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VIII

Amanda Fuchs

True to her word, Mrs. Impisi had housekeeping send someone to assist with making Michael's office clean and presentable that very afternoon. The two of them, the other being a young Rhesus monkey by the name of Miss Apina, determined the order of importance in cleaning Michael's office. Naturally, because he would be sitting and working at his desk, it was deemed the number one priority, followed closely by the carpet. They also agreed that someone would spend the entire day, every day through Friday, working on cleaning his office. After this agreement, Michael moved all the paperwork on the desk to the computer desk until Miss Apina cleaned and waxed his desk, which took about fifteen minutes, after which, he moved the paperwork back to the desk.

Mrs. Impisi had told Michael that his hours were from 0300 until 1100 Monday through Friday. Michael's father had, through example, taught him that he should arrive at work at least 30 minutes before his scheduled start time. Michael started doing this the next day. Every time he heard a voice pass his office, he would look up to see who it was. Call it what you will but, he learned quickly who got to work early and who was a last-minute clock racer. When they saw his office door open and the light on, he could count on each of his people to stick his or her head in and greet me.

When Albert arrived at 0245, he passed Michael's office and then backed up. "You're already here, Michael?" He asked, in shock.

"Yes, Albert. I try to get here at 0230. Right now, because I have to depend on Dr. Leo to get me to work, I don't have a choice."

Albert laughed and stepped into Michael's office. "Verifying that we get here on time?"

Michael smiled and said, "Nothing like that, Albert. I like to relax and mentally prepare myself for the work day. It's something that my father taught me a long, long time ago."

"Do you prefer to do this relaxing and mental preparation alone or would you mind a little company in the morning?"

"As long as you understand that, at 0300, I'm your boss again, I don't care if you visit me before work."

"Good! Everyone needs a little company every once in a while." Albert glanced at the clock and said, "Well, time for work; I'll see you later . . . Boss." He was smiling as he stood.

Michael smiled back and, laughing, said, "And don't you forget it."

Michael could hear Albert snickering as he walked down the corridor toward his work area.

*****

Tuesday and Wednesday were repeats of Monday but on different floors. At lunch on Wednesday, Michael was sitting at his desk when he heard a familiar voice from my doorway. He looked up and saw the young tigress with the gloves, stockings, etc. of a red fox that had knocked me down on Monday morning.

She said, "I'm sorry to disturb you. I heard that you were in this office now and I wanted to apologize again for running into you Monday."

Michael smiled and said, "That's quite all right. As we used to say when I was alive before, 'No harm, no foul.' I was more concerned about your possibly being injured than any possible injury I received."

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Amanda Fuchs."

"I'm Michael Thomson. You can call me Mike."

A shocked look crossed Amanda's face before she said, "Are you coming on to me?"

"No. Oh! Oh, I'm sorry; I forgot. I didn't mean any harm. I'm still learning the traditions of humanimal society. Please forgive me."

Amanda smiled shyly and said, "Well, all right. I'll forgive your indiscretion.

"What did you mean by when you were alive before? Did you die and become reincarnated?"

"In a manner of speaking. I was in stasis for 20 thousand years. I was awakened about 4 months ago."

"Oh! You're the human I heard about on the news. The story said you were the oldest living thing on Earth."

Michael laughed and said, "Yep. That's me, the oldest living thing on earth."

Amanda laughed and said, "Uh, do you like cookies?"

Surprised by this change of subject, Michael replied, "Yes, I do. Why?"

"I baked some last night as an apology for our meeting Monday morning. Please accept them."

"Of course. What kind are they, not that I'm picky?"

"Coconut Pecan. I hope you like them."

"Oh, my, God! They're my favorite!"

"I brought you two dozen. Is that enough?"

"Enough? I'll hurt myself eating them. I'm afraid I'll eat all of them in one sitting. Please take some of them with you."

"I kept two dozen for myself already. They're my favorite, too."

"Wow! You're a little baking machine, aren't you?" Michael said, laughing.

They talked for a couple of more minutes before she left to eat her lunch. Just after she left, and before Michael could take a bite of his sandwich, Albert appeared in his doorway. "Wow!" He said. "Something smells good."

"Coconut Pecan cookies. The tigress that knocked me down on Monday baked them as an apology to me."

Albert got a wry look on his face. "Why can't I get lucky like that? I've been talking to her every chance I get for the last three months. Nothing. You come along; she knocks you down and you get cookies.

Michael smiled mischievously and said, "Maybe you should have let her knock you down. Want some?"

