Chapter III

"Natalie, can I see you in my office please." It was her first day on the job that, for all intents and purposes, represented her second and final chance at a normal life. Little did she know that her life was about to become anything but normal. The man closed the door behind his new employee as she walked into his office. "How are you finding the environment this morning? Your computer login is working fine?" Small talk. Obviously not why he'd called her into his office.

"Yes sir! It's wonderful, thank you so much!" The office stuff was actually pretty tedious. Mr. Gladstone ran a tight ship and everyone was on point. Actually, so far, my position seemed almost irrelevant. But I would never tell him that. "Everyone is very kind and the computer is working fine and... yeah, nothing to report."

"Well, I'm very pleased to hear that, Natalie. You're settling in well, despite some of the... interpersonal conflicts I've been hearing of." He let that sit in the air while he looked down at his paperwork and flipped a binder from left to right and back to the left, tapping an inkwell pen against the ledger thoughtfully. Every second she had to think on that would be a second she panicked, and that was the idea.

"...interpersonal conflicts? What are you talking about?" I'd met everyone in the office. It was small. Twelve people altogether. I went to a different floor to make copies and another floor to file some paperwork. I'd only been at work two hours, but I had made sure to be on my best behavior. Someone... someone was complaining about me? I didn't understand...

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about it, it’s just idle chatter." He began to write something down in the ledger, pausing intentionally in his speech, deliberately. "You know how immature women around the office can be when they feel threatened, you understand?" This entire engagement, this entire back and forth, this was planned out to the letter; he left nothing to chance.

"R-right..." But his words clung to the insides of my brain. Women around the office? That narrowed it down a little, but not by much. They felt threatened? Why did they feel threatened? I played with my clip board nervously and bit my lip. "Um... well if there's anything I can be doing better..."

"Doing better?" He looked up with thought around the crow’s feet that framed his eyes, and then shook his head as though it took him that long to process the concept, then waved his hand. "The quality of your work is going to be fine, Natalie, and office politics will be office politics. No no, I'm more worried about you."

"...about me?" I didn't understand. I thought I was doing a good job. But then people were complaining? And now Mr. Gladstone was worried about me? I shifted my weight from one side to the other and held the clipboard to my chest. "I'm fine, sir. No worries there. I promise."

“Many people here already know of your indiscretions at your previous job, don’t they? It's a difficult position I'm in, you see, as your boss. And I'm worried that you might not want this role enough to do what it takes to keep it, no matter the cost." If anybody else had said that, it might have sounded as though he were propositioning her. But there was a tone he used, a point of view and speech that was nothing of the sort. Rather, he sounded like a concerned parent.

Panic. Fear. I shook my head and my emotions got the better of me. I was desperate. I couldn't lose this job! It was my first day! I thought it was going so well! "No! I'll do whatever it takes, I will! I'm getting all my work done! I'll... I'll have a meeting with the employees, and... and see if I can do better, if..."

"Oh no" He chuckled, "no no, that will certainly not improve things. For now, I think, the other employees would prefer to see a little less of you, just until they can come to terms with your work… history.” He chose those words carefully, too. "But don't you worry, Natalie, you're not going anywhere. I'm confident in my hire, but for this adjustment period I'd like to enforce some workplace attire changes - to put the others at ease. Now, if you're intending to continue working here, this is not a negotiation, and I hope you understand my perspective, am I clear?"

The other employees wanted to see me less? I shrunk into myself and looked down at my feet. My nice heels, my tight pantyhose. I wore a beautiful blazer and a sharp business skirt. I was the pinnacle of professional. What was wrong with my attire? What had I done wrong? But it didn't matter... "Y-yes sir... I understand..."

"Very good." He smiled warmly, showing relief, like he expected this conversation to go any other way than it did. He made sure that she saw that, too, he made sure that she knew his faith in her was fragile. "You'll take this," he leaned down and picked up a pleasant looking gift bag, "to the bathroom and get changed into what you find inside." He didn't let her ask questions about the contents of the bag - the outfit was still what could be called appropriate for work: a pleasant printed tee with a rainbow motif on it, a cardigan in a pastel blue, with capris pants and some cute sandals. Neat casual, more than business professional. And also something that would have her looking a good deal less... confident. "Now I'm sure you'll need to work double speed on those HR reports to have them to me by lunch, so hurry along now."

