The Confusion of the Lawrence Paper Company

"NO! You idiot, you were supposed to copy the paper, not fax it to all of our customers!! You-you-"

Cassy's face turned red as she yelled at Hearty. She took a deep breath, made an odd motion with her hands, and said quietly "Can I not trust you to do a simple task, Hearty? Now all of our customers know about our offer. They weren't supposed to unless they looked at the website. Now it's guaranteed that they'll ask for the discount!"

Hearty's face was slightly crest-fallen. She tugged at her low, chestnut pigtails. "S-sorry," she mumbled. "Just ask Jack to do it next time."

"JACK?! For the love of- Hearty, Jack is the receptionist! He answers phones!"

"And it's his job to make copies for us if we ask him," Hearty continued softly.

Cassy turned on her heel, gave a long, loud, exasperated sigh, and stalked over to her desk. She shot her sister the evil eye, then began writing on a few more documents.

Hearty ignored Cassy's hateful face and walked over to the receptionist desk.

"Hey Jack," she started, laying a paper on the desk. "I need you to fax this to Jullian Roberts."

A raven-haired boy with blue eyes, buzz cut hair, and a loose tie glanced up from his computer. "Oh. Sure, cuz."

The cousins exchanged an odd moment of silence, before Hearty backed away.

"Thanks," she said quietly. Hearty walked back to her desk.

Hearty's desk was next to her Uncle's, Garett. Garett was a 10 year old in a 30 year old's body. Across the room, a close family friend, Samantha, worked out the customer list, while Hearty's other, older sister, Ray, was engrossed in figuring out the companies finances.

"Hey, Garett?" Ray called from her corner. Ray and Cassy had stopped calling him uncle since he accidentally lost a large client by copying everything the client did.

"WHAT?" Garett asked irritably.

"How much did we make off the McGlutty's order last month?"

"Uh, $300.87," Garett said quickly, reading off a document on his desk.

"Thanks." Ray pushed a loose strand of red hair aside and typed rapidly on the computer.

The phone at the receptionist desk ran. Jack quickly picked it up. "Lawrence Family Paper Co, this is Jack." He paused. "Yes sir.... of course.... I believe so... no.. yes, I'll get you connected immediately. Please hold."

Jack placed the phone back on the holder and pressed a few buttons. "Samantha!" He said loudly. "New client, I'm giving 'em to you!"

Samantha nodded, took a deep breath, put her blonde hair in a ponytail, and picked up her phone.

"Lawrence Family Paper, this is Angela speaking. Good day to you to! How much? Yes, we can do that. 21 dollars per box... how many? Oh, that's fine. Okay. Okay. Yes. Uh huh. Thanks so much! Yup. I hope you enjoy doing business with us, Ms. Tarter. Yes. Thank you. Bye!"

Samantha put the phone down and smiled excitedly. "I just got a new client!"

Ray and Samantha bumped fists, and Cassy gave Samantha an air high five.

"Pay day!" Cassy hooted.

Garett jumped up and began dancing around, and Jack watched some videos on pranks people pulled on eachother.

Garett accidentally bumped into Cassy's desk and knocked her computer over.

"WHAT THE HECK?!" Cassy screamed suddenly, diminishing the festive atmosphere entirely. Ray, Jack, Samantha, and and Hearty all stared wide-eyed at Cassy, horrified.

Cassy cursed. Garett apologized.

"No need, you slimy snake! Clumsy oaf! Stay away from my desk, all of you idiots!"

There was a series of grumbling, but nobody openly objected to Cassy's rude comment. Jack rolled his eyes and went back to watching his videos.

Hearty was filling out a form on her sales this month when her office phone rang. She picked it up.

"Lawrence Family Paper Co., this is Hearty Lawrence speaking."

Hearty heard a familiar scratchy voice on the other end of the phone. It was her mother.

"Hey, Hearty!" her mother said cheerfully. "How are you?"

"I'm good, but Mom, these are work hours, so I can't talk for long. What's up?"

"Um, honey, I have some bad news. I don't know how to break it to you. I didn't tell you before, but we went under budget a few months ago, and our company's sales have dropped since. And the bank says no more loans. We're going under."

Hearty's mouth went dry. She swallowed, then whispered "As in, going out of business?"

"I'm afraid so, dear. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to be the one to tell you but..."

"I know, I know. I'll tell everyone else before the day is up," Hearty said heavily. She looked around and noticed Cassy looking at her and tapping her watch annoyingly. "Hold up, Ma. I gotta go. I'll tell you what happened later, okay?"

"Bye Hearty!!"

Hearty hung up as her sister glared at her.

"No personal calls," Cassy hissed, walking past. "I know that was Ma."