Albert stared at Michael for several seconds before he said, "Yeah." He reached over and grabbed three cookies. As he ate one, he asked, "How many did she bake for you?"

"Two dozen. Are three enough for you?"

"Not really. But, I don't want to look greedy."

"I hope you didn't come in here because of the cookies."

"Oh, no. I just wanted to ask why you don't join us for lunch. You always eat your lunch in here by yourself."

Michael pointed to the paperwork on his desk and said, "I work while I eat. There's a lot of supply requests and other paperwork that I've got to try to get separated according to request and which officer it needs to go to. I also need to find out whether or not the request is still valid."

"Oh, okay. Well, we would enjoy getting to know you better, Michael. The best way we can think of is for you to join us."

"I'll think about it, Albert."

"Well, I guess I better head off to lunch before chatting with the boss reflects negatively on my performance report." Michael laughed.

Albert added, "Oh, by the way, Amanda's a red fox not a tigress."

"What? She has very few fox markings. How do you know she's a fox?"

"Well, I'm a good friend with one of Wanda's lovers. She told me that Amanda claims to be full-blood red fox. Also, her name? Fuchs? That means fox. When humanimals started taking family names, they tried to take names that reflected on their ancestry. As you said when we met, Rooikat translates into caracal."

"I guess Amanda's mother is a tigress for her to look that much line one."

"I don't know but I believe Wanda's girlfriend mentioned that she has tiger ancestry from about 200 years ago."

"I'll have to ask her the next time I see her."

Albert turned, left Michael's office and headed to lunch.

*****

Amanda arrived in the 12th floor lunch room to the questioning looks of her fellow secretaries. "What's wrong?" She asked.

Wanda asked her, "Where did you go? You left the floor with that bag as soon as the lunch clock went off."

"I had to do something. You remember that guy that I knocked down on Monday?"

The other three said, "Ye-es."

"I baked him some cookies as an apology for that."

Bertha said, "Really? You baked cookies to apologize for knocking somebody down? He really must have made an impression on you."

"Don't go there, Bertha. It was just an apology."

Michelle joined in and said, "Yeah but when you got to your desk after running into him, you couldn't do any work for a little while and you had a dreamy look on your face."

"Michelle! You're going to give me a hard time, too?"

"Why not? After all, you're the one that's acting like a schoolgirl about this guy." Michelle grinned mischievously.

"Humph!" Amanda turned and started eating her lunch to the snickering of the other three, although she admitted to herself that they were right.

*****

After a full week of cleaning, housekeeping had finally made Michael's office look like the office of a manager instead of a set from a horror movie. The stacks of paperwork on his desk were still there; but, it was starting to look like an organized stack instead of a dumping ground of papers. At 0345 the following Monday, Michael was still working on organizing the paperwork, when he heard a knock on his door. He looked up and saw Mrs. Impisi standing in his doorway. "Are you ready?" She asked.

"Ready? Ready for what?"

"The 0400 meeting? The meeting I told you that you and I have to go to every Monday morning? It's like a staff meeting but only you and I will be in the meeting with Mr. Blaidd, Mr. Schimpanse, and Mr. Blaidd's secretary."

"My God! I've been so busy getting things straightened out, I haven't had time to prepare for a meeting. Will Mr. Blaidd be upset?"

"Likely. But, I also believe he'll understand. Just make sure you don't B. S. him. He can see B. S. before he hears it. His B.S.-o-meter is the best of anyone I've ever worked for."

"So, if he asks me for some kind of report, I should just tell him I don't have one and why?" "That would be the best thing you can do or you could give him a report telling how you met everyone in your department and how you're trying to organize you office paperwork."

"Well," Michael said as he stood, "in that case, I'm ready to go."

"Make sure you bring a pad of paper and a pen or pencil."

"Oh! Thanks."

Michael grabbed the items and they started walking toward the bank of elevators. A couple of minutes later, they exited the elevator into a lobby that covered the entire floor, except for several offices on either side of the lobby. Michael was busy looking around and he noticed that in front of the offices there were several desks, each being occupied. He had inadvertently started walking toward these desks when he felt a hand catch his sleeve.

"This way, sailor." Mrs. Impisi said with laughter in her voice. "Were you woolgathering again?"

"No, ma'am. This is the first time I've ever been on a floor that only had a large lobby and offices. I studied drafting in high school and college. I was just admiring the design."

"Mr. Blaidd's office is over here."

