Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Moments later, I knock quietly under the nameplate on Mike’s old office door,<br />
Elaine Guerrero in bold letters barely contained on the cardboard insert made by<br />
Lori, Elaine’s devoted assistant. The door flies open. I tuck my hair.<br />
Elaine’s plastic plants cringe in her wake, “Get in here.” Her man-fractured<br />
Talbot’s suit pushes a hard line, like a 19 th century portrait of a girl in a starched<br />
pinafore, beauty and innocence forced beyond her years. Her hope caged by<br />
society’s rules.<br />
“BSL Communications is arriving tomorrow. I have a 15-minute slot to review<br />
the proposal I sent earlier this year.” Elaine looks up, her silken brown mane<br />
tamed by a tortoise-shell burette to showcase her gumball-size pearl earrings.<br />
“This will be a huge win for Bracket over his old pals in California. They’ve been<br />
pursuing BSL for a year.”<br />
She turns to the windows. Anchoring her hands to her hips, the lean to see<br />
her sliver of Lake Michigan is too much and turns into a misshapen step. She<br />
makes a dramatic turn, grabs a stack of files and the three-inch binder and<br />
thrusts them in my not-yet-ready hands. “In two years, BSL has created<br />
partnerships and infrastructures giving them market-share that others can only<br />
dream of. They’re being courted here and abroad.”<br />
The folders slide. Attentive to Elaine’s glare, I secretly adjust. She snaps her<br />
fingers. “Condense the original proposal into a 15-minute presentation, I want the<br />
revised presentation to Lori by 5pm. Getting this meeting is a huge coup. Check<br />
your work. You can go.” She sits and turns her back to me. “Failure is a choice.”<br />
The Rules of Life by Melissa Abbott-Cooke. Contact: Melissa@therulesoflifebook.com 615-669-5643 15
Change language