Piper got back to work a little late, but her boss just smiled at her and shook his head. He would never fire her for something so small, because she was willing to work any hours he needed and would do any job in the firm that he required. That made her very nearly indispensable.
She sat down at her desk and sorted through all the mail that had come in, her brows drawing down when she noticed that the majority of them were bills again. If she could have gotten hold of the people who owed them money she would have been able to settler all the debts that the company owed in one hit. But if no-one paid them, then they couldn't pay anyone else, and it was a vicious circle. The only company that would come out okay was the one that supplied them with their office equipment to sell on, because they were a huge company and could afford to take people to court instead of merely threatening to do so. She knew her boss was worried about the future of his business, and she only wished she could help in some way. But she didn't have any money to speak of, certainly not enough to bail him out. She could only hope that he would find a solution before too long, because otherwise everyone here would be out of work.
Things ran along normally for the next couple of hours and then she answered the telephone to a particularly official sounding person, putting it straight through to her boss when the person requested him. She hadn't recognised the person's name, but maybe it was something to do with the bank, she knew her boss had been trying to get a loan. Her eyes flicked to the phone as his light started blinking and then the head of the firm's light came on as well, signifying that he was transferring the call. It really must be someone important, she thought, wondering if her immediate boss, Mr Johnson, would come and tell her about it.
A short while later he came rushing out of his office and looked at her oddly, making her frown in confusion as he nearly ran down the corridor towards Edward Foster's office, the big boss. What had that phone call been about to make him look so flustered, she thought. He never looked like that, and whatever had happened warranted a visit with Mr Foster. She shook off the sudden feeling of unease and got back to work, immersing herself in the pile of things that needed doing. She only hoped that nothing bad had happened.
A couple of hours later she looked up as Mr Johnson stopped by her desk, looking grim faced and tense. "Can you come into Mr Foster's office with me, Piper?" he asked, and he sounded so serious that she immediately started feeling a sense of foreboding.
"Of course," she said quietly, following him as he walked off up the corridor. They entered Mr Fosters office and the older man ha the same tense expression as he indicated a seat at the desk.
Piper sat down and folded her suddenly cold hands in her lap, looking from one of them to the other as they joined her. "Is something wrong?" she asked after a lengthy silence had passed.
"Piper, I won't beat about the bush," Mr Foster said to her, running a hand through his thick grey hair and grimacing. "You know this company has been having financial troubles for some time now, well we've just had a very handsome buyout offer, one that I can't possibly refuse."
Piper frowned. "But surely that's good news, isn't it?"
The older man sat down and stared at her across his desk, his eyes sad. "It is good news, but there was a condition," he said, frowning.
"Oh, I see. Have they made you let all the employees go?" she asked, knowing that it was common practice in a buyout.
"Not quite. They'll only buy the company if I fire you, and only you," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as he said it.
Piper's mouth fell open and for a few seconds she couldn't speak. Her voice sounded rusty when she finally got her voice back. "Why would they ask that? Who are they?"
"The Calloway Corporation," Mr Foster said, looking at her with resignation. "I'm sorry, Piper, but I don't have any choice. It's either accept their offer, or lose the business, it's become that serious now."
She stared at him numbly, unable to believe what she had just heard. "Did Mr Calloway himself speak to you?"
Her boss shook his head. "No, it was a Mr Wells, but he said that the request had come from Mr Calloway."
"Request?" she said, laughing in disbelief. "This is ridiculous." She looked at the two men facing her and closed her eyes briefly. It wasn't their fault, and they were right, they didn't have any choice. "When do I have to go?"
"Immediately. Piper, I am sorry," he said again, his face a picture of dismay.
She gave a small smile, trying to make him feel better. "It's not your fault, it's okay. I'll clear my desk," she said, standing up and smoothing her skirt down.
"I feel awful about this, but there's one other thing," Mr Foster said as he stood up too. "I can't give you a reference and I can't even give you any severance pay, it was one of the stipulations. I can pay you for his month, but that's all."
Piper froze at his words and swallowed down the horrible panic that almost swamped her. With no reference she would never get employment anywhere else, but she didn't let her emotions show on her face. "That's fine. I hope this buyout works out okay for you," she said and gave another smile, walking out of the room with her head held high. There were other jobs, she told herself, surely she could find one before she ran out of rent money? Even without a reference.
