Some Day After

One

I tapped my pencil against my keyboard lightly. I stared out of the big glass window that my desk faced. It was a rainy day at work.

As I watched the rain fall, I thought about what I would make for dinner tonight. I was thinking maybe a nice shrimp pasta. Or maybe lasagna. Oh that sounded good.

A giant thud broke me out of my day dream of pasta and I stared at the giant pile of folders that were just dropped on my desk. I looked up to see Tanya, the office witch, smiling down at me.

"Alena, be a dear and make sure you get this paperwork done before you leave," she gave me a nasty smile before she turned on her too high of heels and wobbled away.

I sighed. Sadly, there was nothing I could do. Honestly, I don't even know Tanya and I don't know why she's nasty to me. But ever since I started here three years ago, she's been a real, well, sorry loser.

My job was fairly simple. The folders had potential clients I had to contact and get them to agree to come to a meeting with my boss, who then proceeded to talk them into being a sponsor and helping us raise money to host events and donate to charities. So we are like a weird middle guy for charities.

I pulled the top folder off the pile and opened it up. Inside had a few documents about some rich, foreign lady who ran several wineries. I dialed the number that was listed for her secretary and waited for them to answer.

Now, this isn't what I wanted to do with my life. But, it gets the bills paid. I really wanted to be a mechanic with my dad and work on cars, just like him. But he said that was no life for me and that I needed to aim for higher. Both my brother and I had to.

So here I am. Living my life in hell and helping talk rich people into giving us their money and donating it to worthy enough causes.

After about six or seven folders, I was exhausted. Talking to people was annoying enough. I didn't want to contact the rest of the list.

I pulled the next folder off and flipped it open.

Eugene Vision. CEO of Vision Corp. There was a small summary of what their company did. They were basically an architecture firm. A very big one at that. How come I've never heard of them?

I dialed the number listed.  It rang a few times before someone answered.

"Vision Corp. This is Alonzo. How may I help you today?" The voice on the other end of the phone answered.

"Hello, my name is Alena with Aide De Charité. I was wondering if mister Eugene would be willing to have an interview with my boss to be a possible sponsor and help charities?" I asked, saying my rehearsed line.

"Let me patch you through," Alonzo said.

"Wait no I-"

"Hello?" The new voice on the other end of the phone cut me off. His voice was nice but at the same time not.

"H-hello. My n-name is Alena. I work for Aide De Charité. I was just asking your secretary if you'd be willing to meet with my boss to discuss possibly being a donator for charity and our events.." My voice trailed off. I never talk to the person who runs these companies.

It was silent over the phone for a little while. I was scared he hung up on me. So when he spoke again, I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"What a lousy line. They couldn't come up with anything better?"

"E-excuse me?"

"The line. As a company who calls other successful companies, you'd think they would try to appeal more to what we want. Hearing you ask if I want to donate to charity? I do that every week. So entice me a little."