The Hungry Ghost In The Machine
I would have to be dead, to not notice how humble and unsuspectingly beautiful Jennifer is this balmy warm windy Belgian Spring morning. My soul waxes poetic. I don't see what's coming and that's the way I like it. I look up through the trees, to the smell of rain to fall. I see the covering of dark cloud come to shelter us, providing comfort and sustenance. Soft thunder announces the changes foreshadowed by the productive affairs from our "Night Before the Morning After." I Know I haven't seen anything yet. I don't care. She holds out her hand feeling the first mist to fall before the larger drops will reach us here on the ground. Suddenly that feeling of suspense and free fall kicks in. I know there is trouble. I again take her hand and gesture that we need to go inside, again she stops.
"I can't go in with you yet." "You need to face this alone." "Your friends will be there to help you, I still need to be prepared." Jennifer then says with conviction, "We aren't done, I will come and find you." I still don't know what in fact happened last night behind the scenes, or even what lead up to our little rollout event. She knows more than she says, and I'm a little uncomfortable with her abrupt change of mood. After decades in this job you would think I'd be used to it.
The warmth of light is gone, I take to the door and pull the handle. It feels like night here in the basement of this old church refurbished to provide a casual venue for intimate entertainment for we intelligent. The sweet smell of must from this old building reminds me of antiques.
Gretchen approaches, "Phillip, we are in trouble." "The price of both Oraca and InterSpace stock is plummeting." "This was always a real possibility, but we didn't anticipate the boards acting in collusion, claiming that this was a conspiracy to misappropriate company software." "They claim our stunt rollout was an intentional violation of copyright to wipe out their exclusive proprietorship of all the Games Systems." "They must have found out last night and filing suit against you, me and Gunter even before the sun even comes up." "I've just been told subpoenas are coming and that warrants for our arrests are also in the works." She's noticeably shaking. I'm a tool and I'm going right along with it. "These kinds of proxy fights have dogged me since I first started documenting the analysis systems for your P. P. I. Services business." The stock holders have always threatened to withdraw their money if we don't provide business securities to insure their investments. This was to be my primary motivation for creating limited liability partnerships in the first place.
"Gretchen, you did this on purpose" "I will support you in any way I can, but this whole event was so unlike you." "You really are the person I came here to extract." "I myself like a little controlled uncertainty." "But my research asserts, people generally want the sure thing." "Why are we making waves now?"
There is a shocking blast of blue white light knocking out the electricity with explosive thunder. Lightning hits the building shaking the foundation, leaving us in the dark. It is night time until the circuit breakers reconnect power to illuminate the pitch black basement. Gretchen is holding on to me. This is the woman I always knew her to be, powerful, vulnerable, impetuous.
Quivering she steps back and says, "This is too weird." "I'm in love with Gunter and I'm just too scared to not have a job." "I know I can always freelance code writing, but I just hate not being in control of my own life." Being the head of the corporation just got to me." "I love the work but I hate the games that go along with having to pretend that I even care about the money." "The more money I have the easier it is to get it taken away from me, and I guess I just couldn't prevent myself from sabotaging my chances of retiring at the top of my career."
Gunter is coming down the stairs with a big grin on his face, "Did you hear, We're getting sued." "Isn't that great?" He's laughing. There, another blast of lightning and thunder, this time a little further away. It seems the tension is being broken. He looks at Gretchen and sees that she is noticeably upset and hugs her. "Oh Gretchen I'm sorry, you are such a dear." "We'll get through this just like we always do." "We only did this so we can be together, don't my cry sweetheart" "I'm with my family again." Outside the rain is starting to pour.
