New Story, Alpha Build

Things Which Are Fascinating:

Curved mirrors
The placement of snow on trees
Cats
Hooded jackets in the wind
Cab drivers

The boss says a number in her slightly emphasized mode of speaking, so I make an “I'm writing this important number down” motion on my legal pad. The boss's slightly emphasized mode of speaking is reduced by a half step, and I think of virgins sacrificed to volcanoes. Now she is using her normal meeting tone, which is warm, slightly smooth, and contains a sprinkle of two and three word phrases like “deployment phase” or “currently conducting negotiations”. I suspect, if I listened carefully enough, I would discover that each speech the boss makes during these meetings is actually a formed from a pre-assembled diagram. The names of our clients are changed monthly, the numbers and statistics are products of a formula she keeps on one of her spreadsheets.

Varieties of Boss-Speech:

Whispered confidential in hallway
Theatrically confidential in office or (slightly louder) conference
Normal behind closed door
On phone with family
On phone with client
This is important (office mainly, hallway/cubicle rarely)
Slightly emphasized mode of speaking (meetings only)

The meeting ends and I push a chair in on my way out. I hold the legal pad close to my body, worrying that the others will realize why I'm so careful.

Things I'm Careful About:

Venereal diseases and pregnancies
Stop signs
Client confidentiality
Easily confused words
Microwave settings
Cooking chicken or eggs (always overcooked)

There's an hour of work left after the meeting, enough time to tally my hours from the last two weeks, respond to emails I've gotten over the last two hours, and finish up the first page of a new analysis. I started building a rubber band ball earlier, and it keeps rolling into my right hand as I type.