Sam pulled into the parking garage 24 stories below his workspace with one thought on his mind, Jessica.  He imagined her face when she smiled, frowned and laughed.  He could hear the pitch of her voice in his ears as he spoke out loud, “You brought me here, so you are responsible to take me back.  So what time can I expect you?”  Nearly missing a businessman running with his briefcase, Sam found an open spot and parked.  He grabbed his own bag which rattled as he picked it up and remembered what he was dreading earlier that morning.  Still, he thought, that could wait until later.  I am having such a great day, I don’t want anything to bring it down, including the disappointing attitudes from the IT flunkies.

“Samson,” a voice boomed from the darker end of the parking garage.  “I am surprised that tin toy car of yours hasn’t been impounded for breaking the laws of personal affront.”  Jason walked toward Sam and away from his 300 series gold Mercedes.  Jason’s gait was off kilter as he limped slightly to the left, the result of a serious car injury ten years earlier that took the leg at the knee in exchange for a cool million dollars from the other drivers’ insurance company.

“It’s a point A to point B, not a phallic symbol son of J,” Sam said with my own twist of his name.  “Besides, I at least have two good legs and can kick your ass any day.”  Jason glared and narrowed his eyes, then turned and was gone.  For a young man of questionable health with a prosthetic leg, he was fast.  He bolted to the door that read stairway, pulled it open and disappeared.  Realizing that he was indeed going to kick Sam’s ass if he didn’t start running, he shot off in the same direction.

Twenty minutes later and 29 floors up, Jason sat leaning back in his chair looking unmarred from his 349 stair jog.  Sam on the other hand was sweat soaked and leaning forward in his chair over a garbage can expecting to loose part of his jelly doughnut.  “You’re a bastard Jason,” Sam said to the garbage can.

“The problem with you Sam, is that you take your thin body for granted and do nothing to improve upon it.  Guys like me who are prone to the juxtaposition of my parents disfigurements must exercise religiously to keep those lingering fat cells from taking over.”  Jason didn’t appear as though he exercised, and while he was not as thin as Sam, he definitely was not fat.  Jason leaned forward and took a bite from an apple making a loud crunch followed by smaller crunches as he chewed.  “You see Sam, you are the gimp here.  Your impairment happens to be that you simply suck.”  Sam coming up for air glared at Jason who sat back again with a smug smirk on his face.

“Samuel!”  Maggie, the office manager walked toward her office without looking toward Sam and Jason and bellowed Sams name with the intent that Sam would come running to walk with her.  He did.

“Hi Maggie,” Sam said still out of breath.

“I told you that you shouldn’t be coming to work without showering.  You need to get changed immediately, then report to my office.”  Sam stopped walking with Maggie and watched as her dark hair and ample frame sauntered away from him.  Without a word, he took off to the mens room where there was a shower and some lockers one of which held his emergency clothing.  He found a need for this from time to time.  After a messy lunch at Luigi’s, a corporate walk through where his nose picking t-shirt would simply not suffice and a few episodes of ‘Stair Olympics’ with Jason like this morning.  Ten minutes later Sam was back at Maggies office.

“I am back Maggie, what did you need.”  Sam was more composed and was refreshed so to speak after learning that the men’s bathroom was out of hot water.

“Sam, I am promoting you.” Maggie said matter of fact without lifting her eyes from the days green bar report.  She had her large round tortoise shell glasses on which made her seem more bug like.  Sam liked Maggie, she was maternal and kind to him and the other employees at MedSysDot.  “Well,” she said looking at Sam who stood with his mouth slightly open and his eyes not blinking.  “I thought you’d respond with something like, Thank you Maggie or gee Maggie, do you think I’m ready?”  Maggie was mimicking his voice.

“I’m sorry Maggie.  Yes, of course thank you.  But what does this mean?”  Sam was still a little in shock, he wasn’t sure why he was singled out to get a promotion.

“It means an extra two dollars an hour in your paycheck and a lot more responsibility that won’t compensate equitably.  In other words, you will have a lot more work to do and not a lot more pay to do it.  Still I am sure you could use the money.”  Maggie dropped her eyes back to her green bar report.  She was honest and to the point and she probably guessed that Sam was suited better to accept more work without a huge pay increase without equivocation. 

