All in a Days Work

The widower, Abraham Myers, ran Saving Our World (SOW, pronounced SO) Corporation, and when his children, Miranda and Harry, wanted to work in his company, he gladly brought them on board at a very young age. After several years, they had a true grasp on the running and philosophy of the company. The firm committed itself to creating better ways of sowing grains around the world to help end world hunger. When the company's old and trusted executive assistant retired, a search began for her replacement.

Miranda set the appointments for the interviews, and she and Abraham were ready to begin interviews. A shapely woman in about her mid-forties strode in, wearing a short, tight-fitting navy pencil skirt and low cut white blouse. Her chestnut colored hair was full, wavy, and long; she looked like trouble because of the haughty expression on her face. Approaching Miranda, she said, "My name is Gloria VanderHolm, and I'm here for the executive assistant position."

Miranda looked at the interview schedule, and said, "I'm sorry; your name is not on the list. If you would care to leave your resume..."

"I don't care about any of that nonsense. I'm here to see someone who really counts, which is Abraham Myers," snapped Ms. VanderHolm. Before Miranda could figure out what to do, Abraham Myers appeared at the door.

"Ah, Mr. Myers, so nice to meet you. I'm Gloria VanderHolm," she purred as she held out her hand.

"Please come this way," he said. Gloria followed Mr. Myers out of the room, glancing backwards in triumph at Miranda.

As Miranda sat waiting for her father to return, she heard singing coming from his office. That's odd, she thought. A few minutes later, Mr. Myers and Gloria returned to Miranda, and he said, "I've found my assistant," smiling at Gloria. "Call off the search. Her outlook mirrors mine exactly; she is passionate about sustainable food sources for everyone. She is just perfect."

Miranda called her brother Harry to tell him what happened. "Dad's not thinking straight on this one, and he didn't listen to any of my protests. It's like she cast a spell on him or something."

"It doesn't sound like how he rolls, but see how it goes."

Miranda tried to train Gloria for her role as chief executive assistant. Gloria would just wave her off with a little sharp toothed smile, saying, "You take care of those matters. It's not part of my job. I have a conference with Abraham."

Meanwhile, Gloria blocked Harry's contact with Abraham. She convinced Abraham to give her his cell phone as part of her duties. Every time Harry called, Gloria would not put his calls through nor give his messages to Abraham. After a while, she stopped picking up Harry's calls. When Harry and Miranda managed to talk to their father about Gloria, he ignored their complaints.

Eventually, the besotted Abraham proposed marriage and a corporate partnership. They got married once Gloria's lawyers approved of the terms of the partnership. Gloria's sway over Abraham grew; she demoted Harry, inundated Miranda with work, and hired her daughter Shelby to replace her as executive assistant. Right after she made these moves, Abraham suddenly died.  With this turn of events, Gloria assumed complete control of the company, although Miranda was the one who kept things running smoothly.

One day Miranda got a text message from Harry, "Let's meet at Starbucks around the corner after work, say 6, okay?" She sent back a smiley face and a YES!

They embraced when they saw each other. "I've missed you," they both said at the same time.

"Well, now that Dad isn't around to do his work, Gloria has me doing it, plus I have the company's public relations job that I had before she came along, and executive assistant duties, too," said Miranda as she twirled her hair around her finger.