She approached a door with an unoccupied desk in front of it and the name "Edward Blaidd" printed on the front of it. She knocked on the door and they received an invitation to enter the office. Upon entering, Michael did his normal room scan until he heard Mrs. Impisi speaking.

"Michael, may I introduce you to Mr. Blaidd, the President of SoGa Industries, Mr. Schimpanse, the Executive Vice-President, and Miss Amanda Fuchs, Mr. Blaidd's personal secretary."

Michael shook each person's hand as he was introduced to them, until he was introduced to Amanda. He looked at her in shock and said, simply, "You!"

Mrs. Impisi turned to Michael and asked, "You?"

"I'm sorry. Please forgive my reaction. I've already met Miss Fuchs. We sort of ran into each other the day I arrived to apply for a job."

Mr. Blaidd said, "Really?" Turning to Amanda, he asked, "You've met Mr. Thomson already?"

"Yes, sir. Like he said, I ran into him a week ago, literally."

Mr. Blaidd did a wolf-like cocking of his head. Knowing a little of wolf psychology, Michael knew he wanted more information, so, he said, "Last week, I was on my way to Mrs. Impisi's office and, when I turned into the corridor leading to her office, I was, quite literally, knocked off my feet by a missile that looked like a tiger. It was Miss Fuchs."

Mr. Schimpanse said, "I assume both of you were uninjured."

"Yes, sir. I offered to help her pick up the papers she had dropped but, she politely refused my assistance."

Mr. Blaidd said, "Good. Now, Mr. Thomson, since this is the first of these meetings you've attended, I won't expect you to do more than listen closely and take necessary notes. However, if possible, I would like you to give us a brief overview, from memory, of what has occurred over the last week in the CIT department."

"Yes, sir."

Michael gave them a quick rundown of the week's events focusing mainly on the events of Monday, especially meeting his staff. He also informed them of his decision to start a daily meeting at 0300 every morning to inform the staff what was expected of them that day. He mentioned that he had named Mr. Okami as the temporary supervisor and requested that he be made permanent supervisor with commensurate pay. When he was asked why he thought the department needed a supervisor, he replied, "As a manager, I believe my job will be severely hindered if I had to reply to every little problem the department might have. So, I would like it if someone, preferably Mr. Okami, took care of the smaller problems and left me to take care of the bigger ones."

Mr. Blaidd and Mr. Schimpanse nodded their heads in agreement with Michael's suggestion. Michael also mentioned that he had heard some somewhat disturbing things as he toured the CIT Department which caused him to decide to nip it in the bud by explaining that he believed that that type of thing could cause problems. When Mr. Blaidd asked him to explain what he was talking about, Michael demurred a bit before he finally said that there was a bit of good-natured joking of a sexual nature and he feared that someone might get their feelings hurt or someone else might possibly be offended by it.

Mr. Schimpanse said, "It's good that you explained to them how that could cause problems. Did they understand?"

"I believe so, sir. The parties involved said that they've been friends for years and that kind of joking around was normal for them. I guess only time will tell for certain."

After Michael finished speaking, he sat down. Everyone just stared at him. Finally, Mr. Blaidd said, "If that was an unprepared report, I'd hate to hear a prepared one. Don't you agree, Mr. Schimpanse?"

"Undoubtedly. Mr. Thomson, are all of your reports going to be this in depth?"

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't realize I was going overboard. I just gave an overview of the week. Most of the important things did occur on my first day, though."

"That's quite all right, Mr. Thomson." Mr. Schimpanse said.

For the next hour, they discussed several important subjects that affected CIT and Personnel. Michael kept as detailed notes as he could. Mr. Blaidd told him that he would discuss with the rest of the Vice-Presidents and the Board of Directors about making Mr. Okami the permanent supervisor to relieve some pressure off of him so he could concentrate on the more important aspects of the CIT Department. Mr. Blaidd said that he would give Michael the decision by the end of the next week. After this, Mr. Blaidd indicated that the meeting was over by standing, stretching and welcoming Michael on board as he shook his hand.

Mrs. Impisi, Amanda and Michael left the office. As she closed the door, Amanda said, "Mr. Thomson, may I speak with you for a moment?"

Mrs. Impisi and Michael stopped and he turned around. He saw Amanda glance quickly at Mrs. Impisi before he heard Mrs. Impisi say, "I'll wait for you at the elevators, Michael."

As Mrs. Impisi walked away, Amanda said, "I want to apologize again for running into you last Monday, Mr. Thomson."

