Chapter 57
Darshee and Wizper barged into my office. No knock. Practically blew the door off the hinges coming in. I was on my fifth conference call. I had more projects to catch up on than I have synapses to spare.
Midsentence, Darshee disconnected my call. I stared at her in shock, not really believin’ what she’d done.
“Come,” Darshee hissed.
“Now,” Wizper added.
“That was an important call,” I shrieked a bit.
“This is an intervention.”
Okay, intervention. That’s what parents do for drug addled younglings. Darshee was on my side of the desk now pullin’ my arm almost out of the socket.
A little late, I decided I better stand or lose the arm. I made it to my feet and she tugged me along. I told her I was about to bash her through the floor.
“In ten minutes, sure. But come with us.”
I’m pretty sure I didn’t have a choice because now Wizper had hold of my other arm, and my feet were hoverin’ over the carpet. She said ten minutes. They were being rude even for hens, but they’d already interrupted my project call, so I could go along with their rudeness for ten minutes.
Then I would fire them.
We crossed over to the next wing and up a floor, strode through cubical land to the big corner office. The plaque next to the door read VP Network Technologies.
A chunk of lung caught in my throat. Who budgeted a new VP? Below the title, Nuel d Asog.
I stumbled a bit. Darshee flung me forward a bit. Wizper wasn’t quite in sync with Darshee’s intentions, so I staggered into the office in an awkward twist coming close to plowin’ my face into the carpet.
Lava flowed over every inch of my body.
“Hey,” the ogre hen behind the desk said.
My throat struggled with a swallow.
Nuel kind of peered around me, for the door. I looked over my shoulder. Darshee and Wizper had vanished.
“Ya really didn’t know?” Nuel asked.
Know? Uh. My mind wasn’t clickin’. “Know what?”
“That I interviewed for the job. It’s a new position. They stole a few directors from the data center. I assumed, really, ya were behind it, and just being discreet.”
Network Technologies? My uncle must have moved a bunch of my responsibility her way too. I should jump on my emails. “Yeah. Yeah,” I said. “I’m discreet.”
“Ya’re an idjit, is what ya are,” she said.
“That too.”
We gazed at each other a minute or two. Maybe longer. Her desk was surprisingly settled. How long has she been here?
“So,” I said. “Ya movin’ to the plains?”
“Long commute otherwise,” she said.
Hmm. Kriz works from the Hamlet and is the most productive person in the company. “There are still some empty lots near me, not abuttin’ the reserve, though, if ya’re interested in building.”
“Don’t wanna get too close to ya.”
I shook my head. “Nah. I can see that.”
“I kind of work a lot,” she said. “Not at home, ya know, much. So just a townhouse will work.”
I nodded.
We gazed across the desk, only sort of at each other. She wore a pattern skirt today with a sky-blue background, gold prominent in the design. Went well with the red and gold hues of her hair. Of course she wore a simple white blouse with cap sleeves. Showed off the definition in her arms and shoulders well. A dark-hued, kind of brownish lipstick accented her full lips.
“No cargo shorts?” she asked.
“Meh. Summer over. Time for the chinos.”
She nodded.
We gazed.
“So, uh.” When did I pick up a stutter? “Be seein’ ya around then?”
“Prolly not much,” she said. “Ya know, different wing, departments.”
“Then I’ll call ya. I have a game in the morning. Go with?”
“Ya know I don’t like sports,” she said.
Did I know that? “May grow on ya. Ya grew on me.”
She turned an unholy hue of red. “Grew on ya?”
“Not much. Some.” I shrugged.
“What time?” she asked.
Uh. What? “For what?”
“Ya picking me up?” she asked.
“Basketball?” My bass sounded a little alto.
She nodded.
“Early tipoff, at eight,” I said.
“Ya have to buy me breakfast then,” she said.
I nodded.
She nodded.
We gazed at the top of her desk. She had a nice portfolio. Soft leather. Tan. Maybe that’s burgundy. Fancy pen. I use whatever comes out of the supply cabinet. Legal pad.
“Well, then,” we both said.
“Better let ya get to it then,” I said.
We both nodded. My eyes were kind of stuck on the dark hue of her lips. Had I ever seen her wearin’ lipstick before? She wore a bit of, is it called rouge, high on her cheeks, makin’ her face look a little less round. But it was nice. Dramatic. A gold chain fell inside the vee of her blouse, between her, uh. A cross maybe? A locket?
“Yeah. Got a lot to come up to speed,” she said.
“Tell me. I haven’t caught up from, ya know.”
We both nodded. A moment later it dawned on me I should maybe leave, so I backed toward the door, held my hand out beside me and gave her a little wave.
“Ya might need my number,” she said.
“Oh, yeah.”
She rattled it off. No way I’d remember. I suggested she maybe text me. She nodded. I almost backed into a gaggle of folk in the hall. I caught her smile, whirled around and strode away.
The lava was still stuck to me. No explainin’ it. So I had a chat with a new employee. No big deal. People come. People go. Nice that this one—had already grown on me a little. Have to look into how the board created a new VP without lettin’ me in on it.
~ Nuel ~
The dweeb. What a total dweeb.
What does Darshee and Wizper see in him?
~
I've posted the entire Black Lake series, including volume 6 and 7 which have never been published, if ya'd like to give them a read: ~
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The End
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Book 1: Expiring Covenant
Book 2: Hamlet Thrivin’
Book 3: Ogre Warlock Healer
Book 4: Warlock Apprentice
Book 5: Ogreness
Book 6: The Thing About Kriz
Book 7: Siblings Bele and Hale
A Black Lake Short Story
Ogre Jorz
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