“Will  I have a new title?” Sam asked.

“Training and Accounts Advisor, I just made it up to fit the new position.”  Maggie replied waving Sam off with her hand to indicate that she didn’t have any more time to talk for him to get back to work.  Sam took the hint and walked toward his desk and thinking to himself how great it was that a job was created just for him.  He then started to frown as he realized this also meant he would likely need to create the job requirements himself and determine what it meant to be a Training and Accounts Advisor.

As Sam sat a wadded Post-It note pelted him in the side of the head.  It had been lobbed over a nearby cubicle, no doubt from Jason.  Sam picked up the yellow Post-It and unfolded it to read:

Who was that girl you were driving into the city this morning?  Is she a new fling, a one night stand?  If you are looking to hook up call me next time.  Sandy.

Sams face went pale.  Not only had he expected that kind of a response from Sandy, but it also made him a little afraid.  Sandy was a plain and tall girl with long straight chestnut brown hair.  She was slim and not too unpleasant to look at.  However, she was a bit odd and had a strange odor of age around her.  Same figured it was the smell of her vintage clothing which she purchased from local thrift stores.  To him it smelled like dust and gave him chills.  Sandy was always nice to Sam and for a while was secretly leaving him chocolates on his desk.  Sam of course ate the chocolates without a thought.  Once he learned that they were being left by Sandy to curry favor, he still ate the chocolate but felt kind of weird about it. 

Sandy popped her head up over the four foot cubicle wall and gave Sam an inquisitive look.  Sam had hoped to avoid eye contact, but he couldn’t help it, it is just human nature to look at someone who looks at you.  “Well,” Sandy said whispering.

“She’s no one, I just gave her a lift to the city.  She missed her bus when I did.”  Sam said almost apologetically.  He felt guilty for hiding what feelings he might have started toward Jessica.  But he had no relationship with Sandy, no matter how much she wanted it.

“I meant about the other part,” Sandy said giving him a sideways smile.  Sam laughed and shook his head as though it were a joke between him and Sandy.  He hoped she thought he misunderstood the note and wasn’t rejecting her.  He didn’t want to feel like a heel because he was disgusted at the thought of knocking boots with a dust mop.  He could still see Sandy in his periphery but he couldn’t make out the face she was making.  He did see her head slowly descend down below the cubicle wall.

“Close call,” whispered Merle (pronounced Merlee).  Merle was named after her father and Sam was certain that she inherited some of the masculine features of her father.  Her voice was low and rough and she was thin and as flat as a board.  Sam thought that Merle liked him too but was too shy to say anything.  “I heard she bought herself a phallic cake from the market last week.  I don’t know if it was to eat or play with, I am guessing a little of both”.  Merle was a great conspiratorial partner.  Merle bent over Sams desk allowing her short mousy hair cover her face and tortoise shell glasses.  She laid down a green bar report which was highlighted and had notes scribbled between some of the data.  Still whispering Merle said, “I thought this could help you in your meeting later with Maggie”.  She turned her face to look at his and gave him a slight smile. Sam though that she could be cute enough to go out with, but he found himself annoyed at some of her irritating habits like how she would constantly pick at a mole on her neck.  That was an instant turn off.  Still, Sam hid any feelings one way or the other toward Merle and thanked her with whispered lips.

Merle was a genius who was only working at the company to earn money to pay for her tuition at the University of Washington.  She was working on a degree in mathematics with hopes to become a math professor at said school.  Merle felt compelled to help Sam anytime she knew that he didn’t have the information he needed or that he might look unprepared for meetings.  These secret documents and notes she passed to him for nearly a year is very likely why Maggie offered him a promotion earlier.  Sam didn’t want to believe himself as an opportunist, but he couldn’t reject Merle’s hard work and used it whenever he could.

