Marjorie was lucky that she no longer had to see her family, but she couldn't imagine how hard it was for Autumn to have to see Reece all the time.

" He didn't seem like a wolf in sheep's clothing. More like an overgrown toddler!"

To Marjorie's surprise, she saw a slight grin from Autumn, but it disappeared immediately. The mood in the office lightened a little. And Marjorie wondered whether Autumn was perhaps more than her first impression seemed to suggest.

After a while, Marjorie dared to ask something. "I found a name tag this morning. Who is S.Hanson?"

" Summer. She was the manager before you, but she was fired after forgetting a child in the building during a fire drill."

" Oh.... wait a minute... Summer?"

Autumn didn't seem to notice the irony Marjorie seemed to be playing on. "Yes, Summer? Do I not understand something."

"You're really telling me that Summer, Autumn, and Winter worked together in this building. Was there also Spring?" Marjorie laughed lightly, but her laughter faded as Autumn stared at her unimpressed.

"Very original, Marjorie. I've never heard that joke before. "

Marjorie sank into her chair. Well, she really seemed to need luck to warm up to Autumn. And luck was not something Marjorie was known for.