Jeanette resumed Melissa’s training after lunch by walking her younger sister through the different websites that could be accessed by the desktop browser instead of jumping from app to app as she would have on her phone. When Melissa noted that the different services mostly had independent apps that could be installed on her desktop computer, Jeannie countered that most of the phone apps were really website wrappers that permitted access to the same information as the desktop browser but without any pesky ad-blocking extensions or privacy enforcing cookie-controls that a desktop browser could also use.
“If you can, limit how much you use your phone for social media. I know you’ve been pulling back from social media use lately, and under any other circumstance I would applaud that. But, if the lockdowns persist, then it is going to be social media that permits you to have contact with other people for some time. It is said that the difference between a medicine and a poison is the dosage. Same with social media.”
“The Leifert Enterprises VPN is installed, but it’s not on right now. Melissa, this is quite important, so if you pay attention to nothing else, pay attention to this: When the VPN is active, everything you do online will go through the corporate network. Everything! Assume that even if no one is actively snooping on your online behavior, that it is being recorded and logged.”
“If you have social media apps installed to the desktop computer, you’re likely to have them running in the background all the time, even when you’re not actively engaging with them. Do you really want a fanfic thread being saved to corporate logs? Especially with Old Man Brandon still looking for a way to remove you from the employee directory? Keep your social media in browser tabs and only load them when the VPN is inactive, or better yet, shut down. This way you’ll only engage with them when you want to. When you need to have a clear background, all you have to do is close the browser. I already changed the settings so when you close the browser, it closes out completely.”
Jeanette left Melissa to explore her new desktop computer while she sat to the side of the table to begin setting up the ultrabook laptop. She asked if Melissa had a name for her new computers and her new phone yet, which prompted Melissa to stare at her sister with a very perplexed look.
“Do I look like a nerd?”
“Not yet, but I could make that happen. After all, you still haven’t quite sorted out your adult fashion sense, yet.”
“Dork.”
Jeanette didn’t answer but made a very self-satisfied noise to herself as she continued to prepare the ultrabook for Melissa’s rough handling.
The sun had left the height of the day, but its light had not yet begun to waver when Melissa announced that she had successfully logged into all the social media accounts that she cared about through the browser. She chose to install Discord to her computer as a separate program, but also noted that she had made sure that when she exited the program, it did not persist in the background.
“So, instead of being a tarot reader, you are going to send me to an early grave by becoming a streamer?” Jeanette handed the ultrabook to her sister in an attempt to keep Melissa from throwing something else at her.
“Oh no, I’m going to torment you an entirely different way! I’m going to have an open-mic podcast! All anonymous and under an assumed name, of course.”
Jeanette’s smile faltered for a moment. Melissa kept her enthusiasm in place long enough for Jeanette’s eye to start twitching as the elder sister was beginning to take her reply seriously. Melissa held the ultrabook close to her chest as she started laughing.
“You little rat!” Jeannette started laughing with her. “You had me for a second. Don’t do that to me!”
“I’m not. Seriously. I’m not. I really didn’t want to log in to any of these to be honest. God, the messages and invites that were waiting for me! So many of them were just… gross. It’s only been a couple of months since everything happened, and I can’t wait for it to be a couple of years, decades even.”
Melissa paused in thought before looking up at her sister. Softly, she remarked, “You called me a little rat.”
Jeanette turned to look at the collection of boxes waiting to be disassembled. “Yes. I did. Are you? And if you are, what kind of rat are you?”
Melissa followed her sister’s line of sight and furrowed her brow. “Can you not test me for one whole minute? And of course, I’m a rat! One of Dad’s ratas preciosas! Just the same as you!”
When Jeanette turned her head to face Melissa, it was with unexpected yet comforting warmth. “We absolutely are. So, before you log into the VPN and present yourself to get some work done, let’s do something with these boxes so they won’t be in the background of any video call. Remember whenever Dad got deliveries, we would play with the boxes before Mom flattened them?”
As Jeanette stood from the table, Melissa put the ultrabook down as she corrected her sister’s memory. “No, I would play with the boxes. You were too busy trying to organize them by size.”
“That’s playing!”
“That’s being a nerd!”
“Next time you play with boxes, may the last one not fit the others!”
“Oh, that’s being mean!”