Michael smiled as he said, "Amanda, didn't I ask you to call me Michael last Wednesday?"

"I'm sorry . . . Michael."

"No need to apologize about that. I understand the traditions. As for the apology, you apologized profusely at the time and when you brought me those cookies. While I appreciate the fact that you feel obligated to apologize again, it really isn't necessary."

Michael saw her thinking for a couple of seconds before she said, "Do you have plans for lunch?" "Well, I fully intended to spend some quality time with my sandwich, chips, apple, and tea. Why do you ask?"

"You eat alone?"

"Yes. Normally, I work on that backlog of paperwork I mentioned in the meeting as I eat."

"I eat alone, too. Would you mind if I joined you occasionally?"

All of a sudden, Michael heard a deep, yet feminine, voice saying, "Amanda, what are you talking about? You eat lunch with the rest of us, every day."

Amanda and Michael turned to see a six-foot-tall female bear standing next to them. He was drawn to her face because it was half polar bear white and half grizzly bear brown; the white and brown being horizontal stripes. Michael recognized her as one of the people sitting at the desks he had passed to get to Mr. Blaidd's office.

Amanda whispered, rather harshly, "Bertha! No one was talking to you!"

If you've ever seen a dog or cat that was suddenly surprised by something they weren't expecting, you have an idea of the look on Bertha's face when Amanda reacted to her revelation. Michael couldn't hide the smile that he felt. He said, "I would be honored to have an attractive tiger-striped red fox vixen join me for lunch occasionally, especially since she knows what it's like to eat alone."

Bertha started to speak, "But, I just said . . ."

Amanda interrupted, "Bertha!"

While Amanda was focused on her, Michael looked at Bertha and gave her a quick wink. When she saw the wink, Bertha smiled and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Thomson. I must have been mistaken. Amanda does eat alone." Then, as if it was an afterthought, she added, "Occasionally."

Bertha returned to her desk, which is next to Wanda's. Michael heard Wanda say, "Bertha, that's the guy that Amanda was talking about. I'm not surprised she wants to eat lunch with him, even if he is a human."

Michael heard Mrs. Impisi clearing her throat. He looked at her and saw a slight look of impatience on her face. "Well, Miss Fuchs, it looks like duty calls. I'll see you at 0600."

Amanda smiled a shy smile at him as Michael turned toward the bank of elevators. As he walked toward where Mrs. Impisi was standing, he heard Bertha's deep rumbling voice say, "You're right, Amanda. He's very handsome."

Amanda replied, "Bertha! You're old enough to be his mother!"

"Age is just a number, Amanda, just a number. Remember, Jonathan flirts with me all the time and he's only 28."

*****

At 0600, Michael was sitting at his desk still attempting to sort all the paperwork that his predecessor had left behind. Since he wanted to make certain there wasn't any redundant paperwork, he had to read each individual report and request. It wasn't until he got started on the paperwork that he realized that, even though he was technically the CIT manager, he was also over supplies and disbursing, which included ordering necessary supplies as requested by the different departments. He was going to have to ask Mrs. Impisi about this as soon as he got a few minutes free from updating the CIT paperwork. Every time he thought about how easily he had been maneuvered into accepting this position without finding out what it entailed, he laughed.

Michael was reading the same request that the same supervisor had submitted for the twentieth time when he heard a soft feminine voice clearing her throat. He looked up and saw Amanda standing just inside my doorway. He looked at her questioningly when she said, "It's 0600, Michael." She looked at him as he continued to look at her with a bewildered look. "Lunch time? I'm supposed to eat with you today?"

"Oh! Lunch time!" He looked at the clock on the wall and said, "I'm sorry. I lost track of time trying to get this paperwork separated, stacked and read. Give me a minute. My lunch in is in the cooler in the breakroom."

Michael rushed to the breakroom, picked up his lunch and returned. As he walked into his office, he saw Amanda sitting at his desk with her back toward the door. She hadn't even started eating. He laughed quietly.

Michael said, "Come on over here, Amanda. We can sit at this table . . . just as soon as I find a couple of chairs."

Michael looked around his office and couldn't find said chairs. "Wait a minute." He said as he walked to the only other door in his office, one at the end of the bookcase he had noticed on his first visit to his office. It was a door that opened to an unoccupied office. He opened the door and looked into the other office and found a couple of chairs.

