Boardroom.
Bored room was more like it.
She glanced surreptitiously at her watch. Hoffman was still droning on about maximizing the division's profits, some generic claptrap he'd picked up at an executive seminar, and it didn't appear that he would be concluding his filibuster anytime soon.
God, she hated these meetings.
Outside the windows, the sky was clear, cloudless, and she could see all the way to the bay, the small dark shape of Alcatraz Island visible in the sea of blue space between two adjoining buildings. She found herself wondering what would happen if a major earthquake hit while they were up here. Would the building stand or would it collapse? If it collapsed, would they ride it down, squashing the floors beneath them, or would the structure topple over, sending them flying into space? More than likely, there'd be a random pattern of destruction, different areas on different floors that crumbled or remained intact, arbitrarily killing those who happened to have the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Morbid, perhaps, but at least it made the time go by.
She glanced once more around the room, at her coworkers and peers, and thought, not for the first time, that she didn't belong here. She'd been hired by Automated Interface just out of college, had worked her way up the corporate ladder and had held her current position for the past five years, but she still sometimes felt like an imposter, a child playing dress-up who had somehow successfully fooled adults into believing that she was one of them.
Did she have anything in common with these people at all?
No. It was a fake plastic yuppie world she lived in, and it was one of the cruel tricks of fate that she happened to have an aptitude for this business, that she happened to be good at this job.
She'd grown up far differently, in a rural town south of the Bay Area, at the tail end of the hippie movement, and her parents had raised both her and Josh nontraditionally, teaching them a reverence for nature, emphasizing individuality, all the counterculturecliches . The obsession with appearances, the focus on finances and materialism that were so much a part of the lives of her peers were completely foreign to her. At the same time, she recognized the need to fit in, and she had no problem putting on the mask of conformity, buying the right clothes, ordering the right food, doing everything necessary to facilitate her created persona of successful businesswoman.
It was why she was where she was today.
It was funny how life turned out. Her parents had been killed in a freak auto accident her senior year in high school, and amid the devastating grief and bottomless sense of loss, she'd been surprised to learn that her parents had actually written a will, and that they'd specifically earmarked funds for her and Josh's college education.
She never would have suspected such a straight request from either her mother or her father, but it was there in black and white, and the lawyer said that the money could only be used for books and tuition. Anything else, and the money would be donated to Green peace.
So, in a way, her hippie parents were responsible for her becoming the business executive she was today.
She had the feeling they'd be proud of her, though.
A half hour later, Hoffman finally finished talking, the meeting finally ended, and the various department heads went back to their offices. Tom Jenson, the division development coordinator, asked her if she wanted to go out for drinks after work, but she begged off, saying that she wanted to get a head start on the weekend.
'I don't blame you,' he said. 'It's been a crappy week.'
Laurie smiled. 'See you Monday.'
She left work an hour early, walking downtown. A
cable car filled with Japanese tourists clattered past her, and she waved at one man who snapped her picture.
As she did each Friday, she stopped off to see her brother at The Shire. He'd been managing the bookstore for three years now, and it was nice to see him finally find a job that he liked, but recently he'd been delving a little too deeply into Eastern religion and philosophy books.
An interest he'd inherited from their mom.
It was one of the reasons she liked to check up on him.
Josh was helping a customer when she walked into the shop, and she waved at him and busied herself with the magazines while he talked with the customer about the works of Carlos Casteneda .
The customer finally bought a book and left, and Laurie walked over to the counter. 'How goes it?' she asked.
He looked at her. 'I was about to ask you the same question.'
'That bad, huh?'
He nodded.
She placed her purse down on the counter and sighed.
'It's been a long week.'
'Tell me about it.'
She described the petty infighting and office politics that had been indulged in since the division's recent restructuring, moved on to the boring meetings and endless memos, and finished with a lawsuit being filed against the company by an ex-clerk whom she had hired.
'Sounds like a party.'
'Yeah. Right.'
'How are things with you and Matt?'
'Fine. No problems there.'
'You could always get another job.'
'No. It's not the work, it's . . . it's the position. Ever since I took that promotion, I've had to spend all my time dealing with human resources rather than what's important.'
He smiled. ' 'Human resources'?'
'I admit it. I've been corrupted. I'm a corporate shill.'
'Like I said, you could find another job.'
She shook her head.
'You're under a lot of stress. That's your main problem. I have this book--'
'Josh.'
'I'm serious. It's about spiritual awareness and energy management. There's a lack of spirituality in your life.
That's at the root of your problems. It's what's at the root of most of the world's problems.'
'I really don't want to hear it right now.'
'Laurie--'
'Look, I'm glad you have a hobby, and it's really interesting and everything, but I just don't believe that I
can walk into your store and buy a five-dollar vanity press book and find out answers to questions that the greatest minds in the history of the world couldn't solve.'
'You don't have to be hostile.'
'Yes, Josh, I do. I do because every time I come in here, you're trying to shove some new religion down my throat. I just want you to be my brother and give me a shoulder to cry on and not try to convert me all the time.'
'You're just too closed-minded.'
'If Albert Einstein didn't know the meaning of life, then neither do you.'
He turned away, and she reached out and grabbed his arm, sighing. 'I'm sorry. It's been a boring day and a long week, and I didn't mean to take it out on you.'
He turned, smiled wryly. 'What are brothers for?'
She hugged him. 'I just need to go home, take a hot bath, relax with Matt, and watch a crummy movie.' She picked up her purse from the counter. 'I'll call you later, okay?'
He nodded.
'And next time we'll discuss your wacky religions.'