Cleaning up the living room took only a few minutes. One box was kept intact to serve as the collection point for the flattened boxes, cardboard inserts, and paper wrapping. It was moved out of view from the desktop camera as Jeanette tested where would be the best place for Melissa to sit for video calls.
The computer’s position now properly optimized, Jeanette asked Melissa to log in to the Leifert VPN and afterwards, to log in to her corporate email. The elder sister did not want to know the contents of said account but wanted to make sure that Melissa was able to use the services now required for her position.
“Right. Time to adult.” Melissa was reminded not only of her immediate duties for Leifert Enterprises but also the concerns and worries that the world in general was laying on her mind. For all the advanced technology that was at her literal fingertips, she would give it all away just to have one more day to play in boxes with her sister. One more day with both of her parents. One more day before everything changed.
So it was that Jeanette watched Melissa close out the browser before logging in to the Liefert VPN with deliberate movements coming from a strange sobriety. She had placed herself so that she could watch Melissa without seeing the screen, which meant that the desktop camera would not capture her as well. The VPN software gave a distinctive chime when it successfully connected.
“Oh good, Melissa! You got everything working, it seems! Well, almost. Is the camera covered? Before you uncover it, double check that you’re prepared to be on video!” Gladys’s voice came strong and clear over the monitor’s hidden speakers. Melissa blinked in surprise as Jeanette silently chastised herself for not preparing her for how thoroughly a corporation can exert dominance over its employees.
Jeanette mouthed for Melissa to verbally note her sister’s presence before uncovering the camera. Melissa shook her head in disagreement. Jeanette vigorously nodded.
“Hello? Melissa? Are you there?” Gladys sounded one part amused and one part concerned. Thankfully, she did not sound impatient in the least.
“I’m here, Gladys.” She glared at Jeanette. “And so is my sister, Jeanette. She helped me set up the computer today and wanted me to log in for a test run before leaving. I’m camera safe, but is it okay to uncover the camera with her here?”
“It’s good that you’re asking before doing. Privacy matters are small in hand but have large consequences. As long as everyone on camera is decent, I don’t have a problem with it for this chat. Obviously, as your duties pull you into more privileged matters, it will be a concern when someone else is in the room. But for this test call, she is welcome if she is willing.”
“I’m willing, Gladys.” Jeanette motioned to the camera cover as she spoke. Melissa removed it and then reached further to grab Jeanette’s shirt at the sleeve and pull her reluctant sister into view.
Mirth was evident in Gladys’s voice and face. “Ah, the Arroyo sisters. You are Jeanette, yes? Thank you for helping Melissa get her computer assembled and running.”
“You’re welcome. Now that everything is set, I will be taking my leave. I’m sure there are matters that Melissa has to get started with as soon as possible and I don’t want to hold things up by being in the way.”
“Don’t be too quick to leave. Today’s key task was to make sure that Melissa had access to her corporate email and that the VPN had a good connection. That she was able to get video working is a bonus. Melissa, my remaining instruction to you is to review all emails flagged as important today. Once you do so, you may disconnect from the VPN for today. Make sure you log in by eight o’clock tomorrow morning in a secure environment. That is when your new responsibilities will formally begin. As I have nothing else to say, I wish you both a good afternoon. Thank you.”
Gladys ended the video call as quickly as she had surprised Melissa by making it. Melissa sat pleasantly surprised. Jeanette’s concern was obvious as she reached up and slid the camera’s privacy cover over the lens.
“If this is what working from home is like, then I should have jumped into corporate life sooner!” Melissa looked at Jeanette’s face for any hint of response.
Jeanette sighed as she refused to meet her sister’s prodding stare at first. Then she made some sort of decision and softly smiled back at Melissa. “Well, it’s not. Or rather, the way things were will not be the way things will be soon. There will likely be many more video calls and a lot of meeting nonsense one way or the other. But that’s for you to discover tomorrow.”
“Problem, sis?”
“Just me overthinking things again, that’s all. You’re still in the VPN, so look over the emails and start working through the ones she flagged. I’ll take the boxes and the trash out. Shouldn’t be too long for either of us.”
“Yea, well, you’re hiding a problem from me, but I’ll play along this time. You know where the trash nook is, so take my keys with you so you don’t get locked out. We’ll see who finishes first.”
Jeanette said nothing as she patted her sister on the shoulder before standing. She took the keys and started dragging the trash box out of the apartment while Melissa turned her attention to her corporate email account.
