CoreTechs Inc.

Every single day is the same for me. I like it that way. At the crack of dawn, I wake up to my alarm, get dressed in my work clothes and drink a strong cup of coffee before heading to work. I quite enjoy the consistency of my career, even if most people find it monotonous. I even go to lunch at the exact same time every day. It’s a normal office job, and though I have a lot of responsibilities, I love every minute of it. Sometimes, it has its challenges, but I approach them like a puzzle, and I always come out on the other side successful.

             Today starts out like any other. I show up for work, say good morning to my coworkers and sit at my desk to sort through the mail. Nothing worth noting other than the nightmare about teeth falling out. Shaking my head, I stamp it with my disapproval and send the message to the dream department. Come on, the girl is sixteen for goodness sakes, she shouldn’t be having such meaningless nightmares anymore. Now, if you give me a good old monster chase, then it might be something I would approve of. I throw the rest of the mail into the trash bin.

“Good morning, Miss Neo.” Miss Left says, joining me in the main conference room.

“Good morning. Where’s Miss Right?”

She rolls her eyes, “Late, of course.” The two executives could be no more different than an apple and a watermelon. While yes, they were both technically fruits, they do not taste at all like one another. Miss Left and Miss Right have completely different personalities, which made them excel at their individual jobs. They are the best executives that a CEO of CoreTechs Inc. could have.

“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised,” I take a sip of my coffee. “Let’s go ahead and get started though. Surely, she’ll be along soon enough.”

Miss Left takes a seat on my left-hand side, quickly organizing her paperwork in a neat pile. She likes one thing above all else: order. Everything has its place, and I have never met someone more anal-retentive. Going into her office, it would be hard to miss the labeling, color-coding, and perfect filing. Not a single piece of paper was ever out of place. Miss Right on the other hand liked to go with the flow. Her office is covered in sticky notes, over-flowing folders, and for some reason, paintbrushes. Though she is usually late, she is the most creative of us. It is crucial for a young, maturing woman to have a balance of the two of them.

“The numbers from yesterday are good. Susie saw some major growth in her math class. It looks like we may still yet have a shot at Harvard.” Miss Left smiles triumphantly, pulling up the math test that Susie had aced.

“That’s great to hear. We know how important that is to her parents.” I pause, “I don’t think Susie has quite made up her mind about Harvard though. She’s really enjoying her art classes right now.”

Miss Left shrugs, frowning just slightly, “It’s always good to be prepared.”

“Sorry I’m late guys, I was up till midnight painting.” Miss Right calls, bursting through the doors, a trail of papers following in her wake.

“No worries,” I smile. “Susie seems to be doing that a lot lately.”

“Oh, I know. And I can’t just leave her in the middle of it! I’ve been pulling late nights all week.” She sighs, dropping ungracefully into the chair to my right. “She has that big art project due in two weeks.”

“I don’t understand why you convinced her to take the art class in the first place. Her other grades are slipping.” Miss Left sniffs derisively. Miss Right glares at her coworker, opening her mouth to argue.

“Now, now,” I interrupt. “We know it’s a good idea for a young, maturing woman of sixteen to explore her imagination and creativity. Just because her parents are trying to make her feel guilty about it does not mean we allow it to affect our decisions.”

Miss Left takes a deep breath, shaking her head. “You’re right. I apologize.”

“Good.” I nod, opening my folder, “It’s almost that time of the month again. The painters will be in for four to five days, and we know how grouchy they can be. I am going to spend the day getting the rest of the company prepared for their arrival. I don’t want what happened last month to happen this time.”

Miss Left nods in agreement, “The Uteran Club said they just tore the crap out of their head office last month.”

 “What if they decide to show up early again?” Miss Right’s eyes widen in horror.

I sigh, “Then we will handle it like we always do, calmly and cautiously.”

             The three of us discuss a few more things before going our separate ways. There are at least fifty department heads that I need to call for the day. It is going to be a busy day, but just the way I like it. Even if I must stay an hour or two later than usual, the time will pass by quickly with my laundry list of things to do. Returning to my office, I take a seat at my desk and begin making my calls. My assistant brings me plenty of water to keep me going and even has my lunch delivered.

             At six o’clock, I head home for the evening. Miss Right and Miss Left have it handled for the night. It’s Friday and there is a football game I want to catch before bedtime. Sliding out of my business clothes and into a pair of comfy sweats, I curl up on the couch and turn on the television. It is going to be a great game against our rival team. We have beat them the last three games and I’m hoping to go four in a row.