As Michael looked around the office, something about it struck him as odd. The only door was the door that opened into his office. There were no windows of any kind and the walls were completely blank, no shelves, no bookcases, no nothing. The only furniture he found was a love-seat with removable cushions, a couple of straight back chairs and a small table. All this struck him as odd. He entered the office to get the chairs and took a quick look around. He walked to the corner where the common wall connected with the corridor wall and noticed something odd about the corner, there was no plasterer's tape. In fact, the wall didn't fit properly at all. He noticed a rather large crack in the upper corner. He looked through the opening and saw into his office.

As Michael looked around this office, Amanda, who he had temporarily abandoned, entered and looked at him curiously. He thought, "Oh, no. Was Jacob Kojoto right about Emma Diao and Mr. Shishuukhei? I guess I'll have to find out after lunch." He reached for the cushions on the love-seat and removed them. Sure enough, there was a cloth handle on the love-seat and he pulled it out. There before their eyes was a bed the size of a twin. He also noted that there were bedclothes on it and they were not clean.

Amanda asked, "What does this mean, Michael?"

"Amanda, if you don't know, I shouldn't answer that question. Here, let's go back to my office and eat lunch. I'll tend to this situation later."

*****

Michael took the chairs from Amanda and placed one on either side of the table. He held the chair for Amanda to sit in and, after she sat, he playfully acted like he couldn't move the chair because of her weight.

"I'm not that heavy, Michael." She said, somewhat indignantly.

Michael laughed and said, "I'm sorry. I couldn't resist such a golden opportunity to pick on you a little."

Through half closed eyes, she looked at Michael as she said, "Never make fun of a vixen's weight. It could cause you serious pain."

"Yes, ma'am." Michael said as he straightened up and gave her a snappy salute causing her to laugh merrily.

As Michael held the bag holding his lunch, he noted the weight; it was slightly heavier than normal. He opened the bag and looked inside. He shook his head and laughed.

"What's so funny, Michael?"

Michael snickered for a couple more seconds before he said, "Do you remember when you brought those cookies to me last week?"

"Yes. You said they were your favorite kind."

"Well, I told Dr. Tigresa about them and she swore she was going to find the recipe and make a batch for me." Michael lifted a small plastic bag out of his lunch bag and showed her. "She kept her promise." He said, laughing.

Amanda smiled sheepishly and withdrew a large bag of coconut pecan cookies from her lunch bag and handed them to Michael. "I made some for you, too."

"Are you trying to bribe me into doing something nefarious for you? I need to let you know that robbery and murder are illegal and it'll take more than a dozen of my favorite cookies to talk me into doing it. Two dozen, on the other hand, I'll consider it." Michael laughed.

Conspiratorially, Amanda whispered, "That is two dozen."

"Who has the death warrant?" Michael whispered, equally conspiratorially, causing her to laugh.

"You are too funny, Michael." Michael did his best malicious laugh causing her to laugh even harder.

They continued talking and Amanda told Michael that growing up she had to endure a lot of teasing but, amazingly, most of it came from other mixed species youngsters. The teasing wasn't about her stripes; it was accusations that her mother had cheated on her father. (Marriage vows are taken very seriously among the humanimals.) The fact that her mother's gynecologist had said that she was conceived on her parent's wedding night made little difference to her tormentors. Because of all this incessant teasing, Amanda had retreated into a shell of shyness, a thick shell. She became so painfully shy that she absolutely refused to participate in any school activity or class discussion. In fact, on more than one occasion, she would break down into tears if any attention was given to her in class. She always chose the corner desk farthest from the teacher and her classmates that she could find. If a boy even looked at her, she ran crying all the way home. In high school, she only went on three dates, even though she had been asked out by no less than 20 different boys.

She never went outside, unless she was accompanied by her father or her next younger brother, Marshall. She said that she never felt safe with any other male. Because of all this time at home, she read a lot. She read her school books from cover to cover, several times each year. She did the homework assignments listed at the end of each lesson long before they were assigned to the class. When she finished reading her school books, she read other books. Romance, fantasy and science fiction were her favorites, especially the science fiction stories that told of humans being the dominant species on Earth. She read so much that she spent all of her spare time in the school library.

All of this time alone allowed her to teach herself all of the secretarial skills she had, including her own unique shorthand that she invented for her to use. Naturally, this meant that no one could read what she wrote. This allowed her to put her feelings down on paper in full view of everyone without fear of repercussions.

Michael found himself extremely fascinated by her revelations. He felt honored to know that he was one of very few people that she trusted enough to reveal these bits of information to. He was so fascinated by what she said that she had to remind me to eat.