An hour later, Melissa was finishing up the last of the document review tasks when she was startled by Jeanette’s hand waving in front of her face. When she turned in remembrance of her sister’s presence, Jeanette smugly and quietly placed a mug of tea and a plate of cookies on the table for her younger sister.
“How long have I been staring at the screen?”
“About an hour.”
“I’ve been ignoring you for an hour?! Oh, cookies. Thank you.”
“You’ve been at work for an hour.”
“And you didn’t say anything?”
“There was nothing for me to say.”
“What about your job?”
“I’m on vacation this week, remember? We timed our vacations so we could spoil Mom together. And then everything happened.”
Melissa cautiously sipped from her mug of hot tea. “And then everything happened. I could write a book with that title and it would be my entire life.” She held the mug for comfort. “That doesn’t excuse me ignoring you. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“As I said, there was nothing to say. You’re not the only one that needed distance from other people. I did that couch crash thing you talk so much about and caught up on some reading.”
Melissa sipped more from her mug and nibbled more on a cookie. “You don’t crash couches. You rearrange them. Why was it so quiet in here?”
“Because I know how to read silently.”
Melissa looked for a pillow to throw and realized they were all out of reach. She gave her sister a dirty look that prompted Jeanette to chuckle and gloat.
“That, and I suppose you didn’t know that if you put your phone face down on the table, it goes into Do Not Disturb mode, if you have that enabled. Flip it face up to turn off Do Not Disturb, and see how many notices are waiting for your attention.”
“No, I didn’t know that.” Melissa turned her phone face up and was mildly surprised by all the beeping, chirping, and buzzing it was dancing to get her attention with. “Oh. That’s a surprise. That’s one way to keep from getting distracted, I suppose.”
She scrolled through the notifications on the phone before a chirp from her computer reminded her that she was still logged in the VPN. She put the phone face down on the table and noted it gave a feeble vibration of acknowledgement before entering Do Not Disturb mode again. She finished the last of the document review tasks and by doing so, she completed the last of the emails that Gladys had marked as important.
As she closed her corporate apps and then disconnected from the Leifert VPN, she announced that she was done with work for the day. “Lucy, I’m home!” Melissa turned just in time to see Jeanette roll her eyes at the reference.
“Am I supposed to ask you about your commute or are we going to let that sleeping dog lie?”
“No, you’re going to tell me why you hung out here for an hour without saying anything. What are you not telling me, Jeanette?”
The elder sister took several measured breaths with her eyes closed as she collected her thoughts and considered her response. When she answered, she turned to face Melissa openly.
“My office is now almost fully remote. Several of the staff were placed on administrative leave with anticipation of being furloughed. Since my vacation was already approved, my status this week hasn’t changed from previous plans. But because I’m not involved in anything this week, I’ll be placed on leave next week on.”
“Oh, hey, that means that we can hang out more! It’s not like either one of us needs a job! We have money enough to wait everything out!” Melissa knew she sounded daft. She didn’t know if Jeanette would take her at face value. She didn’t know if Jeanette was as scared as she was.
“Melissa… you silly precious rat of a child.” Jeanette’s face twisted slightly as she tried to hold back tears. “I’m glad you’re taking this as seriously as I am. I know you’re trying to act simple. Acting shallow has served you as shield and weapon for a long time. But we both know this is not something as mild as a random case of sniffles. The news from overseas is… harsh. And I’m… worried.”
She took Melissa’s hands as she took a deep breath. “I finally get to see my little sister grow up, and it is under a threat I am unable to anticipate, unable to mitigate, unable to deflect, threaten, or bribe. I have made preparations as much as I can, and I have no idea how effective they will be. I don’t want to lose you or Mom, and I have no ability to change what comes. And that… worries me.”
“When Gladys said for me not to be too quick to leave, that told me much more than just your employee status at Leifert Enterprises. I don’t want to leave, because I don’t know if I’ll sit with you again like this, or how long it will be before I have a chance again.”
Jeanette let go of Melissa’s hands, only for Melissa to snatch Jeanette’s hands back. She pulled her elder sister into a tight hug that was as strong as her voice was edged. “I’m scared, too. I don’t feel prepared for all the responsibilities that are catching up with me. Just holding my ground when Director Brandon and his family want to set me on fire is one thing. Just holding my ground when Aunt Helen is still up to her bullshit is one thing. Even Bob’s gift job is forcing me to consider things that I never gave a rat’s ass of a thought to before. Being an adult is hard. Being an adult under threat of a goddamn plague is harder! I need you, Jeannie. And I’m scared I’m going to lose you and Mom just when I need you both more than ever. I know that’s not very adult of me to be needy, but is it adult enough for me to admit that?”
