Devil in Red Stilettos

Kacia looked into the mirror. Tears were running down her face.

“I can’t believe I’m crying in a public bathroom,” she muttered. She angrily wiped the tears from her eyes. After five years at her job, she had just been downsized. “It’s the economy’ her manager said. It’s not like she didn’t know what was coming—the writing had been on the wall over the last six months.

And it’s not like Kacia wasn’t proactive: eighty resumes sent. Fifteen interviews. Not a single job offer.

Her bank account was dwindling quickly between rent, car payments, groceries, and a wedding to pay for. Her fiancé Isaiah was already struggling to make ends meet. He was finishing up his novel and hoping to get it published. There was no doubt that the man was talented and ambitious, but that didn’t always translate to dollars in the bank.

She ran her hand through her heavy locs and stared at herself. Her mother already had reservations about her relationship. “Don’t let no man live off of you, girl,” she’d lecture weekly.

Kacia wet a paper towel and tried to salvage her eye makeup. She had to make herself presentable. Bronwyn from HR was waiting for her to make sure she didn’t pilfer any staplers or printer paper on her way out.

Kacia sucked her teeth.

It was never supposed to be like this. She was supposed to have a fantastic career—she had done ‘all the right things’—good grades, internships, networking with the right people, but life doesn’t work out like that. She was hopeful after the last rounds of interviews. The hiring committee said they liked her and that she had everything they were looking for.

But today she got a phone call saying, “Sorry, we decided to go in another direction. You’re not quite the right fit.”

“Right fit, my ass,” she said, dabbing at her eyes. She had exactly two weeks of severance coming to her and a $30,000 wedding happening in less than a year. Kacia took a deep breath, and the tears began again. “Oh God! What am I going to do?”

“Oh God? Girl, you’re calling on the wrong person.” A voice echoed through the washroom. Kacia looked around. She scrambled and bent down to see who was there. She had the presence of mind to check the stalls—all the stalls—before she broke down and lost her composure.

“What? Is someone there? Who’s there?” Kacia said, looking under the stalls again.

A pair of ruby red stilettos were in the last stall. The door opened and she stepped out, flaming red hair in waves and ruby red lips in a smirk.

“But I checked all the stalls.” Kacia was confused. She was in the washroom by herself…at least she believed she was. The stress of these damned interviews and her upcoming layoff was getting to her.

Obviously.

“I’m sorry that you had to hear me carrying on,” Kacia sniffled. She cleared her throat and wiped her eyes.

No one was supposed to see her cry. She was a strong Black woman—at least that was what the people at work were always supposed to think. She didn’t have the privilege of weeping in the conference room. It wasn’t going to help her situation anyway.

“Kacia, hon, stop fretting.” She walked over and stood next to Kacia at the bank of sinks. She washed her hands, her bright red nails were like claws, glistening in the fluorescent light. “Like I said, you’re calling on the wrong person.”

Kacia felt a chill up her spine. How does she know my name?

“I’m Lil. I work downstairs. Our washrooms were occupied, so I came up here. I’ve seen you around.” Lil grabbed a paper towel to dry her hands. “I heard they announced the layoffs today.”

“Yep. You’re looking at a casualty.”

“I’m sorry.” Lil backed the mirror and rested against the counter. She smiled and said, “But, you are calling on the wrong person. I know someone that can help—if you’re interested.”

“Um, not to be rude, but who’s helping me? I’ve legit been to 15 job interviews. This economy is not for the faint of heart—”

“My line of work is recession-proof,” Lil said, pushing her hair behind her ear. “And we’re always looking for people, but only the best.”

“Listen, if this is about telemarketing or door-to-door sales, I am not interested.” She must think I’m a fool. Like I went to school for how many years to be calling people about air duct cleaning.

Kacia started to turn to leave the washroom and do the walk of shame back to her cubicle.

“Hey, you’ve got me wrong. This isn’t about air duct cleaning.”

How did she know that?

“I have an opportunity for you. I can make your dreams come true and pay off those debts.”

Kacia cocked her head to the side. “This isn’t sex work, right?”

Lil laughed. “Girl, you’re pretty, but you’re not that pretty. Besides, you didn’t go to school for all those years to sell your ass, did you?”

I didn’t.

“OK, I’m listening.”

What choice did Kacia have? It was the twelfth of the month.^. Rent was due in exactly 18 days. That two-week severance wasn’t going to stretch long enough to get to the end of the month before she got to the end of her money. She tried doing it the traditional way, interviewing and networking, and nothing panned out. If Lil had something that could hold her during the in-between, why not hear her out.

But.

But something just didn’t feel right.

Kacia always relied on her gut and her gut was telling her that Lil was bad news. Her brain was telling her that her credit card bill was due next week and she just put a load of groceries and gas on it.

Maybe she just had to trust her brain this time and put her gut under advisement.

“I have a proposition for you: come work for me and never worry about another bill or asking your parents for another loan to tide you over,” said Lil, playing with her necklace. “What do you think?”

It was an interesting proposition.

“What do I have to do?”

“Scout people, like how I scouted you, for the business. The owner is always looking for talent,” said Lil. “You meet people, and you offer them a great opportunity. Dassit. The pay is great—I paid off all my bills in the first month. The owner is very generous with our salaries.”

Hmm, this sounds good, but too good to be true.

Alarm bells were clanging in Kacia’s head, but rent was due just now and she couldn’t ask her parents for more money. Isaiah was still working part-time at the library. Money wasn’t just tight; it was strangling her.

