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“Sure, they might catch the asshole,” she says while leaning back on the sofa. “But at what cost? Your life?”
Silence sits between us, choking the life out of the conversation. Ever since we were kids, Rose has always played the part of mothering me. Most times it is appreciated, but now is not one of those times.
“I understand what you’re saying Rose, But I can’t and won’t bring myself to leave the position,” I look at her as all the anger digresses, leaving me tired and devoid of emotion presently. “Please, I’ll be careful. Besides, I have two dudes to help me.”
“Where were these two dudes earlier?” she shoots sarcastically.
“Stop, Rose.”
“Okay, okay,” she holds her hands up in surrender. “I just want you to be safe.”
“Look, whoever is doing this to me, and I suspect that Jeff is behind all of it, will be caught at some point. So, it doesn’t really matter,” I sit up and look at her, “Do you want a beer?”
“Yes to the beer, and I’ll agree to you staying,” she tells me, picking up the remote.
“Promise?” I ask, returning with two beers, handing her the one.
“Cross your heart and hope to die?” I say and sit down, giggling as we did way back when.
“Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye,” we both laugh and clank our bottles together.
Rose decides we need some more laughter so she cues up a standup comedian to watch. One after another, we stay up late and watch more comedies.
One can say that laughter is the best medicine.
But I say, my sister Rose is.
Thirty-Six
David
“So then, the government has been notified of the stolen information?” I ask, sitting across from James in his office. Looking around, I see that his office is better than mine and I wonder why.
Another argument for a different time.
“Yes,” James sits stone faced across from me touching the tips of his fingers together. His feet are propped up on the corner of his desk as usual, and his voice sounds deeper and more gravelly today.
Perhaps he has a case of the not-so-sleepies.
Removing his feet from the desk, James sits up and sighs. His dark brown eyes seem to be hiding what he truly feels now more than ever. “And I’ve told them how we are handling the security breach in order to prevent this from happening again.”
I know we have maintained a healthy concern over whether or not we would lose any or all of the government contracts that we hold now, or in the near future. And also, if they did pull their contracts, what that would do to our company’s reputation?
“And how are we ensuring that?” I ask, seriously wanting to know how that would play out. “I mean, are they going to be asking for reports monthly, quarterly? Anything of the sort?”
“No, but they are satisfied enough with the progress to this point and the best part,” he shoots me a short lived snicker, “They don’t plan on pulling any of their contracts.”
“Hallelujah and Amen!” I jump from my seat in a mock showing of praising an unseen god. “Thank you, Jesus!” It’s as if a humongous weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
I start doing my happy dance until I hear him say, “Oh, I see,” James says, watching me warily, “You were concerned about losing them?”
I stop, frozen by his words. “You’re joking right? C’mon, I know you were sweating bullets about this very thing.” I stand upright and place my hands on my hips.
“Have you ever known me to be a joker of any type?” he responds glancing up at me and
then let’s me off the hook. “Of course I was nervous about the possibility of losing those contracts. But I’m more concerned about our reputation.”
“You jackass,” I say sarcastically as a broad smile crosses my lips. “Well, thanks for reaching out to them and handling it.”