She cleared the few possessions out of her desk and put them in a bag, taking one last look at her office before she walked out of the building without looking back. She didn't want them to see her face, it would only make them feel more guilty, and she knew they felt bad enough as it was.
When she got home to her small apartment, her thoughts went to the big man she had thrown that gunk at earlier, and she narrowed her eyes. How dare he get her sacked? It wasn't as if he hadn't deserved her attack earlier, there had been no need to do something so nasty. The thought occurred to her that he must have found out where she worked and had then gone to the trouble of actually buying the company just so he could fire her. Who did something like that? He was a total freak, she concluded, from his immense size tight down to his petty behaviour. And now here she was without a job. If all else failed she knew she could go back and live with her father, but she liked her freedom, and that would be a last resort.
Thinking of her father made her pick up the phone to see how he was, because she knew he was supposed to be in the middle of closing down the business. Now the fish were all dead, he couldn't afford to replace them, even if the water had been free of pollutants.
"Hey Dad," she said as he picked the phone up.
"Hey baby, you will never guess what happened today!" he said excitedly and she laughed, thinking he wouldn't guess what had happened to her either.
"What happened?"
"A whole team of clean up experts descended on the river, that's what!" he said and she could hear the relief in his voice. "Not only that, but once they're done, all my fish are going to be replaced, plus I've been given a cheque for loss of earnings and inconvenience, can you believe it?"
She couldn't, and she frowned. "Who....Dad, who gave you the cheque?"
"Only the Calloway Corporation! I guess those letters you sent to them did the trick, because they've finally admitted guilt and have shut down the printing press!"
"And you won't have to go out of business?"
"No. Apart from a few days out because of this mess, there won't be any need to let anyone go, not with the amount of money they've given me. They've been generous, to say the least," he said, still on a high from his good news.
"That's really great Dad, I'm pleased to hear it," she said, sighing as she wondered why that man would have done that. "Listen, I have to go, I've got stuff to do."
"Okay, honey. Why don't you come over at the weekend and have dinner? You can see the new fish."
"Okay, Dad, I will. See you then," she said, giving her goodbyes and then hanging up. She couldn't tell him what had happened to her today, she didn't want to break his mood. He had been so depressed when his fish had died, that she had been worried about him. At least something good had come out of her visit to that man today. She was getting upset thinking about how she lost her job, and she stood up and paced her living-room floor, getting more and more angry as she did so. She knew to the last cent how much money she had in her bank account, and if she didn't find a job soon she would have to leave this place. She decided to start searching there and then, first looking on the Internet to see if there was anything available. Tomorrow would be soon enough to start pounding the pavement in search of employment and she thought that maybe letting people know the circumstances of her dismissal might help her cause.
****
Piper sat down on a park bench, her shoulders hunched despondently. She had been walking around all morning trying to find somewhere to work, and had come up with nothing. Not even a job at a fast-food joint. It was frustrating to say the least and she was starting to feel depressed. No-one would employ someone who had been sacked, it seemed. She had even tried lying a couple of times, but to no avail. Her eyes scanned the pretty flowers near her bench and she closed her eyes, gathering her nerve to start looking again. Her feet took her past a bar and she looked in the window at the people inside talking and laughing whilst sipping at their drinks. Maybe that was what she needed, she thought. The fact that she didn't drink made no difference to her at that moment, and she wandered inside and ordered a glass of wine, swallowing half of it before she could change her mind. The alcohol hit her stomach and made it heat up, sending a warmth up into her face that wasn't too unpleasant. She stared at the clear liquid and took another swallow, surprised that it tasted quite nice and that it was definitely helping her relax. It wasn't as if she had a boss waiting for her, she thought, so one or two of these would do no harm.
One or two turned into a few, and she eventually ran out of cash, searching through her purse with a muddled frown. Damn, she thought, now she would have to leave. Well, at least she was in a better mood now.
She hopped down from her barstool and clung to the bar for support as her legs felt decidedly rubbery. After a few deep breaths and a dazzling grin at the bartender, she walked unsteadily outside and picked a direction to go in. It wasn't until she had been walking for nearly half an hour that she realised she was very close to that man's building, and she narrowed her eyes as she decided to pay him a little visit, if only to let him know what she thought about him.
