“Troy!” bellowed Mr. Thackeray. His voice boomed, even though the closed office door.
The assistant shoved the supply catalog under a stack of papers and stood up, just in time. The boss’s door burst open, and the small, loud man strode right up to the small desk.
“Sir?” she said, straightening her smart, knee-length skirt.
“Troy!” he said again, running his hand over his gray hair. “We’ve got a problem.”
What is it this time, she wondered. Did he misplace his water glass? Are we out of decaf? That would be an emergency, now that she thought about it. She had no desire to see this man hopped up on real coffee.
She raised her eyebrows in question.
“You, you see… The problem,” he made a wide circle with his arm, “the problem is, they want me to go to New York.” He tapped his light blue shirt, right on the pocket. “Me. To New York.”
“And you want me to…”
Her boss just made more arm circles, as though she’d know what that meant.
When it was clear that she didn’t have a clue, he shouted. “You’re going with me!”
“I- I am?”
“You’re going to make the presentation!”
“I am going to…” Troy dropped into her chair, trying to imagine herself in front of a bunch of businessmen. She knew she did not possess a perky smile or strikingly good looks. Instead, she was quiet, clever, and average-looking, hardly a commanding figure.
“Well, of course you are,” her boss said. “Can you imagine me, of all people…?”
Well, that was a rare moment of self-awareness. The man had a point. Who else could it be, if not either of them? “I guess it’s all right,” she heard herself say.
“Excellent. And order whatever you need out of that catalog you’re always looking at.” With that, Mr. Thackeray stomped back to his office and slammed the door.
Troy fished the catalog back out from underneath the stack. As if guided by Providence, the pages opened to the very item she needed: a beautiful new metal slide case. With that case at her side, and perhaps a new memo pad, she could handle an army of businessmen.
Green metal slide case measures 14.5" by 7.5" and 2.25" thick. Room for 150 slides with index to list them.
