Befuddled, I retraced my steps to Flora’s office. “I’d like to ask you something. Do you happen to know the location of my desk?”
Flora giggled, her multiple chins wobbling in mirth. “The first one you lay eyes on when you come up the stairs to our reception area, sweetie. Bentley will give you a real desk and a laptop on Monday. She wants to make sure you’re really coming back before she sets you up at your own station. For now, I’m afraid you only get a cup holder filled with pens and a few file folders.”
“Thank you,” I told her and headed back down the hall.
When I located my desk, I laughed, thinking I was the butt of a hoax traditionally played on the newest intern, but no one popped out from behind the sofa or potted palm to witness my reaction. In the quiet space, I was forced to admit that no one had noticed my arrival at all.
However, I was expected. I hadn’t seen it earlier when I first arrived, but there, in a corner between the sofa and the wall, to the right of the table with the telephone, sat a student desk with a paper-stuffed file folder resting on its surface. As Flora had warned, there was also a cup holder filled with ballpoint pens resting on top of the folder.
Serf! Indentured servant! Peon! my reporter self silently screamed in indignation.
“It’s only for a day,” I spoke loudly into the empty space, hoping someone would hear the determination in my voice. “If they think I’m going to complain because I’ve been assigned this Little Rascals office furniture, they’re wrong. I’m more the Steel Magnolias type!”
Still, it only took thirty seconds of sitting at the student desk—it was the one-piece kind with the tiny L-shaped writing area and the seat back that not only provided zero support, but also mercilessly poked into the dead center of one’s spine—for my bravado to lose its force. I couldn’t possibly work hunched over like some nearsighted scientist while my rear end ached and my lower back grew more and more fatigued.
Determined to mark myself as an independent thinker, I stacked the client books from the coffee table and placed them on the student desk. Next, I neatly laid out my materials on the coffee table, kicked off my shoes, and sat down on the carpet. With my back and neck supported by the sofa, I felt right at home.
Before delving into the query file, I decided to call my mother and surprise her with the news of my change in employment. I should have known better, since she makes her living telling fortunes using a combination of palm and tarot card readings and therefore claimed to have been fully aware of my new job.
“I had a feelin’ I should lay out the cards for you last night!” My mother stated theatrically. She never missed an opportunity to be dramatic. “I saw a major change. You got the Wheel of Fortune card in the Present position, after all. Even a monkey could’ve seen this comin’.”
As always, I allowed her to believe she had an accurate foreknowledge of everything that was going to happen in my life. “Well, you’re not called Amazing Althea for nothing.”
My mother sniffed, as though I’d caught her crying. “Oh, sug! I can’t hide the truth from you. Your readin’ was the scariest thing I ever did see. You got the Tower card in the Reason position and the Devil in the Potential spot. You gotta get outta there, honey! For once in your life, listen to your mama!”
I rolled my eyes and tried to control my feelings of annoyance. “Stop it. I know you’re punishing me for not calling you yesterday. I’m forty-five years old, Mama. I do not need to call you each and every day, and right now, I have to get to work.” My parting line was meant to make her feel guilty. “I wish you could have just been happy for me.”
“Happy? HAPPY!” my mother shrieked. “I dealt the Death card in your Future position, Lila! How can I be happy?”
Now she was stooping really low. “I don’t know much about those cards of yours, but you’ve told me time and time again that the Death card is not to be taken literally.”
My mother sniffed again, and when she spoke next, I felt a tiny spark of trepidation, because her voice had gotten quiet and small, and she never spoke like that unless she was extremely distressed. “This time it’s the real deal. Death is comin’ to the place where you work and he’s comin’ soon. I’m not sayin’ he’s lookin’ for you, but he is gonna take somebody with him when he leaves that office. Baby, please. Just walk on outta there.”
I stared at the query file and then at the books on the desktop, proudly showcasing the names of all the prestigious authors the Novel Idea Literary Agency represented. I thought of my mortgage and Trey’s college tuition payments. I thought of how much I wanted to become an agent with this firm.
“Sorry, Mama. If Death shows up, he’s going to have get by me first.” I picked up a pen and gripped it in my hand. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter 2