Rose was glad to be back at her desk. She had been out for three months, working in Boston, living in a hotel room, always on call.  She was a legal assistant to several attorneys and they were working on a big important case.  This necessitated going to Boston and being stationed there for so long.  It wasn’t the kind of thing Rose liked or wanted to do. But she had to do it. She needed the money.

                She would have rather been at home, in Brooklyn, with her mom and her puppies.  Mitsi and Maggie, her two Chihuahuas.  They were getting older and seemed to be having more health problems lately.  The veterinary bills were staggering.  Thousands of dollars over the months, running up Rose’s credit card with the purchase of pills, shots, treatments, x-rays. It was as bad as having children. Luckily there would be no college expenses. 

Rose stood near her desk and looked it over.  Everything was just as it had been. No one had been sitting there the entire time she was out. Not even the stapler was moved. Rose looked out the window at Manhattan’s skyscrapers, an old familiar view. She had watched them as winter snow storms sent flakes swirling around them.  In summer, she had watched the sun glint off their glassy sides.  Rose gave a cheerful sigh.  It was good to be back at her old desk.  Then she turned and saw the stranger.

                A tall thin woman with long blonde hair was sitting in the desk behind hers.  Rose suddenly felt short and fat.  Apparently the law firm of Hagen, Hill, Stenberg and Bower had hired someone new.  Was this an indicator of their new hiring practices?

                “Good morning,” Rose said, in her best “pleasant voice” tone which she usually reserved for the grumpiest of attorneys. She didn’t want to display any shock or dismay.  It had always been nice and quiet in this part of the law firm office and Rose hoped it would always stay that way.

                The woman tossed a quick “Good morning,” at Rose then reached for her cup of tea. The tea bag flapped and twirled at the side of the cup.

                Rose pushed ahead, “I’m Rose, what’s your name?”

                The woman looked up. “I’m Doris. I’m David Eastman’s assistant.”

                Rose suppressed a frown. “I’m glad to have some companionship here. This section of the firm is somewhat empty with attorneys heading out of state all the time.” 

                “I see that,” said Doris.  “There hasn’t been anyone here the entire three weeks I’ve been here.” She went back to looking at her newspaper, spread all over her desk. It was the NY Times.

                Apparently three months with no one around was as appealing to Doris as it was to Rose.  Rose shrugged then turned to her desk.  She unlocked the drawer where she always kept her things and dumped her purse inside.  She pulled her coffee cup and a tissue box out and placed them on her desk.  All she needed now was a cup full of coffee, with a touch of milk, and a plant of some sort. She’d get one at the flower shop downstairs at lunch time. Rose headed to the kitchenette to get that coffee.

                By late morning, Rose was at her computer reviewing her emails.  As she clicked through, her mind was reviewing David Eastman’s history.  Rose had worked at the firm for over ten years. She had heard and seen some crazy stuff about David E.  He owned a sail boat and loved to race in the regattas.  He was listed as an associate, but unlike most attorneys, he didn’t seem the least bit interested in becoming a partner.  He had the money to invest. He owned properties in Rhode Island. But he acted more like a consultant, sitting in on meetings and voicing his opinion, but never taking on cases or doing the real grunt work of going to court. Many of the attorneys that Rose worked for spoke poorly of him.  Rose felt there was a desire among some to push David out, but nothing yet had happened.  Maybe they were giving David a last chance to do more for the firm. Of course, that’s why they assigned him an assistant.  He had never had one before. 

                Rose soon had plenty of work to do and was busy doing it. Emails to send, dates to check on the court calendar. Files to review. It was good to be back, but the work never slowed down. One hour to go before lunch. Rose turned and looked at Doris.  She had just about finished reading the entire NY Times. Was David ever going to give her some work?  How long had Doris been sitting there? Since three months ago when Rose left for Boston?  Could it be possible? 

                At noon, Doris folded the paper and let Rose know she was heading for lunch.

                Rose looked down at an email from Jake Millbrook asking her to delay her lunch so he could get a document finished.  Could she check the legal cites? This would take a while. Rose reached into her purse for the crackers she usually kept there to snack on in emergencies.

                But no crackers were in her purse.

