What Little Worlds

Thirty-Three

Drip, drip, drip. The liquid seeped through the column at an alarmingly slow rate, thankfully signifying that the process was almost done.

Amelie sat in front of the column and stared. Please stop. Please be over soon.

Drip, drip, drip.

She lolled her head to one side and then the other with each slow drip, mimicking the movement of a Grandfather Clock.

"Just finish already!" she groaned at the offensive thing.

"A watched pot never boils," a voice called from the doorway. Cathy walked into the lab, her sensible making irksome squeaking noises on the linoleum floor. Amelie did not turn around to her, instead she shot one last glare at the column-that-never-ended.

Drip, squeak, squeak, drip, squeak.

It took all of Amelie's self control not to slap her hands over her ears. Instead she plastered a friendly smile on her face and turned to Cathy.

"How was your day?" Amelie asked politely.

"Oh it was fine. My new compound seems to be working well. I'd ask you, but I feel as though I already know the answer."

Amelie paused, surprised by Cathy's oddly pleasant response before replying. "My day was fine. I just hate running columns to be honest. I don't have the patience for it, clearly." She laughed.

"Really? I quite enjoy it to be frank," Cathy replied absent mindedly as she flipped through a lab notebook.

"What? You actually enjoy it?" Amelie spouted, appalled.

Cathy looked up and met her eyes. "No, that was a joke," she winked. Amelie almost gasped in shock at her boss's pleasant mood. Then "Unlike you, I have more than a teaspoon of patience to work with, so running columns really doesn't bother me, even if it's not my favorite thing."

There was the insensitive boss Amelie had come to expect.

"I guess I''m just finding this job to be different than I expected it to be," she replied softly.

Cathy simply tilted her head and flipped a page in the lab book. No comment on Amelie's strikingly truthful response.

"Well you could always quit. You're only twenty-one. You have time to figure out what you really want to do." She finally looked up from the lab book. "We all make mistakes in life, the important thing is being brave enough to admit you were wrong and change things."

Amelie had no response so she simply said "mmmm," in agreement and turned back to her column.

Cathy closed the lab book with a slap. "So. Are you staying?"

Amelie swiveled in her chair to face Cathy. "I don't know yet. Is that okay?"

"Sure. It's not my life," she turned to walk out of the lab, her sensible shoes squeaking again on the way out. Amelie turned back to her column and sighed. The squeaking stopped.

"You haven't been the worst employee ever, so I might not forgive you for leaving, but if this doesn't fit, and you stay, then you may not forgive yourself."

A ball was forming in Amelie's throat and she needed Cathy to leave before she totally lost it. "Okay," she said, her voice shaking.

The squeaking began again, but not towards the door. Cathy laid her hand on Amelie's shoulder. "Go home and think about things. I'll finish your column. You've stayed late a lot recently. And like I said, I really don't mind them."