Everyone in the office was scrambling when Suzy arrived. No matter how many times the secretary answered a line just to put the caller on hold, the phone lines continued to ring. Suzy was nearly bowled over twice by sprinting interns shouting “Outta my way!” as they bolted to fulfill some pressing job.
If it was chaos here, Suzy could only imagine what was going on with the Republicans.
“Can I help you?” the secretary asked, pausing her robotic delivery as she asked each caller to patiently hold for “Just a moment,” when she noticed Suzy. Suzy supposed she stood out being the only one not running circles around the room.
Suzy had met the secretary (she was pretty sure her name was Felicia) multiple times, but given the vacant look in Felicia’s eyes, Suzy got the impression the poor girl wouldn’t even be able to pick a picture of herself out of a lineup.
Everyone’s probably had to work overtime these past three weeks. I wouldn’t be surprised if she hasn’t seen the sun in days.
“Suzy Randolph,” she introduced herself as though they’d never met, even extending her hand to her. “I’m his eleven o’clock.”
“Oh, Ms. Randolph, right,” Felicia said, before her eyes dropped down, catching the flickering lights on her phones circuit board. The way Felicia’s face dropped, Suzy got the impression that most of the lines had been free just a moment ago. “They’re like weeds that won’t stop cropping up.”
“It must be tough,” she said, trying to empathize, so that the girl would be more willing to help.
“I…don’t want to bore you with the details,” she said, not looking up from blinking lights.
Suzy seized on the girl’s desire to want to return to putting callers on hold. “Well, I can see you’ve all got your hands full,” she began, and almost on the heels of the words coming out of her mouth, did a third intern nearly trample over her. “I can just head inside,” she said, pointing to the door and beginning her march inside.
“I’m sorry,” Felicia said, insistently, stopping her in her tracks. “But as you can imagine, he’s really busy, dealing with the latest…‘developments.’”
Suzy had prepared for this. “I understand completely,” she said confidently. “That’s why it’s imperative that I speak with him.” She adjusted her power suit for added effect. “I have the solution that’s going to get you all out of this hell,” she said, waving her arm around the manic room.
That should get me through the door.
“I hope you do,” Felicia said, earnestly. “It’s just…he’s currently in there, with another colleague…”
Suzy tried to keep her face from flushing. Had her purposeful tardiness backfired? Had she delayed her arrival long enough for one of her colleagues to snake some precious time?
A moment later, the door to his office opened, and she allowed herself a sigh of relief. No one had swooped in and stolen her timeslot with him. His prior meeting had just gone long. Her ease disintegrated when she saw who emerged from his office.
Malcolmson!