This first installment of a two part story finds Sharon Adams a beautiful auburn haired young woman, living in New York City, trying to work her way to Paris. Your comments, pro or con are not only welcomed, but desired.
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After her parents funeral Sharon Adams wasted no time in packing her bags and cleaning up her parents' affairs. They had both died in a tragic and fiery auto accident coming home from Albany where they had been consulting with their attorneys. After a long holdout against a gigantic real estate development firm which had been buying up a great number of local properties and had resorted to legal pressure, her parents had finally decided to contest the matter in court. Sharon had accompanied her mother and father to a number of town meetings in which the real estate people had made their case to all the abutters and the town fathers. Several families had taken them up on their buyout offer, but her parents had refused all of them.
The issue had become moot. There was no longer any need for lawyers. The only thing her parents' holdout had accomplished was to reduce the final selling price to below market value. The seller was, as the real estate agent said, "motivated" to sell.
Three months later Sharon found herself sitting across from a well-dressed, attractive young man who was busy looking at what she assumed was a print-out of her completed job application. She had filled it out online a little less than a week ago and had been contacted for a face-to-face interview a few days after she had pushed the send button. Now here she was ready to interview in-person for the secretarial position she had seen on the website.
Sharon was a little antsy but didn't want to show it. She wanted to appear professional in every way to her potential employer. Over an hour had been devoted to doing her hair and makeup that morning and a similar amount of time had been spent the night before choosing her outfit, not that she'd had that many choices. She was new in the city, having left her hometown upstate in order to make her fortune. Sharon had wanted to travel and see the world ever since she'd been a young girl, figuring that a move to the city would make a reasonable and logical first step. For now she maintained modest digs, a small apartment in the Bronx, a ways out from the city center. It had taken a fair percentage of her stake to put up first and last month's rent; she was getting a first-hand lesson in the cost of city living.
She was feeling fairly confident that she had chosen the right outfit. She wore a plain white linen blouse; form fitting but not too tight with a black skirt worn slightly above the knee, and a matching black vest. Sharon had always had a bit of a problem finding good-fitting professional clothing. Most of the quality work suits were tightly cut and her ample bosom demanded room. Close cuts made her look too much like Dolly Parton in "9 to 5". The vest had been added at the last minute to downplay her obvious gifts. Her deep red-auburn hair was up on her head and secured at a number of strategic places with hair pins. Left to hang it would have cascaded half way down her back. She was considering getting a shorter, more practical cut and made a mental note to find a good hairdresser after the interview but for now her tresses were up and out of the way.
The young man looked up from his clipboard and spoke in a thick French accent. "My name is Jean LeIouche and I just want to make sure, Miss Adams, that I have all of your information correct. It says here that you are a graduate of the Troy School of Business and that you hold an associate's degree in secretarial science. Is that correct?"
"It is," she replied.
"And you are familiar with Microsoft Word?"
"Actually, I am familiar with the entire Microsoft Office suite, she said, her eyes and face revealing some pride. I am proficient in PowerPoint and Excel as well. I'm used to Windows 10 now even though it's fairly new."
"Excellent," the interviewer replied. "Do you mind terribly if I ask you why you've applied for this particular position? Why do you want to work for our company?
Sharon sat up and looked the interviewer directly in the eye. "Not at all," she replied. After my parents died last year I decided to sell our family's home. When I had cleared up their debts I found that I did not have enough money to finance my dream, which is to travel the world. I knew that I would have to use my skills to help me achieve it. I was attracted to your company specifically because, according to your website, you have offices in several cities around the world. London, Paris, Singapore, Cape Town, and even Wellington, New Zealand- I have wanted to see New Zealand since "The Lord of the Rings" came out. It was filmed in New Zealand and the scenery is so stunning, so beautiful, that it's near the top of my list of places I'd like to visit. I was hoping if I did well here in New York that after a while there might be an opportunity to work for the company overseas. Is that possible do you think? If hired, might I be able to work my way to a Paris appointment?"
"Oddly enough," Miss Adams, "I am from Paris myself and I've come to New York for highly similar reasons. I can assure you that our company understands the desire to travel the world that some of its employees feel. We support both lateral and vertical movement for quality personnel so it would seem that we share something in common, although we may just be passing as 'ships in the night.' I certainly hope not." As he looked into her eyes directly he added, "C'est dommage."
"I'm sorry," Sharon said. "I don't speak French."
"It means 'What a pity,'" Jean replied matter-of-factly. After he gazed down at the clipboard for a moment he looked up and spoke. "I have noticed that in the 'Emergency Contact' portion of the application blank you wrote 'none.' I'm afraid that we'll need someone's name there."