Jeanette embraced her sister in return. “It is human to be needy. It is adult to manage that need in a responsible way. And you are being very responsible right now, and I’m very proud of you.” She buried her face in her sister’s shoulder so that her words were almost completely muffled, but not quite. “And I’m scared, too.”
A stern series of knocks at the front door startled both of them. Melissa glanced at Jeanette as she rose to answer the knocking. Jeanette called out in sudden remembrance, “The groceries! Or the storage bins. Or both, we’ll see.” A second series of vigorous knocks answered her musing.
Melissa opened the front door to find a grocery delivery and an office supply delivery. “Both!”, she called out over her shoulder as she held the front door open for both sets of dollies. Jeanette was quick to wipe her face dry and to collect funds from her purse to tip both delivery drivers with.
Melissa observed this quietly until she had the proper comment to prevent the return of any serious moments. “Ah, Jeannie, we had just finished clearing the living room, and here we are with more boxes. The better to make a box fort with, I think.”
Jeanette said nothing as she released the storage bins from their shipping containers. Melissa stood awkwardly to the side as her elder sister made quick work of sorting the grocery delivery into the bins and then sorting the bins into the hallway closet. Melissa was not surprised that Jeanette knew where the storage bins would fit and just calmly accepted the gentle yet unrelenting intrusion into her personal spaces.
“There. This will keep you for at least a month, unless you also decide to take up gourmet cooking as a new and exciting hobby. My suggestion is to get as much perishable goods as you can, but not so much that they rot before you can use them up. That timing will be up to you. I made a delivery account for you with your email address, so you can modify the delivery of dry goods to your timing. But if you’re not sure about something, you can always give me a call or a text, okay?”
Melissa finally noticed that Jeanette had her purse in hand and that she was standing near the unlocked front door. She walked to her sister and rested her hands on the purse. “I suppose, I should let you go, huh.”
“Yes. I suppose I should be going.”
“If I let you leave, will you come back?”
“As often as I can.”
She took her hands off the purse. “Well, that’s that.”
“That’s that.”
They slowly embraced for one last hug together. “You can come back tomorrow, you know. Since you’re on vacation.”
“I’ll stop by during your lunch, since your job assignments have changed.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
Jeanette did not wait for Melissa to grant her leave but opened the front door and stepped out quickly. She left the door open and walked away with determined steps that reminded Melissa of the day Jeanette came to get her from the jail. The day that revealed just how foolish Melissa could willfully be.
The bittersweet memory caused her to slam the door a little too hard, and to lock it a little too aggressively. She turned around and leaned against the inside of the front door to catch her breath and to keep from crying. It was then that she noticed that Jeanette had folded the newest set of empty boxes so that they were like cardboard bricks and had made a simple arch with them against the couch.
A box fort.
Melissa rushed to crawl into the inadequate space with a couch pillow she snatched along the way. Under the safety of the cardboard and warm from her childhood memories, she permitted herself to cry.
The following morning, she forced herself to get up early as if she was going to go to the downtown office. She knew it would take her time to get adjusted to working from home. As the coffeemaker took its usual (sweet) time doing what it was made to do, she realized it was not just the shift from roving intern to permanent hire that she had to adapt to. No one expected interns to be anything of note or to have value other than any immediate need. As a permanent hire, Melissa would be more involved in the department she had been accepted into with some thought about advancing beyond the department’s immediate need.
However, her new role as a “Social Media and Virtual Conferencing Assistant” implied that she would need to be able to act on barely a moment’s notice with little background info while also making snap reports based on information that likely had no basis in the truth.
The title sounded so very formal, but it didn’t even exist in the employee directory. Melissa wondered if Bob made up the title on the spot to appease her and to warn Director Brandon not to work against her. It would make sense if she was Gladys’s assistant, but Bob had declared Melissa would be answering to him in this role. So, by extension, any threat to Melissa could be interpreted as a threat to Bob. She wondered if this would deter Aunt Helen or encourage her.
