No Strings

CHAPTER 3--Girl at Work

I turned onto the crazy highway to Boston. Some jerk wouldn't let me in at the intersection. I raised my fist and cursed at him. I wasn't bargaining for such idiots. I pushed my way in with the blinker on. I wasn't in a rush to get to my job, but I couldn't afford to be late.

I banged my head against my driving wheel. The traffic was blocked and at this rate I would never get to work on time. Lucky bastard William. My cellphone rang. I reached for my purse and looked at the number in the window. Ahh, the bastard right now.

"Hello wifey. I'll need some glue, can you get it on the way back?"

"You are a nut. If you ever call me wifey again I swear I'll beat you up the side of the head. Anyway, make it quick. I'm driving."

He laughed at this. He wasn't a bastard, he was an arrogant bastard. I was driving, but stuck in the horrendous traffic.

"I'm joking. I wanted to know what it sounded like. But I need some glue and I don't think I can get it without going into the city."

I sighed.

"I have a model to finish. I might be hired for another project. The agency is considering sending me out."

I muttered, "Lucky bastard," under my breath.

"Then you'll do it?" He knew what I said wasn't for him to hear. We'd known each other for too long for him to not know. That or he was dense, but I doubted he could be that dense.

"Sure. In exchange you never call me any spousal terms again." There was a slight silence and then he said, "I won't call you wifey again."

"That's not the deal."

"Fine, but I still want to use them as jokes."

I could hear him snicker. I wondered if he'd married me because he found it an amusing joke. "You'll get your way anyway. Fine."

"Thank you, Besty."

He hung up without saying goodbye. Why did I marry him again?

I sighed and negotiated with the slowing traffic. Always stupid people staring at accidents. I wondered why people take such fascination in other people's misery.

***

I arrived to work in time. I opened the office and changed my sneakers into heels. I made coffee and scurried about looking for office supplies that had gone missing. People liked to take things from the office to use at home and then I'd never see them again. For example scissors, pens, and tape would disappear on a weekly basis no matter how much I ordered. I was tempted to order none at all. The supply of glue sticks disappeared after the last project rush for Easter.

I found a pair of missing scissors on one of the Project Manager's desk buried under a bunch of paper. I put them back on top of the stack and took note. The supply cabinet had plenty of paper, but as usual the marking pens and the ballpoint pens were missing. In addition, the new art supplies that were requested the week before by Marleen were gone. The pastels in particular.

I noted this down and then opened the doors that needed to be opened while I waited for my computer to fire up. I called it the Old Man. It still was on Windows Vista, though Richard swore he'd get it updated to Windows 8 someday. But it was so old that it wouldn't be able to handle Windows 8 in the first place. It didn't matter that much anyhow since I pretty much did little charts and graphs at the highest end of things.

A few of the missing files I found under Frank's desk as I was looking around. I put those on top of his desk. The Old Man had found his old engine. I turned on the phones and sat at my desk. Nancy was always late for work, so I sometimes took her receptionist duties. She often had problems with her health as of late, but her sunny disposition pretty much kept her job at the front desk. She also often helped the other secretaries with loose end work which helped keep our desks pretty much clear.