No-one at the recaption desk took any notice of her slight form as she staggered to the open elevator door and stepped inside, leaning close to the panel once inside so she could see the floor number she wanted. Her inebriated mind hadn't worked out what she was going to say once she got upstairs, but she was pleasantly numbed and didn't really care about anything right now.
Luck was obviously on her side when she reached his office, because his secretary was nowhere in sight and she could see him through the open doorway, sitting at his enormous desk and talking into the telephone. She slowly made her way into the room and closed the door, leaning back on it and watching him as he sat there with his back to her. He hadn't even heard her come in, she thought, and a small giggle almost escaped her mouth, her hand coming up to clamp it in. She managed to push herself away from the door and walk unsteadily towards his desk, her eyes settling on a big pitcher of water sitting next to a glass. That would do the trick perfectly, she thought, and she grabbed it up in her hand, spilling a couple of drops as she did so, an automatic 'oops' issuing from her mouth.
The small sound made Mark spin around in his chair and his eyes widened seconds before she poured the entire contents of the jug over his big, arrogant head, giggling when she saw how his hair went flat as it got wet. The laughter died in her throat when he slammed the phone down and stood up, shaking the water from him and glaring at her as if she was an apparition. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he snapped, leaning on his desk towards her, making her back up a couple of steps before she squared her shoulders and glared right back.
"Telling you what I think of you," she told him, her words subtly slurred. "You're an arrogant, pompous, cruel....nasty....spit..spiteferl.." she broke off and tried to say the word again. "Spitefluel...damn it!"
"Spiteful," he put in helpfully, still glaring.
"Thank you. Spiteful...pig. You lost me my job and I hate you, and I wanted you to know that. Now I have, I'll go," she said and turned her back on him, staggering a bit when the sudden movement made her dizzy.
"Oh no, you damn well won't," he snarled, coming out from behind his desk and grabbing her before she could escape the room. "If you think you can just come in here and attack me, then you're dead wrong!"
"Let go of my arm," she said, trying for an imperious tone and missing completely in her current state, starting to feel vaguely nauseous now.
Mark stared down at the small woman he held, his eyes narrowing as he bent to her ear. "Make me," he growled, tightening his grip.
"I suppose you think I can't, you big Neanderthal!" she snapped at him, her eyes flashing as she looked way up into his green eyes.
"If I were you, Miss Williams, I'd stop with the insults before you dig yourself further into trouble!"
"Am I supposed to be scared? You're nothing but an overgrown bully!" she said, her face paling as the wine she had consumed started sitting like acid in the pit of her stomach.
"Goddamn it, I'll show you how much of a bully I am!" he said and started dragging her over to his chair, his jaw clenched with fury.
She tugged frantically at the arm holding her and then kicked out at his leg, making contact with a satisfying thud that made him stop walking and turn to glare at her again. "If you don't keep still," he said, his teeth gritted, "I swear to God I'll give you something to struggle about!"
"I don't feel too good," she said, her voice hushed as she felt bile rise in her throat.
"What the hell has that got to do with me?" he asked and then leapt backwards as she emptied her stomach contents all over his shoes, proving to him that it actually had a lot to do with him. His eyes closed and he wished himself somewhere else, but when he opened them again she was still there, looking white as a sheet and with tears in her big eyes. The office door opened seconds later and his secretary walked in, her mouth dropping open when she saw what had happened.
"Jeanette, I'm going to clean up in my bathroom. Can you get someone in here to clean this mess up....and do something with this person. I want her sober and sitting at my desk when I come back," he said grimly.
"I'm going home," Piper whispered, embarrassed now that the alcohol was wearing off and she realised what she had done.
"No, you're not, Miss Williams. You'll stay right here, or you'll pay," he warned her, looking at her with distaste.
Piper glared at him wearily. "You've already got me fired, there isn't anything else you can do. I'm going home," she said stubbornly.
"Is that right? Let me put it this way then, if you leave this office before I tell you that you can, I'll make sure your father goes out of business overnight," he said, his voice hard. "Do you still think there's nothing else I can do?" He watched as her face fell and then let go of her arm as though she were diseased, walking into his bathroom and slamming the door behind him.