Breakfast and coffee now settled; she turned her attention to setting the living room backdrop of her new workstation to rights. She had already dismantled the box fort and moved all the cardboard to the collection niche in the main hall of the apartment building. But she was still somewhat uncomfortable having so much of her personal space easily visible on camera. With no partitions between the dining area and the living room, there really was no good way to place the camera that didn’t expose a significant amount of personal space. She made a note to herself to invest in cheap clothing racks and solid color sheets to make suitable partitions.
Her phone alarm surprised her by how gentle it sounded at first and how quickly the volume increased. Before the box fort had been taken down, she sat in it with her phone and explored all the settings. She let each ringing and alarm option play in full and imagined how her parents would have responded to them. She cried often, but she laughed just as much before settling on something that fit her personal aesthetics.
But this wasn’t the time to get lost in reverie and nostalgia. This was the time to get dressed for business. Because she was working from home, she did not need to get as stiffly dressed as she did the day she went to Aunt Helen’s mansion. But she did need to dress as if at any moment Bob could ask her to deliver a message to an office in person or to pick up a package from an impatient client. Fortunately, the clothes she had bought for her internship would meet that need if so directed.
The apartment was still chilled from the long winter night. Melissa had the heat on with intent to warm the apartment into a comfortable state, but old habits led her to turn off the heat to save on the electric bill once the sharpness of the chill was dulled. As she draped her sweater over her shoulders, she laughed to herself when she remembered that she didn’t need to be suffering for the sake of saving every possible penny anymore.
As she took one last look in the mirror before leaving her bedroom for her workplace in the dining room, she saw very little of the scared and panicky person she was when she was arrested two months ago. Her hair was neat. Her clothes were clean. Her face was adorned to her liking, and she even wore tasteful earrings.
“If this is no longer the Fool’s day, then why do I feel so foolish? Wait… What day is today?”
Melissa went to the dining room table to fetch her tarot notebook but found the new ultrabook laying in the expected space instead. On it was a folded paper on which Jeanette had written, “Looking for your cards and your notes? Open me.”
Melissa noted the time and decided she had a few minutes to indulge in one of Jeanette’s games, so she opened the paper. “Everything is in the left cabinet of your coffee table. You shouldn’t keep your tarot stuff within sight of any networked camera so make sure the camera is physically covered before you pull anything out. Also: You’re welcome.”
She followed her sister’s instruction and found the decks neatly stacked inside the coffee table cubby along with a bag of her favorite candies. As much as she wanted to indulge in the candies, she didn’t have much time before she was due to login the Leifert VPN. As such, she checked her notes and found the last written entry was regarding the Five of Coins, but she recalled speaking to her sister about the Four of Coins and the Four of Spheres.
“Which would make what I’m going through now about the Three of Coins and the Three of Spheres. I’ll have to look that up later. I can’t be late.”
At seven fifty-five in the morning, Melissa logged into the Leifert VPN and began opening the apps she would need for her workday as instructed. At sharply eight o’clock in the morning, Gladys sent a video call invitation that was marked “Must Attend”. Melissa accepted and Gladys’s welcoming face filled the center of the screen while six other fresh faces were thumbnailed along the top of the screen. Melissa noted there were thirty-four attendees in the call.
“Good morning, everyone. If you are on this call, then you are part of the Leifert Enterprises Remote Work Taskgroup.” Gladys spoke cheerfully and with no hint if concern about what prompted the creation of the group. “You have been chosen, volunteered, or voluntold to learn about remote work with the hope that you will then share your knowledge and expertise with your respective departments. For many of you, the technical lessons will come easy. For many of you, the ethical lessons will be challenging.”
While Gladys had muted all the participants when the call started, many had such clear video that their facial expressions conveyed unspoken comments and unacknowledged thoughts with ease. Melissa was already prepared to wear the most corporate of expressions when she logged in, but she was tested when she saw how many of her peers were not.
As Gladys continued her introductory monologue, Melissa saw a message appear in the group chat. “Think Winston ethics is a separate class?” She did not react to the message but quickly noted the initials of the person who dropped it.
On the screen, she saw a participant’s face slightly shiver and focus on something to the side of their camera as their lips became tightly pressed. That person wiggled a bit and then became absolutely still. The chat message was deleted by the same person who left it. Gladys continued speaking as if nothing had happened as Melissa realized everyone was being tested, herself included.
