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She entered her office building and bumped into a man robed in white.
“Excuse me.” She tried to step around him. “I’m late. A dead body at the heliport delayed my landing.” The man didn’t budge.
She adjusted her disposable skirt and straightened her edible suit jacket. “Say, you must be a modern day nomad. I’d love to stay and listen to you preach, but I really am in a rush.”
“I alone will retain you in my memory forever,” he said softly.
“Excuse me!” She shoved past him toward the waiting elevator. She rode up fifty floors and arrived late to the morning meeting. The CEO sat atop his velvet throne.
“Heads will roll!” he boomed.
And they did, from at least four execs sitting in the front row.
“Gross,” said the secretary. “No way am I cleaning that up!”
She made it back to the elevator just as the doors were closing and rode down fifty floors. She emerged into the lobby, high heels clicking loudly on the marble floor.
“I alone will retain you in my memory forever.” He bowed.
“Still here?” she scoffed, and strode out onto the street.
He followed her, white robe flapping. She walked briskly, her disposable skirt tight around her slim hips, which drew open stares from passing men.
She bit off a chunk of her suit jacket and spat it out. “Quality outpaces taste,” she commented.
# # #
“Describe your work experience.” Red lights blinked on…off…on.
“I don’t think so. Take me to your leader,” she snapped.
One light blinked: “Interview is terminated.”
She stood. “Did I get the job?”
Another light flashed. “Negative.”
“How could you turn me down?”
No answer. Smoke wafted from the metal faceplate. She kicked it. Vaporous fumes choked her. “That proves it.” She coughed. “Your durable, lightweight construction has outlived your mental capacity.”
“I alone will retain you in my memory forever.” The robed man stood obsequiously in attendance.
“You are really starting to annoy me,” she growled, before striding off down the street, hips moving silkily past men’s roving eyes. She coughed twice before realizing she’d been struck by overwhelming fatigue.
She went home and laid down, aware of her fingers and toes going numb. She fell asleep to the sensation of being suspended in time and space and awoke in the morning to the chirping of her alarm clock, which she was unable to turn off, as her entire body was numb. Her eyes however, remained alert. Raising them, she saw him standing over her, sheathed in habitual white, his voice as soft and pure as falling snow.
“I alone will retain you in my memory forever.”
“God willing,” she replied, “somebody should.”
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