by Meadow Lark

Created on: August 28, 2011   Last Updated: September 04, 2011

“You need to close twenty accounts in the new computer system,” Lynn, an obnoxious overweight manager, barked at her assistant, Nancy. 

“Excuse me,” Nancy said timidly.  “We don’t know how to close one account yet.   How can I close twenty?” 

“Shall I write you up for insubordination?” Lynn asked.

Nancy never knew what her boss would demand next.  “Transfer $10,000 to China.  Close the Roberts’ accounts.  Open the Smith accounts.  Oh, by the way, I’m going to lunch early.  I have a lunch appointment, and I won’t be back until 2:00.”  Lynn took her large designer purse with her and went out the back way.  In between Lynn's long gossip sessions with her boss’s secretary and the schmoozing she did with the other executives, she may have completed 10 minutes of work on an average day. 

Nancy often escaped to a nearby bookstore and was comforted when she saw the old copies of books by famous authors, such as, Steinbeck, Dickens, Shelley and Keats.  She felt peace when the words came to her.  “’Beauty is truth, truth beauty.’  That is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”  One day she felt empowered by a phrase she read quickly, “the soul began to march.”  Up to that point, It never occurred to her that she, too, could have a soul that marched.  It was time for the march to begin.

The lunch hour was Nancy's favorite time of day.  Instead of following barking orders from a demanding wrench with red toenails, she dreamed of a better life for herself.  One day she found it.  It was the day she picked up her paper and pen.

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