The group chat was suddenly split on her screen as a direct message from one of the participants inserted itself into her awareness. “Lisa! Wow, you’re really here! I thought you had fallen off the earth! How are you?”
“Can’t chat now. I need to pay attention to Gladys.” Melissa was thankful that her ability to touch-type meant she never looked away from the camera.
“If you can type without looking, then you can do both. I heard you were arrested and dragged into rehab. You work here now? Wow!” She didn’t recognize the chatter’s business name and none of the thumbnails visible to her were of people she knew.
“No, I can’t do both. Please excuse me. I have to mute this chat now.” Melissa did so with the slightest of glances to make sure that she wasn’t muting the main group chat. When she looked up, she saw that other participants were also having their attention divided. Some were subtle about it. Some lacked subtlety or forgot they were on camera. During it all, Gladys continued her class of video call etiquette and business expectations.
At nine o’clock, Gladys suddenly announced a group break. “You have all been listening to me talk on and on for the past hour. This is a good time to put some of what I spoke about into good use. What I want you all to do is to either cover your camera lens or turn off your camera in the group chat settings, without leaving the group chat. Go take a five-minute break and we’ll resume in five minutes at nine-o-five. Okay? Begin… now.”
Melissa did both quickly, but not so quick as to avoid seeing that a third of her screen had become suddenly burdened with direct messages. Nearly all of them addressed her as ‘Lisa’, and those same ones asked intensely private and intrusive questions. She sighed to herself and responded to none of them, choosing instead to take care of physical matters and get a glass of water before sitting back down.
Three of the messages addressed her by her given name and congratulated her for her sudden promotion and quick ascension in the ranks. Melissa regarded these three with more concern than the others and wrote down the senders’ names for later review. Just as she did so, Gladys’s voice came over the speakers.
“Okay, everyone come back and resume video, please, thank you.” Melissa uncovered her camera and turned video back on. A small notification appeared reminding her that the chat host had disabled audio, which was fine by her. “Okay. Time for a quick quiz, but first… a hands-on lesson. Everyone ready?”
Gladys’s face wavered slightly as she did something with her host controls. Suddenly all the chat windows were closed, leaving only the video feeds on the screen. Melissa took a slow deep breath through her nose to keep from laughing as some of the participants now appeared very concerned.
“To answer the questions that have been placed in chat, public and direct… No, there will not be a separate ethics class. Everyone will attend the same lessons, and those who are not able or unwilling to learn the lessons will learn the consequences instead.”
Gladys looked to the side as she read more messages. “As everyone present is working from home, no you may not put your meals on your department’s purchase card. Please allow me to remind you that receipts will be needed for all purchase card reconciliations.”
As Gladys continued to read from the direct messages that were not exposed to the group at large, some chat participants were obviously amused and some were obviously concerned. Many of the direct messages were infractions of business etiquette to be polite about it.
“I won’t name names, for one thing, many of these names are incorrect. No such person is present in this chat. However, for all of you that sent a direct message in hopes of catching up on gossip, old times, or other personal connections, real or imagined, I would like you all who sent such a message to take note of the lack of response to your inquiry. As that is the proper response. Should such inquiries continue via Leifert Enterprises communication tools, the recipient would be well within their rights to file a complaint. This isn’t protecting someone that you may perceive to be, or not be, of social value. This is protecting the company. From what? Please remain for the remainder of this group call and find out.”
Gladys turned her attention back to the camera. “You may feel that what I just did was a gross violation of your personal rights and boundaries. Allow me to remind everyone present that this communication is via Leifert Enterprises communication tools and network. One of the confirmations that you agree to each time you login via the Leifert VPN is that Leifert Enterprises reserves the right to record all communication and network information that passes through the network. Some of you will be involved in communications that are required to be recorded and retained for several years as required by law and as recommended by good industry practices. Watch your words, regardless if you do or don’t, rest assured, someone else is.”
Melissa gave silent thanks for Jeanette’s pointed advice regarding the VPN. As Gladys continued with her lecture, she noted that a few participants were no longer listed as present. A considerable number of those remaining had tight faces presented to their cameras. Melissa did her best to keep hers as corporate neutral as possible, neither concerned nor pleased, neither overly interested nor obviously bored. She pretended she was listening to yet another lecture by Aunt Helen as she conveyed just how disappointed she was in Melissa’s generation, again.
