Distant+Whispers

diverse island in the Caribbean, he chose to gulp down everything white in America without question.
He was doing it now.
Raj stood slowly and faced Petra. “Now, you listen, Petra. Hear me now. You de operations
officer. There are plenty of other t’ings to worry about. I gonna make sure that everything Patrick and
dey do, go troo you. Tell you what. You can have Mr. Genesis over there double-check the figures. He
find a problem, he go tell you. What he go lose? He get a easy two, t’ree weeks in Trinidad. What that
is? A vacation, ent? Wha’ de man go fuss about?”
Raj’s phone rang. He picked it up and without another word, he plopped into his chair, swiveled
away from Petra and pulled up some figures on his computer.
A lump rose in Petra’s throat. She hadn’t been in his office for almost two weeks. Pictures of his
sisters crowded his desk, the very same ones who had made the monkey remarks. Petra hesitated at
Raj’s door. Her heart pounded in her chest. She held the door handle tightly to steady herself. It
wasn’t just the issue between her and Raj. Her soul had been compromised. Her professional ethics
had been challenged. She had backed down on all fronts. Everyone was going to think that her
contracting of Genesis was a mistake. Raj was trying to bring her down. And now she was being
asked to drag Denmark through the mud with her.
Petra had no more fight left in her as she left Raj’s office. The entire operations floor were
witness to how Raj had just dismissed her by burying his head in his computer. Some dropped their
eyes and chuckled as she passed. She glanced at the three Americans. All three were hunched over
their desks, surrounded by books and charts and stacks of paper. Maybe I am wrong, she thought.
Maybe these guys can pull it through. Raj may be right and if they do pull this off he will have done it
at one third of the cost of my contract with Genesis. A chilling reality ran through Petra. She no longer
saw a future for herself at TnTClaims.