The Gala

It seemed to be the longest day, hell year, in history for Sophie. The day was a stream of meetings, Zoom calls, phone calls and drop-in “just for a minute” conversations.  “So many things to do and not enough time” became her motto of the day.  Just as she was getting ready, for the hundredth time, to make the edits to the negotiation notes, she hears a knock at her door.  Looking up from her desk, trying desperately to look neutral, Sophie smiles and says, “Hey, Andre, how are you doing today?” Andre, the company’s in-house counsel had a way of giving compliments and feedback in a way that made you feel you just got a wet-willy.  Andre comes into the office and stands a few feet away and says, “Are you going to the annual Gala?” In her head, Sophie screamed, “Fuck no!” in real life she said, “I can’t.  It’s my turn with my mom.  My sister has an engagement with her daughter and can’t be with my mom.”  Feeling slightly guilty using her sick mom as an excuse, Sophie just looks at Andre.  “Oh.” Andre says looking taken aback, he shuffles in place and then says, “Did you think it was voluntary?”  Now it was Sophie’s turn to look taken aback and replies, “Um, well yes.  Why would a gala be a mandatory event that I would be required to attend?” Just for a second, Sophie thought she saw Andre roll his eyes, but she was mistaken, right? She thought.  Andre, with a hint of too much enthusiasm, says, “It is a mandatory event for all of the Executive Staff.  This is where we mingle with the Board of Directors, and Sydney (the CEO) gets to brag about her (our) accomplishments.” laughing lightly.  Audible sighing, Sophie says, “Let me see if I can get my brother to step in for me tonight.” inside knowing it was not her turn with her mother and could go at a drop of a hat...if she wanted to. Andre turns to walk out and just before he crosses the threshold turns to Sophie and says, “I’ll save you a seat at my table. You’re going to change right?”  “Great. Wait what?” Sophie responds as she watches Andre leave her office.

The workday ended with as much chaos as it started.  Piles of unfinished work strewn across her desk, Sophie looks around and says out loud, “Oh, goody.  I get to look forward to this in the morning.”  Stalling as long as reasonably possible, Sophie collections her stuff and starts to head home.  She walks to the elevator and notices how quiet the office is, “oh, yeah, the gala.” she says under her breath.  While waiting for the elevator, Sophie flips through her IG account, “oh, that exercise looks hard,” “what a cute baby, dog or whatever other animals that popped up,” “I have to remember to sign up for that webinar” and then the unmistakable “bing” of the elevator.  She looks up as the doors open to see Matt, from Accounting and smiles while in her mind, she screams at the top of her head. Matt is a nice enough guy, but can sometimes be creepy.  “So, ya gonna save me a dance tonight?” as he elbows Sophie.  Laughing nervously, “haha, sure.  We can totally cut a rug.”  Cut a rug?  What is this 1950? She thinks quickly in her head.  Matt just laughs as the elevator gets to the parking garage and the door opens up to let in the smell of engine fumes.  Gah!  Sophie waves goodbye to Matt and walks to her car.  As she drives away, all she can think of is how quickly would she be able to get out of the gala.

She arrived at The Woodland Estate with remarkable ease.  It was as if the Universal took away all of the traffic so that she could make it there without issue or stress.  “Sure, IF I wanted to come, I would have hit every light and traffic jam on the way.,” Sophie says to herself as she walks toward the entrance.  The entrance, she had to admit, was gorgeous with marble columns and huge wooden doors, actual real-life doormen.  It was a thing to see.  As the doormen opened the doors for her, as they do for royal...ooh la la, the foyer was even more spectacular. Beautiful blue velvet curtains hung floor to ceiling, gorgeous tile floors leading to the most elegant furniture and staircase she had ever seen and people mingling around look quite dapper in their “dress up” clothes.  She almost didn’t recognize many of them, she thought to herself smiling.  “Are you the cat that ate the canary?” she heard over her shoulder.  Startled she turned around to find Leroy from Operations standing there...a little too close...close enough that she smelled the whiskey on his breath. “Oh. Hi, Leroy.,” she said stepping back a step, maybe two.  “What are you smiling about?  Anything good?” Leroy probed.  “Smiling at how beautiful this place is and how grateful I am that I don’t have to clean it after the party.,” Sophie says with a smile and light-hearted laugh.  “Good point,” Leroy said smiling as he walks away to speak with someone else.  Grateful for the opportunity to get a drink, Sophie heads into the main reception area toward the bar.  On her way, she greets people and makes small talk, compliments are thrown around about how good everyone looks.  As she makes it to the bar, she thinks, “This may not be so bad.”

Sydney, the CEO, enters the room and there was a sudden hush, only for a moment it was like time stopped for just a moment.  Or maybe it was the second glass of wine, who knows.  The Emcee announces that everyone should all head to their seats.  After a few minutes, everyone had found their places and were waiting politely for the “show” to begin.  As salads were being passed around Sydney gets up and begins the keynote address.  Blah, blah, blah, excellent quarter, blah, blah, blah with special thanks to Sophie Rivera.  “Wait! What! Me!” thoughts jump through her head as she feels all eyes on her as she sits there with a fork full of salad halfway toward her open mouth.  Slowly, she puts the fork down, closes her mouth, and looks up at the stage.  Sydney is standing there extending a hand and says, “Come up and join me.” What sounds like a rumble of thunder explodes all around her.  She looks up and sees that it is not thunder, it is the audience is clapping...for her.  She steadies herself on her feet and makes her way to the stage with Sydney.  Looking nervous, and confused, Sophie looks around and smiles awkwardly at the audience.  Sydney begins to speak again.  “I am sure you all know Sophie.,” she says and the audience claps again. “Sophie has demonstrated excellence during this quarter.  Her patience with all things has helped to make negotiations smoother.  And with dealing with me.”  Laughter from the audience.  “Sophie, through long hours and meetings, has managing to settle our union contracts (someone in the back of the room yells “yeah!) and has also simultaneously saved the company over $10 million in costs.  This young lady (she turns and looks at Sophie) is one of the main reasons this quarter was such a success. (clapping begins) And, because of her outstanding efforts, and contributions, I want to share, here, tonight, that Sophie is being promoted to Executive Vice President of Labor Relations and Human Resources for the New England corridor.,” (the clapping becomes a roar) Sydney turns and looks at Sophie again smiling ear to ear and clapping along with the audience.  Tears well up in Sophie’s eyes, all of the hard work, long hours, missed dates, missing diners have all lead up to this.  To say she felt like she was floating on air would be the understatement of the year.  Sophie smiles at Sydney and completely out our character, hugs Sydney.  Sydney hugs her back and whispers, “You deserve this. Now the hard work begins.” in her ear.

As she drives some, feeling as light as a feather, Sophie smiles.