Six Symbols

Chapter 2. The appointment

Katherine was in the middle of a boring meeting, she got dragged to it a 10:00am, there seem to be no consensus on where they wanted her project to go, to her all of this was just nonsense, budgeting was something she cared nothing about, and she certainly had no saying on it, she stared wondering about Leon's tattoo, the lines were too straight, the angles too precise, all curves seemed like arches from a circle, no way it wasn't man made, it wasn't too big, but making it should have taken time. She tried to imagine how could it have happened, ruling out any failure in his friend's mind there should be only a couple of explanations.

- How long until you have an estimate? - she heard a voice that seemed far away, she returned to reality. The voice was from her boss, Ray Harris, the question was addressed to her, and she did not know what he was talking about.

- An estimate? - She was trying to fish for info, her mind was elsewhere, she did not think she needed to pay attention.

- I assume you have a ECD - Harris said turning his big round face to her, adjusting his eyeglasses, which he used to do when he was angry, and was trying to calm down. For a small fat guy he could be very intimidating. ECD, she knew that one, "estimated completion date" of course.

- I have a Gantt chart sir - Kate said finally understanding it was a time estimate, she opened the file in her laptop - I can connect my computer to the projector if you want.

- No, just tell us when you expect to have a prototype.

- The 90% confidence is six weeks, 50% a month - as she blurted the words out she wished she had kept the 50% number to herself.

A woman in the other side of the room, who she knew was from finance punched some keys in her computer, she was a tall pale woman, very skinny and with an out of style hairdo.

- Six weeks it's OK, it would still be affordable - the finance woman finally said.

- Thanks Jane, that is what we needed to hear, Katherine you are dismissed - Harris said coldly.

Kate hurried upstairs to her cubicle, set the computer in the docking station, grabbed her coat and purse and headed to Leon's cube, the office area was very quiet and she could hear Leon talking on the phone.

- … James, we'll take it offline, I can explain it to you better in person.

After saying that, some silence, and then Leon hung.

- During the meeting they seemed to understand everything, and now they conference me in to go over some algorithms- Leon said letting a frustration grunt slip out. - I think they only pretend to understand to look good in front of their boss.

- Well I'm on their side – she tried to explain – sometimes is difficult to work when you only know part of the information. Like my project where I know just specifications and protocols but I have no idea what the whole thing does, this contracts for the government are the worst.

- Maybe that's it, maybe my symbol is just part of something which I´m not supposed to understand right away.

- Maybe, let's go for something quick to eat, and then we will look for tattoo studios.

Leon drove, he had an old gray sedan, an average car for an average guy, they went to a hot dog stand and kept the conversation off the topic of the possible meaning of the symbol, they both agreed that it was better not to try to understand it at that point, but they also speculated about the possible ways in which somebody could have got him out of his bed and into a tattoo studio without him realizing it. All the plots where unconvincing, they involved drugs, and shady characters with no good reasons to abduct Leon, but the conversation was fun, for both of them, they made jokes about a mysterious serial prankster, they paid the bill and headed to Leon's apartment. They decided they would park in his building and walk from there.