Canary In A Coal Mine

Frantically pushing the keys on my laptop I attempted to locate the file for my business proposal which had disappeared. I had been entrusted to put it together after only a year and a half with this company.

I stood up at my desk and casually looked about the office. Cubicles on either side of me were empty and no one within earshot. I reached for my mobile phone.

"Michael," I hissed into the phone. "They've sabotaged me - again. Just twenty minutes in the restroom and someone has tampered with my laptop. My meeting starts in two hours."

Michael reminded me I had emailed him the proposal before I left work last night so he could approve it. He joked that I owed him a dinner date for saving me…yet again. He was right. He was the voice of reason whenever my world turned upside down. Yet he said the silliest things - like this. Didn’t he realise we have had dinner together countless times? It must have been in the way he said “date”.

I relaxed in my chair and tried not to think about which one of my colleagues could have erased my file. Looking over your shoulder all the time is not the ideal work environment I would have chosen for myself.

Within 10 minutes, Michael’s email came in with the final proposal attached. I was so relieved that I did not even mind Michael's annoying catchphrase underneath his signature: 'Easy as pie'.

When we were undergraduates at university he would often say, "Jennifer, why do you strife? When you trust God everything falls in place. Easy as pie."

"Received your email. Thank you," I texted his mobile phone.

"You're welcome, Mrs Flynn," he texted back, using his own surname for me. He hoped God would make me see we were destined to be married.

That was the last thing on my mind. I had a career to build. Two weeks ago, I did a mock presentation for Bruce Montgomery, the CEO of my company and my supervisor, Martin. No more than five years older than me, Bruce was poised to take the company into the multi-million dollar bracket with this proposal. My proposal, which they both loved. It was my chance to prove my worth in this company. I shall never forget the day I presented this proposal to them.

"That was quite an effort, Jennifer," Bruce had said at the end of my presentation. "I got to where I am due to hard work. You're invited to my house Sunday morning. Brain-storming session with Martin and Mallory."

Had I just joined the elite club? Suddenly, all the back-stabbing and cruel pranks of my colleagues didn't matter anymore. I was a Christian and refused to participate in office politics. So I got shunned. Wait a minute. Was I a Christian only to my colleagues? What about my bosses?

"I'm sorry, Bruce. I will be in church on Sunday," I replied.

Every fibre of my being was screaming that I was committing career suicide.

Bruce studied me intently. "There's just one thing I value more than hard work - trust. The higher I climb this corporate ladder, the less I trust people."

He then took Martin aside for a private discussion while I collected my belongings. It felt like he had dismissed me and I wasn’t going to hang around to be further humiliated.

“Jennifer, wait!” Bruce called out as I was about to slip away. “Great job on the proposal. Now I want you to sing like a canary in a coal mine.”

I wanted to ask what that meant, but I didn’t want to appear a moron again. Martin gave me a reassuring nod. So I took that to mean I was to shine my brightest. I was excited.

Now two weeks later here I was, about to present my proposal to the client very shortly.

After carefully reading through it again, I printed it out and shut down my computer. That should deter anyone from tampering with my files.

Armed with the proposal safe in my briefcase, I caught up with Mallory outside the building. She was surprised and informed me I was not going. I fired rapid questions at her, but Bruce's car had pulled up and Mallory was obliged to get in.

"I'm not religious but I believe in your prayers, Jen. Please pray for us," Mallory appealed, clearly unaware of my pain at being left behind.

For hours I wandered the streets until I found the courage to call Michael.

"Why would he say 'sing like a canary in a coal mine'?" I sobbed into the phone. I had not shared with Michael this phrase that Bruce had mentioned to me two weeks ago. Now Michael told me it meant sacrificing yourself to protect another. He gently chided me for having too much pride to ask Bruce what it meant.

When I finally got back to the office, I noticed Mallory at her work station.

"Where have you been?" Martin cried out when he saw me and beckoned me into his office.

"Our competitor presented after Bruce, but the client chose our proposal. We won the contract!" said Martin. "We also found out Alfred and Marion were supplying information to our competitor. I just fired them. Until we discovered the moles in the company, we needed to pretend you had the real proposal. Honestly Jen, I would not have let a junior staff know she was preparing a fake proposal, but Bruce tipped you off by telling you to sing like a canary in a coal mine. He obviously trusts you."

As I was sitting at my desk, in a daze, I heard “Are you ok, Jen?”

I looked up and saw Sandra standing outside my cubicle smiling down at me.

Still in a daze, I could only nod.

“Well, you know where I am if you need anything,” she said and walked away.

What a fool I had been. So self-absorbed I could not pray when Mallory asked. So paranoid with looking for enemies that I could not see the friends. It wasn't about me getting ahead. It was about working as a team and shining God's light.

I noticed a text message from Bruce: "We got the contract. Thanks for your help."

"Easy as pie," I texted back, thinking it was time to turn dinner with Michael into a date.