Just another day at Glinda's World and Boq was staring out of the fifth floor window of his little office window miserably. Well...it was more like a little booth than a little office. Boq wasn't exactly high up in the set of offices that dealt with the Emporium's merchandise, research and marketing. His highest ideal had been until then, was to be a teller in a bank. But he wasn't that good at arithmetic. So he had ended up working as a junior in the marketing office of this place. Until then his idea of ambition was limited to whichever desk he happened to be assigned to. But ever since seeing the founder of all this fluffy cuteness, it changed drastically to the one ambition of getting near Miss Glinda. Any day she graced them with her presence, he would crane his neck to catch a glimpse of her as she arrived in her personal pink limo. All he usually saw was a pink shoe ascending the ground as she daintily stepped out. That was about it. He saw more of that cat she so adored and took everywhere with her. Her face adorned the walls of the office so he could stare at her all day on his break.
She had visited his department once before, a major buzz for the company who saw to it that all the pot plants were kept shiny and green, all the mirrors sparkling, all desks tidy and all of the ugly staff working with their heads down as she graciously toured the place.
'Quick! She's coming!' The assistant manager flapped his arms around trying to shoo people back to their desks. Boq looked from the window in surprise. What was happening? All around him people were hurrying around tidying up; throwing things in drawers, sweeping stray papers under their desks. Boq asked Crope, the guy in the next booth what was going on.
'Miss Glinda's coming today. Surprise visit apparently. I heard the supervisors talking about it when I came in this morning.' Crope blinked, took off his glasses and polished them on his shirt. 'She'll be up here in a minute.'
Boq hastily shoved a bunch of stuff in his drawer, rubbed a piece of tissue over his computer screen and smoothed down his hair. No sooner had he done these vital tasks than the door opened and a vision appeared as if from above. Dressed top to toe in a big pink dress, golden curls cascading over her shoulders, Glinda looked the picture of perfection. In her arms sat a fat fluffy white Persian with a permanently squashed face by the name of Mister Tibbykins. Mister Tibbykins went everywhere with her. He stared across the office malevolently and flicked his tail. Mister Tibbykins didn't like the look of the place.
'Good morning people!' she trilled happily.
Crope sat there with his mouth wide open. Most of the people in the office did that. Miss Glinda had that effect on people. Boq tried to look slightly more intelligent. It didn't quite work.
The assistant manager stepped forward, all smarmy and smiling. He fancied himself to be quite the charmer. 'Good morning Miss Glinda.'
'I'm here to look around for a little bit, don't mind me.'
'Of course Miss Glinda, anything at all. Do you require some refreshment, tea, coffee, a glass of still water fresh from the Vinkus mountains?'
'Just a glass of fresh apple juice with a hint of lime if you please' beamed Miss Glinda. While they were supervising her tour of the office, Boq plucked up the courage to sidle closer, to bask in her light. The cat opened an evil eye and glared him away. The fluffy tail twitched back and forth. Glinda smiled charmingly and stroked the hideous beast. The fresh apple juice with a hint of lime was brought to her accordingly.
To the disappointment of the workers, she was whisked away to the more important places in the building first. Boq thought he had died and gone to heaven. She had stood so near, he was dazzled by her smile. Shame about the darn cat.