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             When I wake up the next morning, I go through same exact routine as I always do. It is going to be a spectacular day. How could it not? Our team was victorious over our rivals. Nothing was going to bring me down. As I approach headquarters though, I realize that I just might be wrong. Trash litters the ground. Is that a pizza box stuffed into the trash can? Shaking my head in disbelief, I head inside and run smack into a frazzled Miss Right.

“Oh, Neo!” She jumps in surprise, her eyes wide, “I swear it wasn’t my fault.”

I arch an eyebrow at her before glancing past her. “What in the world?”

“We won the football game last night. And things just kind of got outta control.” She admits nervously.

             Stepping around her, I take in the disaster that had once been headquarters. Balloons, streamers, and red solo cups are cluttered in every nook and cranny that meets the eye. I see a destroyed DJ stand in one corner. Taking a closer look at the floor, I notice there is a thick coating of glitter and confetti pasted to it. I do not want to know what is being used as an adhesive. Bodies are scattered about, only a handful of them I recognize. Even my tech supervisor is draped across his work console.

“Who are all these other people?”

“Uh well,” Miss Right scratched her head, “they’re from our control room. Someone named Ethel showed up with them in tow. I guess they decided they needed a break.”

Groaning, I rub my temples in frustration, “It’s one of the only departments that run twenty-four hours. Did they leave anyone behind to hold down the fort?”

“I don’t think so.” She shook her head.

“Why did you let them in?”

Miss Right sighs, “Miss Left was riding my butt again about the art thing. She feels like it’s unnecessary for Susie to be doing. When they showed up, I just wanted to show her that it’s okay to relax sometimes. I had no idea it was going to turn into such a fiasco.”

“Where is Miss Left?”

“I better show you the conference room.” She mutters, leading me up the stairs. Upon entering the room, I am happy to see that it is mostly untouched. Miss Left is hunched over the desk, her usually tight bun is a disheveled pile of knots. I can hear her light snoring above the humming of the giant screen in front of us.

“Is that what I think it is?” I ask, finally taking notice of what is on the screen. My executive is riding on a motorized scooter inside headquarters.

“Yeah,” Miss Right pauses for only a moment, “I think we should start it over from the beginning.”

“Yes, we better do that.” My voice rising as the annoyance sets in.

             Rewinding the tape, she settles into her chair and glances at me out of the corner of her eye as it begins. Over the next hour, I watch in shock as a stampede of people overtake headquarters. The clips go in and out, as if they are only small bits of a full movie. The control room technicians go completely haywire, acting like a bunch of cats hyped up on catnip. Bouncing off the walls, dancing under the strobe lights, and generally making a mess; they influence everyone around them. Miss Left rides passenger on a scooter, which spins out and crashes into the DJ stand. Miss Right dances on top of a table before it collapses beneath her weight. Laughing hard, she sits up and throws a ping-pong ball at a cup on another table, sinking her shot easily. Everyone cheers. When it ends, I sit in silence for quite some time, both horrified and in awe at the same time. I don’t quite know whether I should be mad at them or upset that I had missed out on the fun.

Finally, I turn to Miss Right, “It looks like I missed quite the party.”

“Well, I honestly don’t quite remember most of the night.” She admits, tugging nervously on her ear.

Turning to Miss Left, I tap her on the shoulder. She jumps, bolting upright. “What’s going on?”

I chuckle, her makeup is smeared, making her look like she has racoon eyes, “Good morning, Miss Left. Did you have a fun night?”

             I watch as she searches her memory. As if in slow motion, her facial expressions move from confusion to horror as it dawns on her. Eyes widening, she shakes her head in disbelief. Before she can say anything, she pales and lurches to her feet. Rushing to the closest trash can, she heaves, emptying the contents of her stomach. I grimace as the scent wafts towards me. Standing, I leave the room, with Miss Right close on my heels.

“Where is this Ethel person? I think I should meet her.”

“Oh, she went out the front door a long time ago. I can’t imagine she will be coming back anytime soon.”

I sigh, taking in the disaster once again, “How long do you think it will be before we are up and running again?”

“Oh, I imagine it’ll be like this for most of the day.” Miss Right toes one of the technicians, who groans, rolling over.

Taking a deep breath, I try to calm myself. Susie is screwed, and so are my executives. “Alright, this is what’s going to happen. I’m going to go home and you two are going to clean this all up. I will be back later this afternoon to damage control.”

“Yes ma’am.” She mutters as I begin to walk away. When I get to the bottom of the stairs, she calls after me, “If it makes you feel any better, Susie had a great time. She even had her first kiss!”

“Great,” I grumble, “just one more thing I need to worry about.”