Annie CXXI: Timing

(Chronological index: Raynnie, pre-Dennet)

Ray slid into his seat and logged into his workstation. Annie slid down his sleeve and walked to his candy dish. She opened the lid and grabbed one M&M.

The hammer and anvil rested just behind the dish.

She was letting the first sliver melt on her tongue when Ray swore. Gently, and not too vulgar. She'd heard Mom use the word. Ray was about a 2 on the 'crappity crap crap' scale.

"Wha'?" she asked.

"Start Of Contract meeting," he said.

"You said I didn't have to go to those!" she said instantly.

"I said I wished _I_ didn't have to go to those," he said, eyes on the electronic calendar. "But it's policy. All departments send a rep. Everyone else sends a senior admin. IT sends the junior guy."

Annie pouted her lip and widened her eyes. "Is dere time for to take me to home, wuving master?"

"Sorry," he said. She already knew that he couldn't leave her alone on his desk. Another company policy.

He glanced at the clock, grabbed a notebook and reached for his pet. She somberly stepped into his hand.

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SOC meetings were an introductory effort. One of the senior VP's presided over the announcement of a new business initiative. All departments received information about their contributions to this project.

What animations they'd be producing. What delivery schedule had been agreed to. What costs had been predicted. Everything that would be unique for this contract.

IT had no unique efforts. They kept the computers running. They always kept the computers running.

It was like Quark, Ray thought. All the space captains met with Command, all the space captains got exciting new missions. Quark got assigned to the space garbage scow. Again. And again. And again.

It wasn't a bad job. It was his chosen career and he enjoyed it. He just never had anything to contribute to these meetings.

He never wrote anything down in his notebook.

He mostly sat through the meetings, thinking about what Annie might have been up to at home.

Today's contract was supervised by Benjamin. Benjamin started the review by reading the contract specs. He then told each department rep what their part of the specs were. Then he summarized the meeting by listing the contract specs.

With a slide show.

He made it interesting by selecting 'random' for the animations. There was just no telling where the next line of text would come from or how it would appear...

Ray wondered if he slit his wrists, would there be enough blood to drown a sylph? Of course, twenty minutes into the meeting, he was pretty sure Annie would cooperate in her own drowning.

She sat on his shoulder for a while, legs crossed, elbows on knees, chin in hands.

As the budget spiraled onto the screen for the fourth time, she sighed. Loudly. No one at Ray's end of the conference table could have missed it.

The delivery date slid from the left, the bonus date slid from the right and she sighed once more.

Several eyes were on her as she walked down Ray's arm to kneel by his wrist. She looked at his watch.

Then she twisted her head around to see the upside down face.

She stood and walked to the edge of the table, shielding her eyes to look at the clock on the wall.

She went back to the watch and shook it, then put her ear against it.

When Benjamin turned from Sheila to Jeff, skipping Ray (as usual), she moaned and threw herself across the table on her back.

Ray was sitting impassively over her. She got up and checked his watch once more.

Then she ran to Sheila's wrist and checked her watch. There was a tiny, choked whimper.

Sheila tried to keep her face blank.

The sylph stood and walked back to her master, shaking her head sadly.

There was a soft, quiet cough and she turned. Deidre was across the table. She faced Benjamin, but her hand held what looked to be a Reese's Piece.

Annie smiled happily. She glanced up at Ray's face. He gave the barest perceptible nod. Annie turned and started to walk across the table.

She slowed. She staggered. She dropped to hands and knees.

Benjamin found that he'd completely forgotten to identify the park location for the animatronics they were building. He had to add that to his presentation. The intro, the summary, and each department's responsibility screen.

Annie crawled as a desert survivor. Hand outstretched towards the candy, she ended up slithering, dragging herself across by her elbows.

Then, with a dry cough, she collapsed completely. Deidre gently placed the candy by the tiny little head. Nothing moved.

Ray reached across the table to press a thumb down on the piece, cracking the shell. One little hand picked up a candy splinter and dragged it out of sight beneath her spread hair.

After a moment of licking sounds, Ray pinched her ankle and started to tug.

One withered hand lowered to hold the hem of her dress in place so it wouldn't ruck up to her waist. The other curled more or less naturally around the shattered candy.

