“Do come in.” He said. He had his feet on his jet black desk, then moved them onto the carpet floor. He had round eyes. His glasses were on the desk, facing his direction. He had a meeting with a woman coming from the town square. She had arrived and was five minutes early.
He let his finger off the audio buzzer, then rang the door buzzer to allow her to walk in. He stood up and put one hand on his chair, and the other waiting for a handshake and to gesture for her to have a seat.
She arrived swiftly.
“Hello, hello. I feel as though we have met before, but I am not sure where.” Were her first words as she shook his hand and sat down.
He said nothing, but focused on her face and used his mechanical body movements to make it seem as though he were about to ask or say something, yet quietly, he said nothing, absorbing the moment for what it was.
She kind of took notice and spoke again, “Lovely office. Is this where you spend all of your time?”
The walls were gray. There were a few plaques on the desk and on the walls and expensive art pieces that were engaging, but not nature themed. This spoke about the brilliance of human invention and his place in it. The shades were drawn, it was still mildly well-lit, though with a tinge.
“You are too kind, as I have heard from others and imagined. Are you up for the task though? Could you see yourself working here? Knowing your responsibilities?”
It was a big job, and yet it had to be done, someone had to play the part. She would be in charge of turning the company from a one million dollar company into a multi-million dollar company within three months. They had a place where she would live within the building. She could call upon any resource and personnel as needed and would have as much freedom as the hands of a ticking clock.
“I am not so sure of what I would be doing.” She stated, but there was a confidence that her underlying message was that she could handle anything.
“Why-” he started, “you’d be in charge of anything and everything. You have to learn the company, understand our workers, learn how to effectively oil up and turn this cog into a better working machine. You have the keys-” he threw a huge bundle of keys across the desk and they clanked then stopped after jangling right in front of her. “To the entire company. Every room, every door. All I ask is that you make yourself, and everyone else, very useful.”
She didn’t know what to do. If she grabbed the keys, that would state she was in. If she asked another question, it would tell she was hesitant. So, she looked into his eyes. Saw the spark of confidence gazing at her. Then she smiled with full lips. And before she could reach for them, he tilted the table with another button so that the keys fell into her hands.
Mystery
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You really have an interesting premise here! I’m curious about the work these characters live in, and what exactly the company does. I think you did a good job of setting up some mystery, I definitely want to know how the interviewee handles her new job which initiates a connection with her to the reader. I would suggest, however, is giving the two characters names because readers become invested in characters when they are given names, like how some people give inanimate objects names and form a special connection with those items. But, if you wish to keep it as a short story, the titles work just fine too. You have such an interesting story on your hands here and I would love to see more of it if you decide to chace this plot bunny.
There are now three characters, with names. Thank you for reading.