                Rose growled. Growled like the Chihuahuas do when they are playing.  But Rose was not playing. How had she forgotten to pack her snacks?  She was not yet back in the swing of her routine. In Boston they kept a tray of snacks nearby with fruit, pastries, cookies, granola bars. She never had to think of it. 

                Rose responded to the email saying she would take lunch late then hurried to the kitchenette where she found a very salty chicken noodle soup packet that contained a few small noodles. Just add hot water.  This would have to hold her over. All the breakfast cookies and sticky rolls were gone.  She grabbed the cup of soup. As she raced back down the hall, she thought of Doris who was probably eating a healthy salad with a slab of chicken breast atop it. 

                By 1:30 p.m. Doris was coming back from lunch. Rose noticed that she was carrying several news magazines in her hands. New magazines—not fashion magazines, is that how she got away with it?  Make herself look smart by reading business magazines?  Rose hit enter and sent the email with the updated documents. Now she was finally free to go to lunch.  She grabbed her purse and rushed away.

                The flower shop was on the way to Rose’s favorite lunch spot, but now she didn’t feel like stopping to browse for plants. Maybe she would do it next week when she would be more settled into a routine.  Today she grabbed a fast-food lunch in a bag and found an edge of a wall to sit on in a small park. As she ate, she called her mom. 

                “Mom, how you doin’? How are our puppies?”

                Rose took a bite out of her veggie burger.  “What? What? Mitsi looked fine to me this morning. You took her to the park? Her eyes are watering? Did you put the drops in like the vet told us to do?  Why did you take her to the park when you know she reacts to grass pollen?”

                Some days Rose wondered if she could trust her mom to take care of the pups. But mom had done a great job when Rose was in Boston. The pups were in fine health all that time. Rose was so happy too that she was able to pay off all the huge vet bills with the extra money she made while in Boston. Rose had actually done sixty hours in one week. It was grueling. But it was worth doing in the end.

                “Put the drops in Mitsi’s eyes. How is Maggie?”                 Rose took a sip of her ice tea.  “She’s ok, good.” Rose sighed. “Ok, mom, and you’re good too?” Rose giggled. She didn’t ask about her mom until after she had asked about the dogs. It didn’t really mean anything really.  “Ok, I have to get back to work. See you tonight.”

                Rose walked slowly back to the office.  It was a beautiful sunny day. Everything should be fine. It should be a good day…but it didn’t feel that great.

                When she got back to her desk, Rose noted that Doris was deep into one of the business magazines.  Rose was sure that Doris was getting paid good money to sit and read magazines all day. Was that really part of her job?

                Rose walked over to Doris’ desk. “So what borough do you live in?”

                “I live in Jersey,” Doris explained.

                “How do you like the job?” Rose quickly asked.  Jersey folks were never as sophisticated as New Yorkers.

                “I’ve been here for three months. I must say it’s not very challenging.  Mr. Eastman called me in for some assistance a few times, but he doesn’t seem to be that busy.”

                Rose scoffed.  “David has never been known for his prowess in the courts.”  She played with her bangs then asked, “You married?”

                “No, you?”

                “No. Me and mom live together with our puppies, Mitsi and Maggie, our Chihuahuas.”

                Rose saw Doris’ face go blank and wondered how people could do that, leave their faces so blank. “You have any pets?” Rose asked.

                “No, my thing is photography.  I could do some portraits of your pets someday. Great for memories.”

                “Oh, that would be nice,” Rose said cheerfully.  “Well, I better get back to work.”

                Rose sat down at her desk feeling a little better.  It was nice that Doris offered to do portraits of the puppies. That was really nice.

                Through the rest of the week, Rose’s fingers danced over the keys, her voice answered the phone. Her eyes darted across the screen scrutinizing dates, times, correct spellings of names. Rose was the perfect example of due diligence at work.

                Rose and Doris took lunch with Doris getting the regular lunch hour at noon and, for some strange reason, Rose getting the later lunch hour. Why was this happening?  Rose was the long standing employee.  Ten years—where was the respect?  Where were the advantages for her loyalty to the firm? Ok, ok, maybe Rose got more money each week than Doris. After all, Doris had just started.  But Doris was getting paid well to sit, day after day, just reading. Just reading! Doris’s fingers never touched the keys.  Eventually, Doris was staring at her device all day.  Rose suspected that now she was reading e-novels. What else could she be doing with her time?

