This is an attempt at fiction, something I feel I’m not good at, at all. I’d love your constructive criticism on this effort as I would really like to branch out and try my hand at expanding on this genre.
Thanks
~ Kamal Kaur 

 

I hold a healthy disrespect for him. I don’t have to like him personally but I also don’t need to hate him. Perhaps what he does is authourative so I allow myself to keep that distance between us, and it works out well for the pair of us.

There has also been a huge financial barrier between us and neither tries to cross that line so when I got called by a figure of authority to review a project I had been working on it meant a change in my monthly bank balance, positively of course. This much-needed financial relief was going to ease a lot of problems and I had already started allotting the extra funds to future projects and past debts that needed clearing.

I knew it was my hard work and consistency that brought me to the level where I was and he did not really play a major role in my position. Also, always giving credit where it was due I was grateful for this chance of recognition as to me it always seemed like I was a minion in a sea of millions, just another person with no name, face or designation in this environment.

He called me and arranged a meeting in his swanky office and as I walked in after knocking on the door, he had his back towards me on his leather swivel chair and like a movie from the 70s I could see a plume of cigarette smoke rising from where he sat staring out of the huge window that boasted a panoramic view of the city. He dramatically turned around and I saw his perfectly white, straight teeth gleaming at me as he put out the offensive smelling cigarette in a crystal ashtray. My thoughts wandered towards his teeth thinking he must have an excellent dental hygienist to have perfect pearlies in his mouth despite being a smoker.

‘Have a seat,’ he prompts me and I sit down on the plush cushioned chair across his wide desk and my eye wanders to his console on his left side where I see pictures in frames of his perfect family. I grimace at that because I have seen him with a woman he shouldn’t be with in a rather intimate lip lock at what he probably thought was a discreet place. I make an effort to push down the bile that had started rising in my throat looking at all this hypocrisy. But then again, what did I know of his life that I was judging him so harshly? My experiences in life seemed to mar every meeting I had with this man. He reminded me of someone I chose to forget.

He picks up his expensive Mont Blanc pen and I’m filled with envy. I love Mont Blanc pens and have always desired to own an ink pen from their range. While he makes a note of something on the writing pad in front of him he asks me if I would like some tea or coffee and I politely decline.

Get the hell on with it, I think to myself.

Very dramatically, I thought, he opened a drawer from his desk and pulled out a sheaf of papers and placed it in front of me. I saw the company logo on top and a quick glance showed an attorney’s stamp and signature at the bottom.

‘What’s this?’ I ask him.

‘Have a look. You’re going to love this. I want you to know that I really pushed for this for you and you’re going to thank me for it.’  He smiles at me as though he was handing over a cheque of US $10 million.

I already knew what was written on the papers. The office grapevine had worked faster than him, once again proving to me his efficiency, or the lack of it. I sat there expressionlessly reading through the papers, which declared I had been awarded a bonus at work and was to benefit with immediate effect.

‘Thank you,’ I said and he looked taken aback. I knew very well what he was expecting. According to my rather loud and expressive personality he had thought I’d probably weep with gratitude and pledge my left kidney to him and forever be happy working at his beck and call just because he was the bearer of this good news.

Well tough shit, I thought to myself. The company accountant had already told me of the reflection of my efforts in the new pay-slip and the company grapevine had already let me know a fortnight earlier that I was being moved into the office next door to the office demi-god.

I denied him the chance to play God with me and he doesn’t let me forget it every time he walks past my cabin and throws a load of useless paperwork for me to handle. He emails me the stupidest of documents to check with a fine toothcomb and revert to him should there be any mistakes. He resents he doesn’t have the same authority he did on me and deep down I know he hates me for not being gracious enough and thanking him profusely for letting me know that my finances and prospects in my work environment had vastly improved.

It didn’t happen because of him. It happened because of Him…