As lunch break was ending, Amanda said, "Michael, I'm so sorry for talking so much. You're the only person I've been able to relax enough around to talk like that, except for my father, my oldest brother, Bertha, Wanda, and Michelle."

"Don't apologize, Amanda. I was enjoying the story of your life. I'd love to hear more."

Shyness overtook her once again as she lowered her gaze yet glanced up at Michael several times. She seemed genuinely surprised and embarrassed by what he had said. Finally, still acting shy, she said, "Perhaps we could eat lunch together every Monday?"

"I'd like that. I'll look forward to it. Perhaps you can tell me a little about your life and the world since humanimals were created."

"Well, I consider my life to be boring; but, life on Earth was interesting. I'll tell you anything you'd like to know."

She looked up at the clock and said, "Oh! Is that clock right?"

Michael glanced at the clock and said, "Yes."

"Oh, dear! I'm going to be late getting back to work! Thank you again for letting me join you for lunch today. I look forward to next Monday."

She gathered her stuff and headed for the door. When she reached the door, she turned and gave Michael the shy smile she had given him the day they met. Then, she was gone. Michael looked at his half-eaten sandwich and half-drunk tea, leaned back and laughed.

Michael said, "Too bad she's not human. I believe I could easily fall in love with that little vixen, if she was human or if I was a humanimal."

*****

Amanda raced back to her desk and arrived just before lunch ended. In fact, as she was sitting down, Wanda, Bertha and Michelle were exiting the elevator. The three of them walked over to Amanda's desk.

Bertha said, "Amanda, I thought you were going to have lunch with Michael today. What happened?"

"I did, Bertha. Michael was so distracted by the work he was doing that he had forgotten about it. He rushed to get his lunch and, when he returned, he realized that there were no chairs in his office other than the chair at his desk. He went to a door in the corner of his office to try to find a couple he could borrow and you won't believe what he discovered."

Wanda asked, "What?"

"He found that the door led to a room with several chairs and a love-seat."

Shocked, Michelle said, "A love-seat?"

"Yes. He also noticed that the office didn't have a desk, any shelves or anything that you'd expect to find in an office. Just the chairs and love-seat."

Bertha said, "I'd heard that Mr. Shishuukhei had requested a minor redesign of his office a couple of years ago. I wonder why he wanted that done."

Wanda laughed, "Are you serious, Bertha? He was meeting women in there."

Michelle gasped. "Do you mean . . .?"

Wanda said, "Yes, Michelle. Mr. Shishuukhei did that with numerous women."

Wanda, Bertha and Michelle went back to their desks just before the door to Mr. Blaidd's office opened and he walked out. He said, "Amanda, what did I hear you and the others talking about just now? Mr. Shishuukhei built a false wall in his office?"

"Yes, sir. Michael found it. He also found a love-seat in the other office. It had a hideaway bed in it. The bed was nasty. It had stains all over the linens."

Mr. Blaidd closed his eyes and looked toward the ceiling. After a few seconds, he said, "Thank you, Amanda. Please call Michael and ask him to come to my office as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir."

Amanda picked up her telephone and dialed five numbers. After a couple of seconds, she said, "Michael, Mr. Blaidd would like you to come to his office as soon as possible."

Michael said, "Thank you, Amanda, please tell him that I need to talk to someone but, as soon as I'm finished, I'll be right up."

"Of course, Michael." After hanging up the receiver, Amanda did as Michael asked.

*****

For about a minute after Amanda's call, Michael contemplated a very disagreeable thing he was going to have to do. He called Mr. Okami and asked him to send Miss Diao to his office. A couple of minutes later, Miss Diao was knocking on his door.

"Come in." Michael said.

Miss Diao entered Michael's office and he indicated a chair for her to sit in. "Good afternoon, Miss Diao."

Nervously, she said, "Good afternoon, Mr. Thomson."

Michael sat there looking at her for several seconds before he said, "Miss Diao, do you remember when I was introduced to the CIT Department last Monday?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you remember some of the things that were said?"

"Are you referring to the implications about me and Mr. Shishuukhei?"

"Yes."

"Yes, sir, I remember."

"Do you also remember how I told Mr. Kojoto that he shouldn't make accusations about anyone without proof?"

"Yes, sir." She was starting to get a little nervous.

"Miss Diao, do you see the door in the wall to my left?"

She looked at the door and started becoming very distraught and nervous. "Yes, sir." Michael could hear the tears in her voice as she replied.

"Would you care to accompany me into that office?"

Tears were starting to flow down her cheeks now. "No, sir. I wouldn't."