The meeting concluded just before lunch. Before closing the session, Gladys reminded everyone that further information had been sent to their email and if anyone wanted to file a privacy complaint for her review of their direct messages during the call, she was more than willing to meet with them individually via teleconference, but in-person meetings were no longer available, for the immediate term.
Jeanette knocked on the door one minute after the lunch period started. Melissa wondered how many tens of minutes had her elder sister stood in the hall waiting for the perfect moment. She didn’t ask as she opened the door and her elder sister did not volunteer anything other than a greeting and a barely constrained question.
“How did it go?”
“Oh, Jeannie, it was a shit-show, but I was only a spectator.”
Jeannie deliberately inspected the webcam cover and the VPN status icon as she went to the couch via the longest route possible. Melissa just openly laughed at her sister’s deliberate failure to be inconspicuous.
“You laugh. But you don’t know how cutthroat corporate can be.”
“Sit here, you snoop! Did you want me to fix you anything while I tell you whose throat got cut on camera?”
“I ate already, but please fix something for yourself! Let me guess, all our immediate cousins failed to keep quiet.”
Melissa was already in the kitchen putting water on for tea for the two of them before starting to make herself a sandwich. “Not all of them! One of them sent me a polite message using my real name. But, yeah, it was a gossip-baited honey-pot, but guess who was the master of the pot!”
Jeannie turned around on the couch to look through the half-wall separating the kitchen from the living room. “Bob?”
“Nope. But I would not be surprised if he got a report.”
“Oh, not a Brandon!”
“Nope. But I would not be surprised if he had some of the girls in the chat trying to bait me. Gladys!”
“She’s HR, though. I would have been more surprised if she was not the pot-master considering her position and reputation.”
Melissa came back to the couch with a tea-mug and saucer for Jeannie. As she went back for her lunch she asked, “Reputation?”
“So… all you know of Gladys is your personal encounters with her at headquarters? I have met her before during dispositions with my law office. Sometimes as adversaries, sometimes as allies. Gladys is, fierce. Brutal. Severe in temperament and ability. Not someone you can dance around, not by words nor by actions. She holds herself as someone quiet, weak, and meek. She is not any of those adjectives. She is determined, focused, single-minded, loyal to her ideals and objectives regardless of what she has to do to accomplish them. She could be the right hand of the goddess Athena if she decided to become so.”
“Jeannie…” Melissa carefully sat down as not to lose her sandwich. “Is that admiration, I hear? Maybe even, dare I say, a little crush?”
“YOU DO NOT!” Jeannie’s significant rebuttal did nothing to overrule the sound of Melissa’s giggling. “I merely acknowledge her ruthlessness to her cause, which, fortunately currently appears to be helping you avoid other people’s ruthlessness. Humor me, please. Which cousins hailed you by ‘Melissa’, and which used other names.”
Melissa gave Jeanette the three names she had written down. Jeanette stared at them intensely, made a mark next to one name, and handed the scrap of paper back.
“All three are in the greater social sphere that Aunt Helen and Bob Leifert move through, but this one, Brittney Hampton, is our second cousin by way of Aunt Helen’s husband’s family.”
Melissa stared blankly at first, before slipping into giggles and saying, “What, no dogsitters, hair-dressers, or chiropractors for any significant others involved in the connection?”
Jeanette did not indulge in her sister’s mirth. “No. Not this time. Listen, Aunt Helen’s social world is something from a prime network mini-series. It would take several maps to describe the all but incestuous connections that Aunt Helen’s money has penetrated. Think about the guy who sold your car. He’s not related to her at all, and yet, she attempted to force him into a life that he did not want to lead as part of arranging an easy marriage for someone she wanted to keep in her pocket. Do you understand my paranoia, yet?”
Melissa’s giggling faded quickly as she thought back how Jeanette had been struggling to keep the two of them as intact as possible while Aunt Helen was actively trying to destroy them both for her amusement and profit. The Winston matriarch is infamous for her grudges, and just as infamous for rewarding anyone that helped her satisfy those grudges.
Before Melissa came to her senses, she was self-destructing as a collegiate party girl. At any time, their cousins and family friends could have intervened, or at least took the role that Rebecca came to inhabit. Instead, everyone seemed content to let her play the fool, with no one but poor Aunt Helen there to pick up the pieces. At least, until the moment Melissa stepped up for herself.