The only question was what meeting was Merle referring too?  Sam checked his Outlook calendar and didn’t see any scheduled meetings and looking down at the figures that Merle left him he noticed that the report was a custom view of Insurance reimbursement by region and payor.  The notes indicated that margins, write off percentages and recommendations on specific HMO plan of care policies that were more profitable than others.

“Sam,” Maggie called as she walked by the office staff and toward the corporate wing of the building.  “You are with me, we have a meeting.  Bring something to take notes with.”  Sam quickly gathered a notebook and pen, and took the spreadsheet that Merle left him.  He quickly followed after Maggie.

Together they reached the corporate conference room where a full executive staff was seated at a large conference table and talking amongst themselves creating a small cacophony making any individual conversation indiscernible.  The table top itself was hidden beneath a sea of green bar reports and charts and graphs of varying colors, sizes and shapes.  At the front of the room was an easel with a large tablet attached to it which had conveniently been flipped over to a blank page.  Maggie walked straight to the easel and put her stack of papers on a small side table near the front of the room.  Sam looked around and found a chair next to the front wall where he abandoned his burden with the exception of the green bar report he held believing he would need it very soon.

“Good morning Maggie and Sam, sorry we are in a bit of a tumult here.  The guys and myself have been working all night on a new venture and we are in great anticipation of what you have to offer us.”  Dick as he liked to be called, was a handsome and typical business type.  He always wore a tie and khakis, even on casual days.  His voice was confident and stolid and he commanded respect of his peers without having to create a short man’s complex.  He indeed was shorter than most average men, but he made up for it in his ability to command a conversation.  “Gentlemen, Maggie and Alex are going to give us their assessment”, and with that all the members of the senior management stopped in the middle  of their conversations and turned their heads forward.

Sam felt extremely nervous.  First, Dick knew his name.  Sam was just a flunkie in a pool full of flunkies, how would Dick who he had only shaken hands with once at a company picnic know who he was.  Sam looked at Maggie and realized immediately the situation.  She had been the culprit who must have been building him up to Dick and in turn to the senior staff as an insurance prodigy.  Maggie looked at Sam expectantly waiting for him to take command of the meeting.  Sam realized also that Maggie had no answers that the senior staff wanted to hear so it was up to him.

Sam was a shy, introverted and outwardly awkward in every way that mattered.  It was always expected that Sam would clam up at the first opportunity at public speaking.  But what most people didn’t know was that Sam was a trained actor.  Well, trained in the fact that he performed in Junior High and High School plays, and in some took a lead role.  Sam’s ability to transform into the uber Samuel made him believable on stage and Sam learned to channel that ability his professional life.

Taking a deep breath and studying Merles notes, he began to write on the board.  “Good morning gentlemen.  Lets first take a look at the planned care model as depicted by our HMO partner and compare that to our coded expectations…”  Sam was confident, a leader and held the attention of every senior staff member to the completion of his presentation which chewed up nearly 20 tablet sheets which decorated the walls surrounding the conference room.

“Any questions?”  Sam asked.

“Yes Sam,” Dick spoke up.  “I am curious how you keep yourself so well hidden in the customer service group.  Don’t you have a business or marketing degree?”.

Maggie spoke up, “Well Dick, Sam is actually our new Training and Accounts advisor.  He is in charge of the reimbursement prospectus and will be coaching junior level associates on the proper methods for maximum reimbursement.”  The men around the table clapped their approval and as soon as it stopped, the commotion returned to its fever pitch from the time before Sam and Maggie entered the room.  Without being excused, they quietly left.  “That was great”  Maggie complimented Sam patting him on the back as the conference room door closed. 

“Thanks, but I had help.”  Sam said apologetically. 

“It doesn’t matter how you get your information, it is the fact that you can deliver it.  That is the first rule of management.”  Maggie branched off toward her office as Sam sidled back into his desk chair.  Looking down he saw a dark chocolate Hershey Kiss sitting on top of the uncrumpled Post-It note.  Smiling, Sandy sank below the cubicle again.  Sam considered eating it, but then thought about the phallic cake and wondered where that chocolate kiss might have been before coming to him.  Shaking slightly, he quietly discarded in the trash bin next to his desk.