"Was I that loud?"

Cassy shook her head and walked away. Hearty stared blankly at the documents in front of her. She tapped her pencil, thinking. How was she going to break the news?

"Jack!" Garett practically yelled. "Do you know how to fax this paper?"

There was no response from the receptionist desk. Ray glanced up from her work in curiosity, wondering what was going on.

"Um, Jack?" Garett asked, standing up from his chair. He walked over to the receptionist desk. "Jack?"

Garett swore. "He's gone."

"Where?" Cassy asked pensively. "It's not his break or lunch."

"Hey..." Ray started, confused. "Samantha's not here either."

"Bathroom?" Hearty suggested, shrugging.

"Doubt it," Cassy said. "How long have they been gone?"

"I dunno," Garett shrugged.

"Samantha did get up a while ago..." Ray said, furrowing her brow. "I can't remember. We should find them though."

"Right," Hearty nodded. "One of us should stay to mind the phone in case it rings."

Hearty started down the hallway, leaving the others to decide who would stay. They mostly just looked at eachother. Then, they all followed Hearty.

Hearty turned around. "Oh," she said simply. "So we're all coming?" She was a bit irritated, but didn't show it.

They walked throughout the whole building, but there was no sign of their fellow employees.

"Did they ditch work?" Ray asked finally as the group gathered in the conference room.

"Why would they?" Hearty asked.

"Allow me to count the ways," Cassy said sarcastically.

"Hey, isn't that them?"

Everyone's attention turned to Garett, who was peering though the window blinds and out into the parking lot. The others rushed to see what Garett was talking about.

Sure enough, there were Samantha and Jack, rolling around in the front of Jack's convertible, kissing eachother rather fiercely.

"OH LORD," Ray said, disgusted as she stepped away from the blinds. "I can never get that image out of my mind." Ray quickly walked back to her desk.

"What the-" Hearty started, making a face. "Gross!"

"Why are they doing this on company time?!" Cassy demanded, turning red. "I'm going down there to have a little chat with those love birds!"

"Cassy, is that really-"

"Shut up, Hearty!" Cassy barked, sprinting down the stairwell.

Hearty looked helplessly at Garett, who was still watching. "Ah, to be young again-" he smiled oddly.

Hearty blinked and went back to her desk. Even from there, she could see Garett watching Jack and Samantha, which was so creepy, and she could also hear her sister yelling at the two about love and work.

Hearty winced as the door to the office slammed. Her, Ray, and Garett watched silently as a pink faced Cassy walked in, followed by Jack, whose face was covered with light pink lipstick marks, and Samantha, who had untidy hair and was flushing red.

The embarrassed couple sat down at their assigned desks and remained silent until lunch. As Hearty got up for her lunch break, she half-expected Samantha and Jack to make a break for the broom closet and lock themselves inside.

The group got back to work for the afternoon, before Hearty timidly stood on her desk and cleared her throat. Cassy, Garett, and Jack looked up. Cassy had a disapproving look on her face.

"Ahem." Hearty said, a bit louder. The Ray and Samantha glanced at her.

"I-I have some bad news," Hearty said quietly. there was a silence.

"Go on!" Jack said.

"Well, umm..." Hearty stalled. "The company's going under. Sorry guys, I got the news this morning."

There was a silence, which Hearty was sure would turn into sobs. But instead, Cassy jumped up and cheered.

"THANK GOD!!" she screamed, tearing the paper she had been writing on apart. "I was so sick of you guys and the job!"

Ray smiled and popped out of her chair. "I can finally start y own sewing business!"

Jack and Samantha looked at eachother wild-eyed, and then went to eachother and did a full on French.

Ray looked like she was about to puke.

Garett grinned as well. "More time for video games and tag with the guys!" he hooted. "YAS!!"

Hearty was the only one who seemed to be sad about the whole arrangement. The family business was going out of business- and they were all happy?!

"You guys are crazy," Hearty mumbled as she climbed off her desk.

"Who's crazy?!" Garett asked as he threw himself into the door to the conference room. The door was knocked off its hinges and brought Garett cascading to the ground.

When Hearty looked back up, Jack and Samantha were gone, Ray was grabbing her coat and heading for the door, Cassy was throwing shredded paper in the air, and Garett was barely stirring.

"We didn't get along, is that why you're glad that the business ended?" Hearty asked her sister weakly.

"Exactly!" Cassy said. "Now I can go someplace that I'm not surrounded by idiots!"

"Thanks..."

Hearty grabbed a box of her stuff and walked slowly to the exit. She couldn't help but feel a bit sad that she was leaving her job. She had liked it there.

But then again, another part of her told her she didn't like it that much.

And apparently, neither did everyone else.