Lord knows your girl was tired.

Even if she did this job for a few months, until the wedding, it would put her—put them—in a better position to start their marriage.

“What do I have to do?”

Lil pulled a piece of paper out of her blazer’s inside pocket. “I have your contract right here.” She offered it to Kacia. As Kacia reached to take it, Lil pulled back. “Listen, there is one thing that I need to explain to you. The owner is very, umm, strict about who works for him. He expects you to be dedicated to him, and him alone, for the course of your employment. Depending on the day, you may have to visit a number of sites to meet potential candidates. Do you have the time?”

“Girl. I’m unemployed. I have time,” said Kacia, rolling her eyes.

Lil smiled. “He legit wants you, body, mind, and soul. You good with that?”

Sirens were going off in Kacia's head. Her gut was trembling. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing straight up.

It’s a good deal, right? I’m not scared of hard work, but I’m scared of struggling. This is so fast. Why is my contract, right in sis’ pocket? Was she following me? That’s fully sus. Maybe I better talk to Isaiah before I agree to this.

“I get it. It’s a lot—being laid off, then meeting me, and hearing about this offer. Sometimes, you have to do what’s right for you right now,” said Lil, quietly. “When you leave this washroom, you’re walking out to gather your things and be escorted out of this building with your former colleagues watching you. You’re going to go home and tell your fiancé that you don’t have a job. You’re going to have to tell your parents that the big wedding—that they didn’t want—is now their responsibility because you aren’t working. And you know you aren’t canceling because overseas family already bought plane tickets.”

How is this woman reading me like this? How does she know about the wedding?

“This is a limited-time offer, K,” said Lil, tapping her red heels on the tile floor. “The owner is hiring right now. He has a special position just for you—if you’re smart enough to take it.”

God, I am tired.

“Don’t call on the wrong person,” sang Lil. “Make the right decision for you.”

“Where’s the pen?” Lil was already holding a gold pen. Kacia took it—the weight was heavy in her hand. She signed her name in red ink with a flourish.

“Welcome to the family, Kacia Green. The owner knows so much about you already. He says you’d be a great fit. He’s excited to meet you. I was sent special assignment to recruit you,” Lil said, folding the contract and putting it in her pocket.

“Really? Special assignment?”

“Yes ma’am. Let’s go meet him and the time. Our offices are downstairs—”

“But my stuff,” Kacia interrupted, “I’m cleaning out my desk.”

“Don’t worry about that. You can afford other stuff," Lil said. They laughed. "By the way," she continued, "Lil is short for Lilith.”

The two walked out of the ladies’ room and headed to the elevators. Kacia stopped suddenly.

“I forgot to ask you, what’s the company’s name?”

The elevator arrived and the doors opened. For midday, it was strangely empty. Usually, people were heading downstairs for coffee or traversing the floors for meetings. The women stepped in.

Lil looked over and smiled as she hit the button for the basement. “It’s B. L. Zeebub and Associates.”

The doors closed.

************

“Who lays someone off just before the holidays?” Kamal whispered into his coffee; his eyes dark with worry. “The ones who don’t care about their employees.”

He was sitting in at a coffee shop in an underground concourse trying to build up the courage to go home to his wife and tell her. Five years of late nights and sacrificing time with his young kids and for what? A new director who told him, “You add no value to the team.”

“No value? These people are jokers.”

“They are jokers,” a voice said behind him.

Kamal swung around. “Pardon me?”

She stuck out her hand, her nails were ruby red and glistening. “I just heard what you said. My name is Kacia.” Kamal shook Kacia’s hand and she sat across him at the small café table with a hot cup of tea. “I was in your position just a few months ago.”

“My position?”

“Yes, your position,” she said. People were hustling through the underground concourse heading to their offices or to the subway. “I was laid off and had absolutely no prospects. Fifteen job interviews and not one offer. Can you believe it?”

“This job market is terrible,” he said, playing with his coffee cup.

“It truly is, but I was offered an amazing opportunity—”

“Listen. I’m not in the mood for scams or get rich quick schemes, OK?” his voice rose with anger.

“Kamal, chill. This is no scheme. I promise you,” Kacia said, flipping her red locs over her shoulder. “The owner of the business I work for is always looking for talented, valuable people, like you. Our business is recession-proof, so we don’t have to worry about job losses.”

“Really.” Kamal’s interest was piqued. “I’m listening.”

“I know you would be. All you have to do is scout people, like how I’m scouting you. Tell them about the opportunity and see what happens,” she said. “No word of a lie, I paid off all my debts in the first month of working with the business.”

“It sounds too good to be true,” he said.

“It does, but it is true. Our business depends on amazing, talented people, like me and like you. People who know how to talk to others. People who are willing to put in the hours and do the work to be successful. That sounds like you.”

“It does.”

“It’s almost the holidays. Who lets people go during the holidays? People who don’t care about their employees,” Kacia said. “Your kids are excited about that trip to meet family in London. Who wants to disappoint their kids at Christmas?”

“Yeah.” He sunk lower in his chair.

“Our business is strong and we’re growing each day,” Kacia continued. ”We value our people. The owner is very strict about who works for him. One thing I have to tell you, the owner legit wants you, body, mind, and soul—is that something you could do?”

“I was doing that and look. They didn’t value me or the work I did, so,” he shrugged his shoulders. “You’re making sense, Kacia. Tell me more.”

She smiled and took a sip of her tea, swinging her ruby red stilettos.