Mr Boss

The sun was shining on the wide open field. The grass swayed in
the
cool blowing breeze. The trees were bowing down as though to an
unseen
God. No one took any notice of the dark haired woman sitting by
herself.

Barbara was sitting on the rusted iron bench. She watched the
birds
peck for the food, she laughed as a squirrel ran up the big oak
tree.
The working day was over for Barbara, no more listening to the
droning
voice of her boss. No more having to wait on the stupid bimbos in
the
office; nails and hair, thats all they were bothered about. Four
o'clock was home time for Barbara but first she always stopped off
at
the park. She liked to watch the many different people who, every day
came to
walk their dogs or play with the children. Sitting and watching
was
what barbara liked to do best.

It started as soon as Barbara had got to work. Mr 'HIGH and MIGHTY
BOSS
MAN' had ordered that she went down to the basement and bring up
all
the Broderick files. He KNEW that they had been put under all
last
years stock. The files (eight in all) were dusty beyond belief;
spiders
were making intricate webs on the bindings. The dry foisty smell
was
overwhelming and made Barbara sneeze.

The files were given to Susannah the flirty blonde with the figure
to
die for. Susannah had taken one look at the pile of dirty papers
and
screamed at Barbara to get them off her desk. Barbara had picked up
the
files and promptly dropped them on the floor. 'Mr HIGH and MIGHTY
BOSS
MAN' had come storming in to the office, with a face as red as blood
and
boomed in his mega phonic voice at Barbara. Everyone looked at her
as
though she had just killed the last man onearth. She looked down at
the
files strewn on the floor and sighed, she bent down and started to
try
and put them back in order. One of the SHE-DEVILS laughed,
Barbara
wanted the floor to swallow her up. Once the Broderick's papers
were
back in order and dusted they were put back on Susannah's desk; with
a
quick smirk Barbara went to make the first of many cups of tea
&;
coffee.

After the Broderick incident everyone kept a low profile, no one
dared
to make a sound louder than a whisper foor fear of the booming
voice
being aimed at them. Just before lunch break Barbara had to find
another lot of old decrepit files from the storeroom. The
storeroom
wasn't as dingy as the basement but it came very close. The small
inadequate light bulb shone a quarter of the way in to the room,
the
rest was bathed in the thin grey light from a frosted window.
While Barbara was feeling about among the old and stuffy files for
the
box she needed the door slammed shut behind her. The silence was
so
overpowering it made Barbara want to shout so she could be heard.
Suddenly the room was plunged in to darkness, someone had turned
the
light off from outside. Through the semi darkness Barbara could
hear
giggling . She banged on the door for the person to let her out.
Almost at once the door was opened and Barbara looked up to the
scowling face of Susannah and her cronies. Barbara didn't like the
dark
but she wasn't about to let the little vixens see she had been
scared.
She casually made a joke about the door closing and the bulb
needing
changing. The women quickly went back to their desks and started
to
type furiously with out looking back at Barbara.

For the next two hours everything went smoothly and Barbara had
almost
forgotten the distressing episode of the morning.
During the mid afternoon tea break Barbara was called in to the
boss'
office. The room was filled with cigar smoke and it made her eyes
water. She had wondered what it was the boss wanted, 'more files
probably'. Her eyes had been drawn to the photos on his desk, one
was
of a woman sitting in a swing seat and the other two were of two
children playing on the beach.

The photos surprised Barbara she always imagined that 'MR Boss'
didn't
care to remember that he had a family. He caught her looking and
turned
them away from her, Barbara had smiled to herself.
The clocked had ticked loudly in his office and Barbara's high
necked
white silk blouse began to stick to her back, the waiting was
dreadful,
she would rather be under a bus than in there right then, she had
thought.
Suddenly the booming voice had spoken, it made her jump and that
in
turn made him laugh.

Barbara wondered if at that moment it would have been a good idea to
feign
sickness and go home. She'd decided to wait and see what he wanted.
It
didnt take long for the voice to make it's self to be understood.
Barbara couldn't believe what she had just heard. Promotion had
never
been mentioned before.