Ray lifted the limp remains to his pocket, carefully to gather the candy, then stood and walked out.

"We're not done!" Benjamin called.

Ray hardly paused at the door. "I am," he said cheerfully. He returned to his desk, placed his pet on her nest and started reviewing job tickets.

He'd nearly caught up with the morning's issues when his supervisor entered the cubicle.

"I hear," Andy said, "bad things about the two of you."

"Darn," Ray said. "Maybe you'll have to stop sending me to useless meetings."

"It was my fault, Mr. Andy, sir," Annie said. "I bore easily. And you know whatshisface has little control-"

"Annie, I've been reading obscure British murder mystery novels for twenty years, and I never really understood a 'quelling look' until I saw Ray give you one.

"One squinty eye from him, you'd have-"

Two people from other departments stopped by, squeezing past Andy with little 'just a moment' gestures. They placed bags of M&Ms or Reese's Pieces on Ray's desk, waved at the sylph and left.

"Anyway," he recovered, "you only embarrass Ray in public when he lets you. So I blame him for your performance."

"Head's up!" someone shouted. Ray turned in time to catch the bag of peanut M&Ms. He placed that on the desk. Annie dragged it to her nest.

"And so does Rug Row," Andy went on, referring to the hall with slightly more expensive carpeting. The company officers were all officed there. "You can't-"

Ray leaned back from his desk and stared up at the wall. "This one time," he started to say, "we were in Church on a Sunday. The Bishop had invited a guest speaker.

"He started talking about the challenges facing the modern Christian. Disco, the ERA, Roe vs. Wade... Then he got into this rambling death spiral about... Oh, what all did he talk about, Annie?"

His pet shook her head, looking a little defensive.

"Well, it was all about how things were better in the old days. When they could beat the kids, you know?"

Andy nodded, his face confused.

"After a few minutes of that, my father made sure I was holding onto Annie, took my hand and Mom's, and walked us out. No sneaking out the edge, either. Straight out the back.

"People tried to jump his shit about the disrespect. At work, at the barber's, in the parking lot on the next Sunday. He'd look them right in the eye and say, "I was thinking of the kid. He shouldn't grow up thinking of Church as a boring prison. He won't always go back."

"They all shut up. And I mean, dead silence, gaping mouths, wide eyes."

"What are you saying?" Andy asked.

"Yeah?" Annie echoed.

"Work is work, I know that. I get paid to do things I wouldn't do just for fun. But those meetings? That's an hour or more spent wondering what I'm being punished for."

"Company policy-" Andy begain.

"Should be challenged when it's not helping the business," Ray said, looking Andy in the eye. "I'm going to work now." He reached for the keyboard. "If you're going to fire me, do it now, so I can get home in time to watch...." His eyes flickered towards Annie.

She glanced at the clock. "Beauty and the Beast reruns on the Gainesville channel!"

"Right, that." He started typing. Andy stared for a moment, then shrugged and walked off.

Annie sprinted across the desk and leaped. She grabbed Master's chest and hugged him tight. He cupped her in place, then lifted her to his shoulder.

"Do I get to keep the chocolate?" she asked quietly, into his ear.

"It was your performance," he said softly. "I was just the foil. There may be tax on the peanut filled."

Peanuts were hard for Annie to smash into edible pieces, and the taste wasn't worth it to her. She usually left those for Ray.

Master was leaving the 'good stuff' for her. She hugged his throat and kissed his cheek.

Then she stood on tiptoe, placing her face entirely into the shell of his ear. "And you've never taken me to a church. Except Thom and Susan's wedding. Do you even remember going to any services?"

"It's a more appropriate story," he whispered, "than telling him about Cousin Emma."

She nodded. The family told that story a lot. In a similar service, the sermon was going into triple overtime. Emma, then four years old, took matters in her own hand.

She stood on the pew, waited for a pause, then shouted, "Amen! Now go home!" The sermon was wrapped up to smiles.

Emma, now a licensed pharmacist studying to be a diabetes counselor, was hoping to attend one family reunion without being reminded of it. Annie figured she had a better chance of being in Prince's next music video.

Since she was going to tell her how the story had gotten them out of durance vile next time, Emma'd have to hope for a little while longer.

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