Perfect Balance

Picture courtesy of Showtime 2004
 

“Theodore, get in here now!”

Ted walked into Brian’s office to find him pacing back and forth and running his hand through his hair, “Hey Bri, what’s up? You seem disturbed.”

“Disturbed, I’m not disturbed, but I do know something’s wrong. I can’t put my finger on it but something’s wrong.” Brian turned in place doing a three-sixty, scanning the office.

Cynthia came running in when she heard the ruckus at her desk. “Brian, Ted, did we lose the Dandy Lube account? I thought that was a lock for renewal. They’ve been with us for five years.”

“Of course we didn’t lose Dandy Lube. They make more money with each new campaign we create for them.” Brian looked at Cynthia as if he was talking to a child. “It’s this office, something’s not right, something’s missing.”

Cynthia started laughing and couldn’t stop as Ted’s face grew redder and redder.

“Cynthia, would you like to share what’s making you guffaw like a bear?”

“Not really,” she continued snickering. “I knew it, Ted. I told you.”

“Okay, okay, you were right, I was wrong. Mea culpa.”

Brian glared at both his employees wondering if it would be legal to fire both of them on the spot for evasive and ridiculous behavior. “Someone explain before I look in my drawer and pull out the pink slips, and I don’t mean car ownership papers.”

“It was me.” Ted looked down remorsefully. “I stole it.”

“You stole from Kinnetik.”

“Yes, I mean no, I mean...”

“Ted spit it out.”

“The apples. Cynthia said you’d notice but I was really hungry and I missed lunch and I didn’t want to binge on the high carb stuff in the staff room so...”

“So you helped yourself to one of my apples. The ones that I pride myself on keeping as a good example of the perfect balance to demonstrate my artistic eye to my clients.”

Brian glared at Ted. “Bri?”

“Theodore.”

“Yes.”

“Put the rest of this bowl out in the staff room. It shouldn’t go to waste before the weekend.”

“Yes, sir, boss.”

“Oh, and Ted...”

“Yes, Brian.”

“Bring in two dozen perfect granny smith’s from the farmers’ market across the street on Monday morning. One dozen for my personal arrangement and one dozen for the staff room.”

“Sure, no problem, boss.” Ted stopped as he was about to exit Brian’s office and turned around. “Thank you Brian. I’m sure the staff will appreciate it.”

“As long as none of you feel the need to steal my centerpiece I’ll be content.” Brian went back to his desk and appeared to focus on his computer screen.

“Sure, Brian.”

After Ted left, Cynthia walked up to Brian’s desk. “You really surprise me.”

“For not firing Ted.”

“For showing off your softer side more and more.”

“Justin and Gus are joining me for dinner in a couple of hours. They can’t see me in a foul mood.”

“So this is all about being in a good mood for Justin and Gus. It has nothing to do with caring about your staff, and Ted in particular. I remember a time you would have really reamed anyone out who dared to touch your perfectly balanced work of art.”

“I figure it’s better than Ted resorting to bear claws again or whining about how hungry he is.”

“You old softy.”

“Old?” Brian looked at Cynthia.

“You handsome, young devil of a softy.” Cynthia smirked.

“That’s more like it. Now get back to work, pronto.”

As Cynthia started walking back to her desk anyone could hear her saying, “I love my job.”

 

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