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Sheridan’s mouth opened so wide she almost lost the piece of tiffin that was sitting in it.
‘Jesus Christ, Pol, why did you stay on in this snake pit?’
‘Because no other firm would take me seriously without any qualifications, Sheridan. They’re all looking for business graduates these days and I haven’t even got an A-level. At least here I still had a chance of putting into practice everything I’d learned. Charles Butler was quite aware of the successes I’d had and he thought I was best employed serving Jeremy. I did hope in time they’d come to see what Alan had seen in me and promote me back to where I was.’
‘But Pol, they do see that already, but they’re not going to give you the top job when they can keep you where you are and just nick all your best ideas. Don’t you think you’ve wasted enough time waiting for things to change that aren’t going to?’
That was her life right there in a nutshell: waiting, hoping,nothing.
Polly nodded. Seeing them take out Alan’s portrait today hurt her more than she could say. She felt all mixed up inside, angry and sad, as if she were pacing around inside herself not knowing what to do with all the dark energy it generated.
‘It’s really upset you, that, hasn’t it?’ Sheridan gave her a small smile of sympathy.
‘Yes,’ Polly answered. It meant the end of something, and there were too many endings occupying her brain at the moment.
Last week theDaily Trumpetmistakenly printed that husband-and-wife champion singing duo Vicky and Rob Drew won the South Yorkshire Celebrity Soundalike Trophy for their faultless impersonation of David Icke and Tina Turner. This was not the case. Vicky and Bob won for their impersonations of Sonny and Chair. We apologise unreservedly and are delighted that Mr and Mrs Drewp have accepted lunch for two at the Fish Fillies restaurant in Deepcar as due recompense.
Chapter 7
Three days to the renewal of the vows ceremony
The next day Polly didn’t get into work until eleven as she had a filling replaced at the dentist. As usual, for anyone who arrived after eight in the morning, there were no spaces available in the works car park so she had to drive to the large overspill and circle around until she found one, which did nothing for her already elevated stress levels.
‘How did it go?’ asked Sheridan.
‘Ath well ath to be ethpecthed, then it took me ageth to find thomewhere to park,’ Polly muttered, unlooping her bag from her shoulder. She was numb up to her temple and her tongue was flopping like a dead fish in her mouth. She wished she could lay her hands on something to numb the rest of her for the next few days, until she was sitting in a hotel room unpacking a suitcase.
Sheridan grinned. ‘I’m figuring you can’t have a coffee for a bit.’
‘Nope,’ said Polly, giving her a lopsided smile. ‘I withhh.’ She did a double-take of Sheridan’s face. She was pale and her eyes were puffy.
‘Don’t say it,’ said Sheridan, because that look hadn’t got past her. ‘I’ve had a very bad night’s sleep. I was in bed for nine but this one would not let me rest.’ She patted her stomach, which seemed more rotund than it had even yesterday. ‘I’ve had enough now, Pol. I just want him out.’
She took a bottle of Gaviscon from her filing drawer, screwed off the top and swigged it. Polly remembered doing the same, totally ignoring the dosage instructions.
‘And just to ruin your day even more,’ said Sheridan, leaning over the partition between them, ‘you’re going to be doing a test. Everyone was delighted –not– to find an email this morning telling us we had that to look forward to.’
‘What?’
‘You heard. Remember when Germany went on that psychology day course a couple of months ago and we wondered what it was all about?’ Sheridan leaned closer over the partition. ‘Well… it seems he’s used his new-found expertise to devise a test for the whole company. And everyone has to do it. Without exception. If you get a wiggle on, you’ll catch the eleven o’clock session. They’re on the hour. I heard him talking to Marjorie Wright about it earlier. She went flying into his office wanting to know why she knew eff all about it, and he told her that it was nothing too intrusive, just a social experiment to discover personality traits, strengths, weaknesses and crap like that. He said it would be very useful to know what kind of people work in the ranks and where they need support. Marjorie said that he should have done it in conjunction with HR, if at all. He reminded her that he was the MD and she told him that she didn’t give a shit and he was taking liberties. It was comedy gold, Pol, you’d have loved it. She didn’t half slam the door on the way out.’ Sheridan chuckled. ‘B5, take a pen. No phones allowed.’
‘Okay then. I’ll thee you in an hour,’ said Polly, picking up a pen from the pot on her table.
‘Thee ya,’ Sheridan batted back.
Outside room B5 there was a queue of people waiting. Polly saw Marjorie just coming away from the coffee machine and she gave her a wave. Marjorie smiled and walked over. She had a real presence, Polly had always thought. She was never seen without a slick of bright red lipstick that Polly wished she’d been brave enough to wear. Marjorie always looked powerful and feminine, assured and glamorous. She wouldn’t have looked out of place on the panel ofDragon’s Den.
‘Haven’t seen you for a bit,’ Marjorie said warmly. ‘How are you doing, Polly?’
‘Okay,’ Polly nodded and pointed to her mouth. ‘Juth come from the dentitht.’
‘Ah, so this is merely continuing the joy,’ she said, the corner of her lip kinking slightly. ‘Nothing to do with us. This is all… Jeremy.’ She gave his name a sour weight.
People started to move forward.
‘Anyway, nice to see you,’ said Marjorie. ‘We should have a coffee sometime soon.’ She sounded as if she meant it and hadn’t just issued an empty invitation.
‘I’d like that,’ smiled Polly, and Marjorie peeled away and back to her office.