                During the weekend, Rose discussed this dilemma with her mom. It was so unfair. Mom said to just forget about it.  There was always some injustice in the world. You couldn’t do anything about it. But this is where Rose and her mother always differed.  Rose was going to do something about this. She wasn’t going to overlook it.  

                Unfortunately, Rose was too busy to do anything for several weeks.  Finally she caught a free minute and went to Human Resources.

                “I’m telling you, she sits there all day and does nothing. Well, ok, she reads business magazines. Is that what she’s supposed to do?”  Rose could kick herself for mentioning the type of magazines Doris read. It might make her look good.  The human resources office was nice with large plants in the windows, the décor was in tan and red with a tree branch motif spread across the carpet.  Rose leaned back in the stuffed chair and pretended she was outdoors.

                Alice Stenberg sat across from Rose and listened.  Then she responded. “You don’t have any actionable complaints, Rose. Has she attacked you for your religion? Has she touched you in an unacceptable way? Has she screamed at you?”

                “No, oh no, she’s polite and quiet,” Rose explained.

                Alice explained, “She is the assistant that Mr. Eastman selected after doing several interviews. We can do nothing more. I’m sure very soon, David will have work for her to do.  He’s been assigned to several very important actions.”

                Rose looked at Alice. “Ok, I guess I’ll just look the other way, but it doesn’t seem fair that she gets to sit there all day doing nothing,” Rose whined.

                “Rose, you are one of our most reliable and best employees. I will put you in for recognition in the firm’s annual holiday party at the end of the year.  I do feel you deserve some recognition for all that you did in Boston.”

                Rose smiled and felt a little relieved. But why did she have to ask for the recognition? Shouldn’t they have given it to her automatically?  And why did she have to wait until December?  It was September. She would have to wait three more months for her recognition. What would it be?  A prize blue ribbon like they give people at the dog shows?  She wanted more money. Puppies can be expensive!

                On her way back down to her desk Rose put more thought into the situation.  Sitting there all day with nothing to do must have been like being in solitary confinement. How could Doris do it? Rose needed a new strategy. A strategy that would be effective, but not make Rose look bad to Alice in HR. Alice was, after all, a sister to one of the big name partners.  An idea popped up. Kill her with kindness, Rose thought.  She returned to her desk.  Sure enough Doris was sitting there reading.

                “Hey, Doris, you must be so bored.  Me, I like to keep busy. How it is working for David Eastman?  Has he given you any work yet?”

                “He did tell me to write some letters for him.  He gave me all the details. But that didn’t consist of much.  While I was in his office, he talked to his friends about signing up with some regatta.  He likes to party.  He calls the women he hangs out with “Eurotrash.”  He’s such a pig.”

                Rose gasped then laughed. Doris was cracking under the torture of doing nothing all day for months.  She just called her boss a pig. Oh, that could be cause for dismissal.  Showing no respect for the attorney who hired her.

                “He owns expensive property in Rhode Island and Manhattan,” Doris explained, as if Rose didn’t know.  “I think he lives primarily off rents, works as an attorney for a place to hang his hat.  That might explain why he rarely brings in new cases or clients.  I suppose he’s a consultant to corporate landlords.”

                “Yeah, he’s really into the regattas.  He came close to getting the big prize once. What is it called?” Rose looked at Doris.

                “Oh, I have no idea nor do I care,” Doris said with a bored look on her face. She wasn’t hiding her feelings now.

                “Well, enjoy your reading.”  Rose laughed and sat down at her desk.  Soon she would need to go back to human resources and let them know how disrespectful Doris was to David.

                Unfortunately, it took several more weeks before Rose could break away for a little visit with Alice. 

                “I’ll bet Doris is busy now,” Alice began with a cheery smile.

                “No, not really.  I’ve seen her away from her desk a couple of times during the week.” Rose said. To be truthful, she had been too busy to notice. Doris could walk in and out all day and Rose would never really notice. After all, Doris sat behind her and there was a door next to Doris that led to the hallway to David’s office.  But what matter did it make? The unfairness of working Rose to death while letting Doris sit and read most of the day needed to be addressed.  Why didn’t they assign Doris a couple more attorneys—busier ones?