"Why not?"

She started shaking her head vigorously. "Because of what happens in there."

"What happens, Miss Diao?"

"I think you know, sir."

"How do you know?"

"Because HE made me go in there with him."

"Who made you, Miss Diao?"

"Mr. Shishuukhei, Mr. Thomson. He threatened to fire me, if I didn't go in there with him. He said that he couldn't protect me from losing my job, if I refused to go in there."

"So, he forced himself on you?"

"That's not the way he put it, Mr. Thomson. He said that, because I agreed to what we were doing, he wasn't forcing me into it.

"Mr. Thomson, I only agreed because I needed this job. I've got to save up the money to pay for my wedding. If my fiancé ever found out that I'm no longer a virgin, he'll probably call off our wedding. I don't want that to happen, Mr. Thomson. I love him with my whole heart. He's the best guy I've ever known." She broke down and cried with loud sobs.

"Miss Diao, please don't be upset. I didn't call you in here to chastise you or even fire you. I called you in here because I wanted you to know that I had learned that you had lied to me. Miss Diao, the one thing that I can't abide above all else is a liar. If someone lies to me, he's telling me that he doesn't trust me enough to believe that I'll treat him with respect. What you should have done was come here as soon as you could and confessed that you had lied to me and why. Believe it or not, I am an understanding person for a human. Coercion and threats should be dealt with appropriately. Since Mr. Shishuukhei had done both of those to you, I would have accepted what you said and politely asked you to trust me to treat you fairly and equitably. I would have also gone to Mr. Blaidd and told him the situation and ask if there was anything he could do for you.

"Here take this handkerchief and dry your eyes."

"Thank you, Mr. Thomson. You're a lot different from Mr. Shishuukhei. I understand that he had forced quite a few women into that room with him. He didn't seem to care if they were married or not. A lot of happily married women are divorced now because of that bastard."

"I don't doubt it, Emma, and you're right about me. I'm a lot different from Mr. Shishuukhei. I believe in the sanctity of marriage and relationships, especially engagements. If a person is engaged, you shouldn't mess around with them, even if that person begs you to do it. You don't have to worry about me. I'm going to inform Mrs. Impisi about that office and the goings on that happened there under Mr. Shishuukhei's watch. Either that space will be returned to me or someone else will be given that office; but, you and every other female in this company won't have to fear that office again."

"Thank you again, Mr. Thomson."

"All right. Now, from now on, if you have a problem, be honest with me about it and I'll take care of it to the best of my ability. Take a few minutes to compose yourself and then go back to work. If anyone asks you a question about why I called you in here, tell them it's a private matter and, if they insist, send them to me."

"Yes, sir."

"Oh, by the way, Emma. I believe you should tell your fiancé about what Mr. Shishuukhei did. If he considers you no longer good enough for him, he isn't good enough for you. Okay?"

"Yes, sir."

She stood up, handed Michael his handkerchief and went back to work.

After Miss Diao left his office, Michael went to see Mr. Blaidd. When he arrived on the 12th floor, he walked directly to Mr. Blaidd's office. Amanda arose and accompanied him into the office after informing Mr. Blaidd that Michael had arrived. Mr. Blaidd arose and indicated a couple of chairs for them to sit in.

"Michael, I overheard Amanda telling three other secretaries about what you found in your office. Is it true? Is there a false wall in your office?"

"Yes, sir. I spoke to one of the CITs that work under me and she told me Mr. Shishuukhei forced her into the other room and forced himself on her by threatening to fire her if she said no. She seems to believe that she isn't the only one, too."

In a disgusted voice, Mr. Blaidd said, "Great. We've got to do something about this."

"What are we going to do, Mr. Blaidd?"

Turning to Amanda, Mr. Blaidd said, "Amanda, take this down. 'To all Department Heads. It has come to my attention that the former CIT manager, Mr. Shishuukhei, overstepped his bounds as the manager of the Computer Information Technology Department. Ask all employees if they've had any improper dealings with Mr. Shishuukhei. If they have, send them to Mrs. Impisi in Personnel to make a statement and provide evidence of said sexual dealing in some manner. Signed, Edward Blaidd, President.' I want you to type that up, make enough copies to go to all the department heads and send it out as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir." Amanda left the office to type up the memo.

Michael said, "What about any former employees that may have lost their job because of him?"

"We'll find and contact each of them. If they were forced into a sexual relationship with him, we'll offer them compensation and ask them to make a statement with our lawyers so we can bring sexual misconduct charges against Mr. Shishuukhei."