“Yes. I understand. I do.” She looked at the time. “I have thirty minutes left for lunch. No more video calls today, but there are a lot of emails and online training courses I have to chew through. I expect I will have a lot of messages from my coworkers. Before I log back in, what do I need to know about Brittany Hampton?”
Jeanette finished her tea before answering. “The same you need to know about any employee at Leifert Enterprises, that they are there for their own purposes and their personal goals, that may or may not involve appealing to Aunt Helen. But with Brittany so close on the family tree, I would expect her to be very interested in your personal… growth… as an ex-ward of Aunt Helen. The Hampton line did not get entangled with Aunt Helen as much as she would have liked. But I have seen too much in my professional endeavors to assume nothing is there.”
Melissa finished her tea while her sister was talking. When Jeanette finished speaking, Melissa took all the cups, saucers, and plates to the kitchen and gently clinked them into the sink.
“You know, this is not helping my own sense of paranoia. I still feel like… like we’re not free of Aunt Helen at all… and this all sounds like we’re still stuck in some cult or something. Like a bad series of nightmares.”
“I know. But unlike a nightmare, you can’t just close your eyes and turn away. And the pandemic is only going to make things worse. But you have to at least be made aware of what’s out there. You have a responsibility to yourself, to me, and to Mom, to come through. Maybe Brittany is a no-one. Maybe she’s a help the way Rebecca is. Maybe she’s just another Winston trying to take whatever she can. My experiences tell me to be wary.”
Still in the kitchen, Melissa took a deep breath. “Maybe you’re so used to pushing me across the game board that you’ve forgotten that I have my own experiences to live out.”
Jeanette’s only noise in response was a harsh intake of breath through her nose such that when Melissa looked up, it was just in time to see Jeanette’s nostrils folding in giving her the appearance of an annoyed rabbit. As much as Melissa was being serious in her gentle rebuke, the visage tickled her too much and she had to turn away to keep from openly laughing.
“THIS ISN’T FUNNY!”
“I know!”
“Are… are you crying or laughing?”
“BOTH!” Melissa sniffed as if to punctuate her response.
Jeanette took a deep breath and held it. “My nose, did it…”
“UH-HUH!”
Jeanette took another breath and let this one go freely. “Dammit. Do you know how hard I’ve been practicing for my nose to not do that. I’m sure you can imagine how that looks in court.”
Melissa didn’t see the dampness on Jeanette’s cheeks as the elder sister’s words struck true. Melissa hid her face behind the wall next to the sink and let her laughter have its way with her. Jeanette stood up, smoothing her clothes and her pride as she did. When Melissa finally turned to face her sister, both of them had recovered from the sting of independence.
“Jeanette…” “Melissa…”
They both cut each other off and laughed. Melissa came around the partition to assault her older sister with a big hug that was mutually needed and mutually welcome.
“I’m older, so I get to speak first.” Melissa snorted at that, but did not complain as Jeanette continued. “You’re right. I can only be an advisor to your life, it’s still your life to lead. Just… be careful. I don’t want you to learn some of the lessons I did in the manner that I did, the hard way.”
As Jeanette spoke, Melissa realized that they were the same height when barefoot. No more would her sister naturally tower over her. No more would she be la rata pequeña. As she lowered her head to Jeanette’s shoulder, Melissa accepted this new stage in her life.
“Jeannie, I need you to trust me. I will listen to you. I am listening to you. But I am also listening to what I need for myself. If I didn’t trust you, I would not have let you get all this gear for me. You have access to every part of my life except what is inside my head. Aunt Helen tried to control even that. Please, leave that for me.”
When she took a step back to hold her sister’s hands, she pretended she didn’t see Jeanette’s slightly ruined makeup. “I have to grow up now, and it’s a huge responsibility, becoming an adult. I’m so glad that I have the best advisor ever to help me do that.”
Jeanette pulled her back for another hug as Melissa’s phone announced that there was only five minutes left in her lunch period.
“Speaking of responsibilities.” “So, recess is over, huh.”
The sisters spoke over each other again and laughed even more at their so-called mutual disrespect. Jeanette shooed Melissa towards the computer, saying that she’ll lock the door from the inside before leaving.
“I will assault you again, tomorrow, so you’ll be prepared.”
“Let me know what you want for lunch, then.”
Satisfied, each sister left to attend to their respective afternoon responsibilities.
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