A Fluffy Tale 2: Warm & Fuzzy Read Free Page A

next hour and a half, Daniel
watched intently, played with the demonstration site under Spen’s supervision,
and asked a few but pertinent questions. Maybe he didn’t know much about
writing user interfaces, or the database language they were using, but he knew
data, and he understood the issues of security and access Spen had to address.
Spen gave him the manual, apologising in advance for the simple-minded writing which he’d pitched at the level of their IT-phobic
employees.
    “That’s fine. It’ll be a quick read then.”
Daniel’s smile had become much more open and ready as the morning had worn on.
“I’ll bring it back tomorrow.”
    “Don’t read the damn thing at home. Life’s
too short.”
    Daniel clutched the folder to his chest,
and his smile disappeared. “Yes. Yes, it is. But I can read it on the bus.
Thanks for taking the time. I know you’re busy.”
    “Not a problem. I’ll arrange your ID to
have access for this section, and send you an email confirming. There’s a
meeting on Thursday at eleven.”
    “Yes, Tony told me. I’ll be there. Thank
you.” He bobbed his head and rushed out of the room, stopping only to scoop up
his kem and pop him up on his shoulder.
    As the door closed behind him, Luke came
over to Spen’s desk. “What the hell is someone like that doing working for a
tit like Tony Noball?”
    “I have no idea, but I intend to find out.
At least we didn’t end up with a moron as our liaison.” Spen raised his arms
over his head and cracked his spine. Myko took that as an invitation to hop
into his lap for a petting and cuddle, which Spen delivered without even
needing to think about it. “Right. Who’s going to lunch?”

Chapter 3
    Daniel rubbed his forehead, trying to ease
the headache that had been sitting in his frontal lobes all day. He had redone
this presentation three times now, and hoped this time Tony wouldn’t decide to
radically rewrite it, as he had with the three previous attempts. The
presentation was for a key meeting, and Daniel didn’t begrudge the time spent,
but he worried it was his own incompetence which made
the previous versions so lacklustre. He didn’t want Tony to start questioning
the decision to hire him. Not this soon anyway.
    “Got those graphics Tony wanted.” A folder
slammed down in his desk as Linda’s sulky voice penetrated his attention.
    He looked up. “Uh, do you have the digital
versions?”
    “You mean the original files ?” She said it as if he was a total moron for not
using the correct office term. “Couldn’t find them. They’re lost, apparently.”
The look on her face made Daniel doubt the truth of that, but it also told him
it was a waste of time to argue.
    “Okay, thanks.” He made a special effort to
smile in as polite and friendly a manner as he could, but Linda sneered and
flounced off. Effort wasted, clearly. She didn’t like him. None of the other
PAs did. In fact the only people in the entire office who treated him as
something higher in the evolutionary scale than bacteria were Spen’s team.
Daniel took a guilty pleasure in the frequent visits he had to make to the IT
section, and wondered what he would do when this rollout was finished and the
meetings with Spen and his people were no longer necessary.
    The printed graphics weren’t good enough to
use in a slideshow, so Daniel resigned himself to a couple of hours trying to
recreate them using software designed for idiots. No lunch for him again. There
was a strict “no eating at the desk” rule, so apart from quick cups of plastic
coffee in the kitchen, he had to manage until he got home in the evening. He
didn’t dare tell Dee. She suspected he ate badly, and he did. Had done as a
student, and now as an office worker. He just did what he had to do, to get the
work done. That was what his job was. Bring in the income,
keep the family going. There was no one else now to do
that.
    At half past two he knocked on Tony’s door.
“Finished the