                A few more weeks went by. It was a Friday afternoon. Things had slowed down a little, even for Rose.  She went to the kitchenette and got herself a cup of green tea with peach flavoring. Maybe now she could make a little phone call to her mom and see how things were going.  Maybe they could make plans to go out for dinner tonight. 

                The phone rang, and rang and rang. It was not like mom to let a call go into voice mail.  Rose left a message. Where could Mom be? Was she ok?  Could something have happened to her? If she were sick, who would be able to take care of the puppies when Rose was at work? Rose felt sick to her stomach. She called again.

                Time passed.  Rose looked out the window and studied how the rain ran down the sides of the tall building next to the one she was in. The rain was like liquid glass. The glass was like solidified rain.  Why wasn’t mom answering the phone?

                Late in the afternoon, Rose tried again. This time her mother’s squeaky voice came through. “Rose, honey, I’m here at the vet.” 

                Rose gasped. “What happened?”

                “Oh honey, it’s our Maggie, she had a seizure. I was giving Mitsi a bath and after I got her dry, you know how she is when you towel her off, she just hates it, but I don’t want water all over the floor so I don’t like to let her shake herself.  Then honey, I turned and looked at Maggie. At first it just looked like she was playing on the rug, rolling around like she does.”

                “Yes, mom I know but what happened?”

                “Well, she kept rolling around. But it looked funny. Like a muscle spasm. You know, like when my calf muscles lock up when we walk too much at the park.”

                “Oh mom, have you been at the vets all afternoon?”

                “Well, honey, it took a bit of doing to get Mitsi dry and then see what was wrong with Maggie. She looked exhausted. She just lay there with her tongue out. I had to call a taxi that was willing to take me with a dog in the carrier. No one wanted to transport a dog.  I told them she was small and in a carrier.”

                “Mom, so you got to the vet,” Rose screamed. “What did the vet say?”

                “It could be the medication she was on. They want to put her on a different set of meds.”

                Rose huffed. What was this going to cost?  There was no point taking up the issue with her mom.  “So now what are we to do?”

                “They got her responding well. She looks a little dopey, but they said I could take her home.  I’m waiting for the taxi now. We should be heading home soon.”

                “Ok, ok, I’m glad she’s still alive.  Mom, I’ll be leaving soon, it’s almost five o’clock. I’ll see you at home with our little baby Maggie.”  Tears formed in Rose’s eyes.  She wished she could leave early, but she didn’t want to risk it. She turned and looked at Doris whose head was down, her eyes gazing at her device.

                Rose had taken Monday off as a sick day and stayed home to take care of Maggie and mom.  It was luck she had extra sick days accumulated.  During the day, Maggie was moping around, but improving.  Mitsi was a bundle of joy, teasing everyone and bouncing off the sofa.  It seemed such a waste of a paid sick day.

                Tuesday morning Rose was back at her desk. Doris arrived on time and after a brief greeting, sat down to catch up on her reading.  Rose was appalled that Doris did not even inquire as to why Rose was out Monday. Rose wanted someone to talk to about the stress she had been put through over the weekend. Doris was no help. Yet with the strain of Maggie’s recovery, Rose could not deal with the stress of meeting Alice at the Human Resources office again to complain about Doris.  Then the work load rose up and buried her.  Weeks went by.  Rose speedily answered emails, researched cites, made phone calls, reviewed the judges rules, greeted new clients and did her job to the best of her ability.

                By late November, Rose found the strength to talk to Alice. 

                “She has no respect for David Eastman,” Rose reported.

                “In what way do you mean?” Alice asked.

                Rose looked around the room at the red and tan décor.  The colors were just like the changing autumn leaves. She thought of the walks in the park with her two Chihuahuas. How nice it must be to work in this office.

                “She told me he was a pig. That’s really disrespectful,” Rose stated. It was amazing that she had to explain to Alice how disrespectful that was.

                Alice turned and looked out the window.

                Rose watched her face for a response.

                “Rose, I can tell you this. We will be making some changes for the next year. They will be announced at the annual holiday party in December.  But I cannot tell you yet for sure what the changes will be.  Just keep doing your best work and you’ll have nothing to worry about.”

                Rose left the office with Alice’s words ringing in her ears. “Nothing to worry about?”  What big changes would there be?