"Yes, sir..." I stepped out of Mr. Gladstone's office and sighed, trying to maintain my composure. I looked in the bag at the clothes and wondered what this was all about. Maybe I should go ask, but... I didn't want to cause trouble. I sighed and went to the restroom to change.

"Hey Natalie," It was one of the women from the secretary pool - her name was Prin, and she had wild ginger hair and freckles all over her pale face with big frames on her glasses and a bright smile that she might have only been showing to Natalie for the very first time when she peered her head into her cubicle. "You look cute today, I love your top. So many women here are so... stuffy, right? Anywaaaay, I was wondering if you could pull a record for an employee for me?" Just like that, after a morning of frostiness and nobody even saying a word to her, Natalie had someone brightly regarding her, complimenting her, asking for her help, and all it seemed to take was a change of attire.

Before the end of the day, I had three more compliments on my outfit! I finished all my paperwork on time. I had the office running above efficiency. Everything was amazing! On the way out at the end of the day, I made sure to stop by Mr. Gladstone's office in my cute rainbow shirt and capris, a bright smile on my face. I almost bumped into him as he was coming out of his office. "Oh! Um. I just wanted to thank you! I thought these clothes were sort of silly, but everyone responded so kindly! Thank you for looking out for me today."

"Of course, Natalie, I'm glad to hear it." She was bright, her mood matching her attire, and that boded well for the future. "I hope you understand now that you have my investment and faith. I've made an example for you in today’s attire, but you're probably going to need a few more outfits to make it through a work week - Cora will be more than happy to help, I expect, and she'll be along to pick you up..." He looked at his wrist, at the jeweled silver watch, then smiled warmly. "Quite soon, actually. You should go down and meet her - it would be rude to keep her waiting, wouldn't it? Don't you worry, I'll be seeing you at home tonight when I finish up everything here. My work is never done, you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" I waved goodbye and headed downstairs. One of the chauffeurs had dropped me off this morning - the perks of living in a mansion, I guess. But I never gave thought to who would pick me up. Cora was waiting in the parking lot in a gorgeous blue convertible. I climbed in the passenger seat in my cute work clothes. "Thank you for picking me up. I imagine you're a busy woman."

"Never too busy for a good cause, Nattie." Cora drove herself, she was that kind of woman. She could have had somebody to drive her - could have had a work car to take her anywhere she wanted - but she'd never give up her independence like that. "Buckle up; you're in the front seat after all." As she pulled out, she reached into a bag of Hi-Chew candies between the seats, nestled in the cup holder, and handed a strawberry one to her new project, keeping the kiwi one for herself. "How was work? Better than Samantha's first day on the job, I'd wager. You look cute!"

"Oh, yeah? I guess I do look pretty cute..." I popped the candy in my mouth and Cora drove us to the mall. We talked a little bit about Sam, but mostly about ourselves. Cora was a championship tennis player a few years back! And she could do that thing where you tie a knot in a cherry stem with your tongue. She had been to all seven continents and over 50 countries. Honestly, she was so impressive! But maybe her sense of fashion needed a little work... "Uh, I really don't think this is work appropriate..." The dress she picked out was something like a sundress, but it had ruffle sleeves and a round collar.

"Let me ask your boss what she thinks about it, we'll get a second opinion, Natalie." Cora smiled with a knowing little glance, then put her hand to her ear like a phone. "Oh, hello. Yes, that dress is work appropriate, and you should trust Cora to make these decisions for you, thank you for your consideration." And it was cute, too, it was over the top in the way that children's fashion tended to be, the kind of thing you dress someone up in, rather than them choosing for themselves. "Natalie, darling, listen: you're trying to find your stasis, your role, your look at the office. You started out too stuffy, too elegant, and it caused problems. The logical course is to dress cuter each day until you reach a similar threshold on the other end, then dial it back a single notch from there. It shows the other women that you're not interested in lusting after their husbands, it shows that you're more interested in being professional on your own terms. So how about you trust me here, yes? Try it out now, run along."