"Can you do that even though he's no longer employed here?"

"Yes, Michael. Sexual misconduct is a crime without a statute of limitations in the humanimal world. What he did could have ruined many marriages and, in the case of Miss Diao, engagements. He was a sexual predator and he has to be stopped. He could be doing the same thing at his current job. Even though they are our competitor, we believe that they should be warned about the possible goings on where Mr. Shishuukhei is concerned."

"I'm glad that you think like that, sir. I know I'd want to kill him if he did that to a woman I was engaged or married to.

"What kind of compensation are you going to offer the women?"

"Not just women, Michael, men too. We don't know for certain that he was just a predator against women. It isn't uncommon for men to be victimized by the likes of Mr. Shishuukhei, although most men would just stand up to him and dare him to fire them.

"As for compensation, I'll have to get it approved through the Board of Directors but, I'm hoping they'll approve 250,000 Yenars per victim."

"Wow! That's a lot of money."

"I know but, it's the least we can do for those people who were victimized by him.

"How did you figure out what happened? Amanda said you went to get chairs from an office next door."

"Yes, sir. She and I were about to eat lunch and I noticed I didn't have any chairs for us to sit in. I noticed a door in the corner of my office and I went next door and found the chairs as well as a love-seat. I couldn't understand why a love-seat would be in an otherwise nearly empty office so I pulled the cushions off and noticed a strip of cloth. When I pulled on the strip of cloth, it opened into a bed. The bed had dirty sheets and smelled to high heaven. I realized what the bed was used for because of those two bits of evidence."

Mr. Blaidd got on the intercom and said, "Amanda, please call the company's lawyers and have them get here as soon as possible. Then, call George Gidro at Continental Designs Corporation. Let me know as soon as you have him on the telephone."

"Yes, sir."

"Michael, I believe you've done us and Continental Designs a great service. Thanks. I'll call you if we need you to talk to our lawyers."

Michael stood up and said, "It's my pleasure to be of assistance, sir."

As Michael turned to leave, Mr. Blaidd shook his hand, patted him on the back and escorted him to the door.

*****

The next day, Emma Diao stopped by Michael's office and told him that she had told her fiancé what had happened and he was so angry with Mr. Shishuukhei that he threatened to find him and put him in the hospital; but, he completely understood that she was innocent of her loss of her innocence. She also said that her fiancé had taken her in his arms, hugged her and said that he still loved her. He also said that he didn't blame her for what happened and he still looked forward to the day that she would become his wife.

Michael said, "I'm glad for you, Emma. I hope that you two do get married and you're happy with each other."

Emma smiled and said, "I know we will, Mr. Thomson." She got up and went back to work.

*****

A month after making his report to Mr. Blaidd about the room that Mr. Shishuukhei had built to use for his extra-curricular activities, Michael was called to Mr. Blaidd's office. Upon entering the office, Michael noticed Mr. Blaidd sitting and talking to a red-ruffed lemur. When Mr. Blaidd saw him, he stood and indicated a chair for him to sit in.

"Michael, allow me to introduce you to George Gidro." They shook hands as Mr. Blaidd said, "Please have a seat, Michael." After Michael sat down, Mr. Blaidd continued, "Michael, after you left the day you told me about the secret room next to your office, I contacted Mr. Gidro and informed him of what you had found here. Two days later, he contacted me and told me that he had sent someone to Mr. Shishuukhei's office and found the same thing. He had Mr. Shishuukhei held until the police arrived. Currently, Mr. Shishuukhei is being held at the police station awaiting charges for sexual misconduct. Mr. Gidro then sent a memo out to find out if anybody at Continental Designs had had improper dealings with him. Fortunately, the time it took for Mr. Shishuukhei to build the room there and the speed with which you discovered the room here didn't allow him time to take advantage of anyone there."

"So, what's going to happen to him?"

"Well, we humanimals take sexual misconduct seriously, especially when someone is in a position of power over someone else and, basically, forces them into that situation by using that position. The courts also frown on it. He'll probably be convicted and sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison. Plus, he'll have to admit to any potential future employers what he did because failing to report this situation to them would cause them to fire him on the spot when it's discovered."

"Will I be expected to testify?"

"I'm afraid so, Michael."

"That's all right, sir. Dirt-bags like him need to be taken out of positions of power and put on the bottom rung as far as I'm concerned."

Mr. Blaidd smiled and nodded his head as he said, "I quite agree, Michael."