He could feel the eyes of Carol and Marie on him but he did his best to try to ignore it.He could feel the eyes of Carol and Marie on him but he did his best to try to ignore it. Louise was with Mrs. Peterson for about fifteen minutes. When she came back out Tommy glanced up at her. She met his glance with a slight smirk and went back to her desk. About a half hour later Mrs. Peterson came out and said she had to go to a meeting and would be back in the office after lunch. After she left, the office was dead quiet for about five minutes. There were no phone calls and all four of them worked without any small talk. At that point Louise got up from her chair and said "Tommy, I want to talk to you in Gloria's office for a few minutes", and she walked in. Tommy followed her. As soon as he entered, Louise shut the door. She turned to Tommy with a big smile on her face and said "Well, well. I must admit you surprised me. Are you proud of that tape you made? Were we supposed to be impressed?" "I didn't make that tape, Louise" Tommy snapped out. "God, I don't know what happened, or how it happened..." "Gloria told me that you want a second chance to keep your job here. She said it seemed very important to you. Is that right?" "Yes, that's right." "Why, Tommy? Why is it so important?" Tommy hesitated, "Because I really like my job and I feel that this won't affect my performance." "Bullshit, Tommy. That's bullshit. All I have to say is one word to Gloria and you're out of here on your ass. Tell me the truth. Why, Tommy?" Tommy hesitated a bit, then he choked out "Because Beverly said that if I lost my job she'd send out more copies of the tape... to my family... my friends... everybody!" Tommy looked down. He was breathing hard. Louise nodded her head for a moment. "Tommy, you've been a royal pain in my ass for over a year, you know that? And there's one thing I've always wanted to do and now, by God... I think I'll do it." She seemed in an angry mood all of a sudden. She picked up a wooden ruler from Gloria's desk and said, "I've wanted to blister your ass from almost the first day you came to work here! You, still wet behind the ears, and you try ordering me around this office I've been at for nearly 20 years. I may be the secretary here but I've worked with Gloria since the beginning, and I resented your coming in here like a big shot and trying to push ME around! I'm gonna do what your mother should have done for you years ago. |