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“Hey, Gray. What’s up? Aren’t you supposed to be asleep by now?” he asked as she sat on his bed.
“Aren’t you supposed to be too?” she asked, tilting her chin at him. Xander laughed at her expression. She was growing up fast and was becoming sassy- in a sweet way, though.
“Well, I’m not the one with a ten o’clock curfew on my head. I get to sleep anytime I want actually,” he said, raising a brow at her. A smile broke out on Grayson’s face and her lips split revealing her gap-tooth. She was the only one in their immediate family who had it. Thomas had said that she had gotten it from his father.
“I’m just so excited. I can’t believe tomorrow is my eleventh birthday. I think I’m gonna be up till
midnight so I get to be the first to wish myself a happy birthday,” she said.
“Just as you do every year, huh?” Xander said as he turned and started typing into his laptop again.
“Yup,” Grayson said as she got up, went to his mini-fridge and took the half-empty bottle of Coke. Xander heard the sound of his fridge opening and he glanced perfunctorily over his shoulder.
“Hey, I didn’t tell you to open my fridge, Gray. You’re gonna pay for that,” he said as he continued to type.
“Mmhmm,” Grayson said as she came to stand by him. “What’s all this junk you’re writing? One would think you were doing something meaningful that brought you all that money. They wouldn’t know you’re writing stuff that even kindergarten kids would call crap.”
Xander rolled his eyes. “Shut up, Grayson. It’s called a programming language. Kindergarten kids aren’t supposed to understand it. Neither should you. And get that drink away from my table, will you? You know my ‘No Drink’ policy,” he said as he pushed her head away from his table. She giggled.
“Oh, please. Spare me your stupid policy. We’re still going out tomorrow with Prim, right?” she asked as she stood behind him and placed her neck on his shoulder. He could perceive the scent of coke from her breath.
“Not after you just called my world-class safety procedure stupid and said my programming is really dumb,” Xander said as he continued to type. Grayson ran to stand in front of him so that he couldn’t see his screen anymore.
“Oh, come on. I’m sorry. It was a tongue slip. It’s my birthday and you promised me you’d take me out if mum can’t,” she said, pouting and blinking her eyes rapidly. When Xander tried to look beyond her to his screen, she moved to stand in his way again. “Oh, come on, Xander. Please.”
Xander sighed as he looked at her finally. “You know you’ve got adorable puppy eyes, don’t you?” he asked.
“I know. My teacher says I should be imprisoned for being cute,” Grayson said and Xander laughed.
“Shut up, liar. Okay, so I’ll still take you out. However, I’ve got this small presentation to handle in the morning therefore, Nia will take you and Prim out in the morning to the amusement park so that you guys don’t have to deal with the rush then I’ll come in when I’m done and take you both out for lunch at any fancy kids restaurant around. After that, we could go see a movie,” he said. Nia was Prim’s mother. Grayson’s and Prim’s birthdays were only a week apart and so they usually celebrated their birthdays together. That year, Xander’s mother was too busy to go with them so Xander had taken it upon himself to be in charge of the celebration. Grayson beamed.
“Thanks, big bro,” she said, hugging him tight around the neck. “You’re the best.”
“Yeah, sure. I hope you say that too when I tell you to go do your homework. Now, get to bed and let me get back to work, would you?” he said, trying his best not to sound emotional.
15th November, 2021
9:54am
West Fullerton Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.
USA.
“I researched the models most companies use for their staff, clients and inventory management databases and I decided that this model would be best for Gertrude Engineering,” Xander said as he pointed to the images that were projected on the wall. “It’s a relational model. I programmed the system so that your database managers could easily locate information based on relationship…” he went on to describe how the software model he had built would ease the operations of Gertrude Engineering. When he was done, the executives and technicians asked him questions, all of which he answered satisfactorily. His gaze was on the face of his mother and Gertrude. His mother never stopped smiling while Gertrude kept nodding his head. When there were no more questions, Gertrude spoke.
“Well, we have all heard what Mr. Michael has offered. Do we all agree to his proposal or are we sending him back to the drawing board?”
Murmurs rippled across the conference room. A lady spoke.
“I think I like it. Personally, I’m excited about its automation. Finally, I get less stress putting in data that could just find its way to the right column.”
Then another man spoke.
“I think it’s great.”
Gertrude spoke again.
“All in favor raise your hands,”
