Rocking: A Short Story

Elizabeth glared at Rocking, though it was of more playful annoyance rather than hostility. "Well, never in my life have I been compared to a cathedral. But I will be taking that as a compliment," she spoke with slight humor lacing her voice. It was minute and a careless listener would have never caught it. But she was certain that Rocking was not a careless listener. Not to give him ideas that she had gone soft, she turned back into her cold, calculated self instantly, maintaining a neutral disposition.

"It wasn't a 'comment' Ms Dwight. It was made outside of your hearing, and not intended for public consumption. Said as an act of defiance to that thug who was badmouthing you, and hoping to intimidate me. Hardly my fault if he chose to repeat

She scoffed at him in displeasure and a small, minuscule part of herself was even disappointed at his dismissal of the comment. It never hurt a girl to hear that she was pretty a time or two. But she herself had evoked such a reaction from him acting all bitchy. She shouldn't even be bothered about him and his talk. He was a lowly clerk and she - she was the endangered CEO of the company. A chill ran down her spine at the unpleasant thought.

Hold on, she mentally chastised herself, your father must be knowing about what had happened at the office. There must be already the best men around looking for you with their dangerous weapons and dogs tearing down places...

"And, erm, actually, I don't blame you if recent events have driven it out of your mind but... are you actually my boss? I never got it quite clear, amidst all your posturing and posing. Did you actually sack me? Or just threaten to? There was some talk, I recall, that indicated you regarded my job performance at slightly less than employer-of-the-month standard."

She glared at the man wondering how stupid he possibly could

The chocolate was probably the cheapest meal she ever had in her life but it was filling her stomach and that was well enough.

"And while it might not be exactly diplomatic to mention it... might I remind you that whatever our relative official status, right here and right now your status as queen-bitch super-rich executive probably doesn't carry quite as much weight as it might in another milieu. In fact, Taffy, Charlie and Psycho seem to have struck something of a blow for democracy, wouldn't you say? Right now, our status is about as equal as you could get, yeah? 'Alike in dignity,' as that writer guy from Birmingham put it. Well... almost