                A few more weeks went by. Soon they were getting ready for the annual holiday party. It was being held at the Waldorf Astoria. This was one of those times when working for the firm was really rewarding. Rose got her hair fixed up special, bought a new skirt, blouse and shoes to wear to the party.

                Rose watched to see what Doris was doing.  Without any concern, Doris sat at her desk reading. 

                At the party, everyone was supposed to mingle, dance together, drink—but not too much, and glow in the luxury and abundance that they had earned over the past year.  Rose and Doris sat at the same table with some of the other assistants. They watched the dancing, nibbled on the hors d’oeuvres that were delivered to them. Later they filled their plates with lobster, caviar and blue fin tuna sushi. Rose’s favorite. 

                Rose danced with two of the attorneys that she worked for.  She watched as David Eastman, who was short, dodged having to dance with the tall blonde Doris.  Doris did very well at looking demurely at the carpet and dodging any suggestion of dancing with anyone.  The head partner of Hagen, Hill, Stenberg and Bower, rose to address the crowd. Mr. Carl Hagen thanked everyone for their service. He announce that big changes were coming in the firm. He introduced everyone to several new clients and four new young attorneys who had been hired for the coming year.  Everyone cheered and laughed.  It looked like things were going very well for the firm.  Rose wondered what it would mean for her personally.  How would this growth play out in her section?  She feared she would lose her quiet space with all these changes.  

                After the party, limousines took numerous people home, one of them being Rose.  She rode along quietly with two other assistants from the same Brooklyn neighborhood.  The skyscraper lights blinked like lights on giant Christmas trees. Rose nestled into the soft leather seats that seemed to muffle the harsh noise of holiday traffic. She gazed out at drunken tourists and absent-minded pedestrians as if she were a celebrity being whisked away from her eager fans.  She had worked hard for this, very hard.  And it was not fair that Doris got to go to the annual party considering how little she had done for David Eastman. But life rolled on.

                Rose arrived at her desk on Monday morning with a sense of foreboding. It was now the last work day of December.  What if they assigned her two new young attorneys to work for? That would mean so much more work.  What if they decided to use the other two empty desks in her section of the firm?  The veterinary expenses were mounting up on Rose’s credit card again.  The new pills for Maggie were more expensive than the last set. And to think those pills had caused Maggie to have a seizure! Life was just not fair.

                The phone on Doris’ desk rang.  It so rarely happened that it startled Rose. She turned and looked back at Doris.

                Doris answered the phone, “Yes, ok, I’ll be right up.”

                Rose watched as Doris stood and pushed her coffee cup away.  She tidied up her desk, putting the news magazines in the drawer.

                “I’ve been called up to Human Resources,” Doris explained.

                Rose looked up at her in wonder.

                An hour later, Doris was back with tears in her eyes. “They let me go. Today is my last day. I’m getting my things.”

                Rose turned quickly away from Doris and smiled. Finally justice was being done. Rose listened as she heard drawers open and close.  A thump into the trash can indicated that the news magazines were being dumped.  Doris blew her nose, grabbed her coffee cup and approached Rose’s desk.

                “Well, it’s been nice working with you,” Doris said, dabbing the corners of her eyes. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now.  I guess it’s time to be serious about getting a job as a photographer. This job was certainly a joke.  I’m glad of one thing.  I won’t have to put up with that squirrely little Mr. Eastman anymore and his rude ramblings about Eurotrash.”

                Doris waved a quick good-bye and left the room.

                Rose broke out laughing.  It was good to know that lazy Doris would not be there anymore. Yes, yes, it’s true, the wheels of justice turn slowly, but finally they had turned.  Rose leaned back in her chair.  The quiet of the office was reassuring. She looked out again at the tall buildings and the little slice of the Hudson River that she could see between the buildings.  “Hello, New Jersey,” Rose said, “You’re getting your girl back today!”  The sun sparkled on the water.

                Rose’s smart phone played a merry tune.  It was mom. She was calling rather early. What could it be?

                “Honey, I hate to break the news to you but, Maggie was coughing a lot this morning after you left. She almost lost her breath. I thought she was going to faint. You know she’s getting old. The vet said that if she starts coughing, it could be a sign of heart problems.  Should I take her back today? She may need additional medication.”

                Rose sat silently and looked at the wall. She wanted to kill Mitsi and Maggie, and maybe even Mom.