Steven Basic
patreon
Post 163: Sheryl Flexes
🕑 Added 2021-03-28 12:24:11 +0000 UTC
“Hey, Dr. J…” Lakshmi called out, catching me as I turned the corner in the hallway, hoping to retreat to my office in the middle of a trying Friday afternoon, if only for a few minutes, “I have something for you...”
I paused in my tracks and turned towards her, stopping myself from ogling her hips as she approached. She’d been - wow - putting on some weight, recently.
“I have this, uh, for you, from Sheryl,” she said, handing me some papers with an outstretched hand, tucking a lock of straight, shiny black hair behind her ear. It looked like a memo, several pages and a paper clip.
What is this?? I thought, What’s Sheryl doing, here? Why is she-
“What is this??” I asked, “What’s Sheryl do-“
“It’s a memo,” Lakshmi answered, biting her lower lip as she watched my face. Though serious, quiet, she’d always been girlish, young, sort of shy. But recently her confidence had begun to blossom and - though she seemed a little embarrassed about it - it didn’t escape my notice that she just talked over me. “We all got one. I th-“
“I can see it’s a memo,” I snapped, knowing immediately I’d sounded harsh. I felt a little bad - Lakshmi was just the messenger, and really actually a sweet person. “s-sorry…” I apologized, and read on…
“What the hell…” I murmured, under my breath. The top floor too? What about my apartm-?? I glanced quickly at the blueprints. I’d seen something similar in Melissa’s office, earlier today. A quick scan of what they were doing with the “atrium” still, yes, had some note of “personnel quarters” where my little studio apartment currently was. It would be right above this monstrous statue-thing. Speaking of: what in god’s name was “dynamic polymer”?
“Sheryl told us you’d be able to stay in your apartment,” Lakshmi said, as if reading my mind, “So that’s nice…”
“Yeah…” I agreed, getting more upset as I pictured Sheryl handing this memo to my employees. Would she have been smiling, getting satisfaction from it, showing them who’s the real boss around here? And, should I just accept it? Give in? Resign myself to the fact that my ex-wi….excuse me my wife had me under her thumb, and seemed intent on slowly grinding my ego to dust? It made my heart race, made me feel like I was shrinking in my already-too-big shoes. I began reading further.
God, it’s like I can hear her voice saying it...
Good lord, every new sentence was more emasculating than the last. What was she planning? Why did she want to do this, make FHMA something it wasn’t? She didn’t know anything about medicine, or really how to operate a medical practice. That was...my job, always. Did she expect me to be able to handle all this?? Or were there other plans, to totally eclipse me?? Who’d gotten to her, gotten in her ear? And what the hell was “Interventional Endocrinology”?!?
I pulled my eyes up off the memo to find, in a start, that Josie had just appeared beside Lakshmi. Looking fresh-faced and girlishly pretty in her scrubs, high-ponytail of medium brown and bright white sneakers I hadn’t heard her approach. .
“Heyyy what are you guys doing?” she asked, giving a playful little hip-check to her friend and fixing me with sparkling eyes. Though new, Josie had become fast pals with Lakshmi, brought out a cute, playful side of her. When the two were together it was sometimes like seeing two giggly young girls together.
Lakshmi bumped her back, her hips clearly the more meaty of the two. “Dr J’s just getting the chance to look at the new memo…”
Sheryl’s using her Maiden name now? When did that start?? And- Olivia?!? Sheryl’s friend, the bosomy redhead, the one that manages that Maura woman’s political campaign? When did she get in on this, involved in our business??? I’m technically a member of the board - such as it is - of the company, vice-president (or was it Secretary? Treasurer?) of the corporation that is FHMA. Aren't I, still? Shouldn’t I have a say in this if we were bringing on a “Managing Consultant’?? It was always just Sheryl and I; she really always handled the businessy-legal stuff...
“She wants everyone to sign it, the memo, acknowledge that we got it, read it…even you,” Lakshmi told me, fixing me with an empathetic eye as she saw the confusion on my face.
“Even me?” Like a common employee?!?
“Even you, daddy,” Josie said, reaching out to brush a piece of lint off my collar. She was smiling but seemed to be fighting back an even bigger grin.
In my breast pocket, I found myself already reaching for a pen. “Okay,” I agreed, clicking the pen open, “but I’m going to talk to...to Sheryl...my wife…”
...
(Did she just call me ‘daddy’?)
=====
Thanks to Antares for inspiration and help with this one,
Comments
Wooaaww
