It was another boring day of making the graphics for the word presentation that she had already written out, nothing she was certain would hold her interest; just circles, triangles and arrows. She looked at the computer screen dully, she had put a triangle, arrow and circle side by side and was searching the depths of her soul to commit the sizes and placement of the geometric objects to optimize the text that she would then transfer into the shapes. She tried arranging the shapes to make it appealing to her -- circle over triangle with an arrow pointing up, then triangle over the circle with the arrow beside pointing between the two...nothing seemed to jump out and grab at her. She shifted her chair and tried not to look at the office window, the sun teasing her to come out and play. This was work, damn it, she told herself, and she had to focus. She peered closer at the image of the triangle over the circle with the arrow in between and wondered...
She flipped the triangle upside down so it was pointing down toward the circle. She started to drag the arrow back and forth in and out of the circle. She frowned, it didn't seem right. She made the circle smaller and more ovate by stretching out the top and bottom while narrowing the sides...then she increased the size of the arrow. That looked better she thought as she started to drag the arrow back and forth once again into the now oval with her arrow. She smiled though she didn't know why.
"That's an interesting design," Mark the office boy said from behind, startling her. "Reminds me of something...a cunt touch."
"Excuse me?" she said as she swirled around in her chair to face the scrawny pock marked face of the office intern, "What did you say?"
Mark's eyes went wide in alarm and stuttered out, "On your computer screen...it looks like one of those cartouches. You know that Egyptian writing?"
Every muscle in her body relaxed as she responded, "Oh." She swirled her chair back so that she was facing the screen again. "This," she said as she took the arrow that was stuck in the middle of the oval out, "Is a very important part of the creative presentation process...very important."
"O.k.," the frightened intern said and backed away slowly then turned and walked quickly away muttering to himself about the dangers of project graphic stress.
Ok, she told herself, back to work. She frowned and thought that perhaps she should find Mark and apologize for her behaviour, after all he was just learning the ropes plus still dealing with the trauma of childhood. When he was twelve and in the throws of the pubescent hormonal fluxuations, he had become infatuated with a hollow tree knoll to the point he just to have it...unfortunately a family of hungry squirrels thought highly of their home as well. When Mark went to show his affection for the tree, the squirrels thought that it was an attack and well...she knew immediately afterwards that she never should have asked him why everyone called him "Stubby".
Back to work. She looked at the oval with the triangle over top of it. She clicked on the arrow graphic again and placed the arrow pointing up under the oval, then clicked another arrow in and within moments she was once again transfixed by the arrow piercing the oval slowly then quicker then quicker...She took her hand off the mouse. How could she let her mind wander so? She was quite aware that it had been a while and though she knew she could get a man anytime she wanted; hell, there was one who had gone as far as renaming his hand after her which was both complimentary and terrifying at the same time -- she knew it would be best to wait for the right one, not the one right now.
She looked at the screen again. She enlarged the arrow just a little bit more and started tracing the outline of the circle slowly and then started moving it closer toward its center. She really needed that little vacation that was coming up she thought to herself, if this exercise was any indication. She licked her lips and she felt a wetness starting to form under her pants. Oh come on now, she thought to herself, it's a frigging work presentation. She thought it best to just close her eyes and compose herself before this got too carried away.....
"Excuse me, miss?" a deep gravelly sounding voice rumbled beside her ear; she could smell a mixture of pepperoni and pickled eggs wafting to her nose from where the voice was centered.
Oh please let this be a dream she innerly whispered to herself. She slowly opened her eyes -- the computer screen still had the upside down triangle over the oval with the arrows stuck in the center and on the bottom. More disturbing was that she could feel the hot breath of someone beside her. She turned her eyes toward the breathing; it was a funny looking man in a brown fedora, tan trench coat with the collar lifted up to cover the his neck. He looked like he hadn't shaved for about a week.
"Excuse me, miss?" The man said with a more insistent tone.
Without moving her neck, scared by the fact that a strange man had gotten not only into a secure office but found his way into her cubicle without anyone at least yelling something to give her a heads up about the matter. "Can I help you?" She said in her most mouse-like voice she could muster hoping that he wasn't some disgruntled user of the office program she was working on.
The man looked at her grimly and said, "The image on your screen."
It was time for her to take charge of the situation she decided. She turned her chair to face him and asked in a dangerous tone, "What about the image on your screen."
The man didn't budge from his leant over position but looked her straight in the eyes and answered, "That's my image -- you have to get rid of it...please."