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“Fiona, do you remember what I asked you in my office the other day?”
Fiona’s broke her gaze on me. Her eyes held a faraway, distant look in them as she stared straight ahead. No doubt her mind conjured up a plethora of disasters as I tried to get her attention.
“Fiona?” I asked once again, raising my voice several decibels for emphasis. I snapped my fingers. “Hey, look at me.”
“What?” she said at last, as she turned her head in my direction. “What did you say?”
As she turned, I noticed she’d sucked her lower lip inward and chewed on it like a half-eaten ear of corn. Just then, her eyes drew up, meeting my own.
“Do you remember what I asked you? In my office? About you being willing to do anything for the company?”
Fiona thought for a moment or so, until at last she began to nod, as the recollection returned.
“Yes,” she said, with a slight hesitation.
“Good,” I said, as I drew close to her once again. “Because what I’m asking you to do… It isn’t for the company, Fiona, and it’s not for me. Believe it or not, it’s for you.”
She shook her head. “Well, I don’t want this. Not one bit.”
“You may not want it but you need it.”
She swallowed and looked away from me. I reached towards her face, sliding my fingers under her delicate chin bone. I curled my fingers beneath it, turning her face back towards mine as I issued my ultimatum.
“I’m done offering encouragement to you on this matter, Fiona. This is a good thing and it’s one hundred percent non-negotiable. I’ll make this real easy for you. If you don’t do it, I’ll fire you. Understand?”
FIONA
“Fiona…” my grandmother groaned through a mouth half-full of food. “This meat in this hamburger… It’s completely raw. It’s not cooked at all!”
I’d just sat down to my own meal as well and hadn’t even taken my first bite. As she spat the uncooked chunks back on to her plate, I glanced down at the bun pinched between my fingers. Peeling it back, I looked at the meat in disbelief. She was right. I hadn’t cooked them whatsoever. Clutching my plate, I rolled my eyes as I scrambled out of the recliner. Within a second or two, I reached for my grandmother’s plate.
“I’m so sorry, I… I’ll cook them right away.”
Holding the edge of the plate in the tips of her fingers, my grandmother leaned away from me. “No.”
I scoffed as she widened the distance between us. “No, what? Do you want to eat your burger raw?”
“No,” she began, as she placed it on the mattress, just beyond my reach. “I don’t want to eat it at all.”
I moaned. “I said I was sorry. Come on. It will only take a few minutes. Please don’t act like this.”
My grandmother crossed her arms at her chest and crushed her upper body into the pillows, scowling at me over the tops of her bifocals.
“Act like what, exactly? I wasn’t doing anything Fiona. You’re the one who’s trying to serve me raw meat.”
“I know, look, I know!” I shouted, nearing the tone of a shriek in my voice.
As I looked down at her, I noticed my grandmother recoil. A visible swallow made its way down her throat.
I exhaled and a moment or so later, plopped down on her mattress. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap like that. Please, I’ll cook your burger for you if you’ll just give it to me.”
“No,” she grumbled, without a moment’s hesitation. “I’m not hungry.”
“What? Why? Because I snapped at you?”
“No. Because there’s something going on with you, Fiona, and you’re keeping it from me. In fact, ever since you got that job, I feel that way almost daily.”
“It doesn’t concern you.”
“If it concerns you, it concerns me.”
“Yes but I mean, there’s nothing you can do about it.”
She thinned her lips as I finished my thought. “Oh, so since there’s nothing I can do about it, I’m supposed to just sit here while you try and give me salmonella because you’re upset?”
I rolled my eyes at her. “No, of course not. That’s not what I meant.”
‘Well, you need to either tell me what’s wrong with you, or go order us a pizza. Do I make myself clear young lady?”
I looked at her for a moment or two before dropping my head a bit. I folded my hands in my lap. After a slow exhale, I spent the next several minutes explaining to her what Gabe wanted me to do. She listened in her usual way, with patience and attention, until I reached the end of my story.