Barbara had walked out of the office, thinking about what she
should
do. She had had the same routine for so many years. Her life was
neat
and ordered and it suited her; the promotion had changed all
that.
The day passed slowly after the earth shattering news; even the
women
in the office had wondered what had happened. Barbara had walked
around
in a daze, no one could catch her eye, no one dared to; Barbara
had
changed.

On the way out of the office she had put a brown envelope on
Susannahs
desk. She told her to hand it in to the boss as soon as possible.
The
young girl had looked at the letter and sneered at Barbara.
With her bag under her arm Barbara had turned and walked out of
the
door, glad to be going home. To the home she had shared with her
husband for the best part of twenty years.

Life would be so different with the promotion. Barbara wondered
if
Roger would understand, she worried about it all the way to the
park
and home. Going to the park kept everything normal, as if nothing
had
changed but EVERYTHING had changed, everything.
In the safety of her cosy and comfortable home Barbara waited for
Roger
to arrive home. She had decided that she would not argue she would
just
tell him and if he didn't like it well, tough luck.

When Roger's big black saloon car drove in to the garage Barbara
was
waiting for him at the sliding doors. He had gotten out of the car
and
looked at Barbara with a look of surprise and distaste. He didn't
speak
to her; he just brushed by her and went in to the kitchen.Roger stood
near the cooker and looked at barbara, he asked what was
the matter, she aughed as hse brushed a loose strand of hair from
her
face. Her cheeks were flushed and she could feel the nervous acid
building up inside of her. Roger sat down on the stool; he reminded
her
of a man on the verge of a break down, Barbara felt sorry for him.
She
walked round the table and sat down opposite him, they stared at
each
other for what semmed like ages, then Roger spoke.

Barbara didn't know what to expect but it wasn't what she was
hearing.
Roger SORRY, Roger grovelling, whatever next. Barbara had
promised
herself that no matter what he said nothing would change her mind.
No
more waiting on people in the office, no more worrying if she
looked
right for Roger coming home, NO! she had made up her mind.

Barbara stood up and took hold of Rogers hands, they were cold and
the
veins stood out like blue edged worms. She spoke quietly at first
and
then decided it would be better to get it over and done with.
Roger
just starde, his mouth hung open and his hands shook even though
barbara was still holding them.

After a few moments Roger stood up and took Barbara in his arms,
he
held her for a few moments, then he left and went upstairs. The
kitchen
grew dark so Barbara turned on the light. She went to the foot of
the
stairs and wondered if she should go up and help Roger. She wasn't
left
to think for long because Roger called for her to go up.

In the bedroom, clothes were all over the floor, on the bed and and
in
the small suitcase Roger had dragged down from the top of the
wardrobe.
Barbara looked around the room and sighed,she hadn't wanted it to
be
like this. She wanted, needed Roger to understand.

Today at work had been the last straw; working for Roger had been
all
right at firstwhen they had got married but the younger and
prettier
women had started work in the office and things changed. The las
straw
was the promotion, Susannah had only been there ten months and what
did
she know that barbara didn't. Barbara had been a kind of office
junior
for nearly eighteen years with no promotion in sight. Roger had said
it
would look like favouritism and Barbara had believed him.

Well Susannah could have the promotion and roger could have
susannah.
Handing in her notice had been the best thing that Barbara had done
in
years. It had made her realise that there was more to life than
waiting
around for Roger. She was going to take what she had learned
through
the years and get a real job, without Roger.

Without looking at him, she turned and walked out of the door,
she
asked him to leave the keys on the table. Roger began to speak but
she
held her hand up and said 'it was too late'.

In the early hours of the morning Barbara lay in the middle of the
big
double bed. It felt strange to be alone but at the same time she felt
a
deep inner calmness that she had not felt in a long time. It had
taken
roger over two hours to pack his things and all the while he had
kept
asking what had gone wrong.

Barbara hadn't tried to answer him, she was only concerned in
finding
out what was going to go right... for her at least.
Netty