Morning all. I hope you are having a fantastic morning. I am still kind of riding on the day light savings giving me an extra hour to sleep thing and doing pretty good because of it. So I am more than ready to jump into the morning. Timers set and let’s kick off November with a prompt.
I like the idea of a character who has always relied on others, taken credit for their work and actually believed he was solely responsible for his achievements suddenly no longer having the team he relied on supporting him. Could be fun to push ahead on this one.
Monday, November 3rd: He stared without blinking.
He stared without blinking. How had it gone so wrong, so fast? One minute everything was smooth sailing. He had the golden touch. The bosses loved him and he could do no wrong. Articles were written about him. He won awards.
John finally blinked and his eyes watered after his long staring contest with nothingness so he blinked rapidly several times to clear his vision. When his eyes focused again he gazed to the side table where his work related trophies lived. It was placed to the side, discretely tucked away so that he seemed modest. The table although to the side was placed in such a way that it caught the light from the windows and the metal of the trophies gleamed. The gleaming drew the eye.
He believed it was more subtle than a more prominent display. It made people notice the awards, even when he didn’t point them out. He couldn’t read the names from his desk but knew the shapes. He could gaze at them when he had a moment of reflection during the day and recall the awards ceremonies. The congratulations from others in his field, the celebrities he got to meet and shake hands with. Those photos were on a different wall.
He had many more photos framed than were on display. They were kept in the drawers below. The appropriate photo was taken out at the correct time. Unlike the awards which could always be displayed, celebrities cam in and out of fashion so his display was adjusted for their sensibilities.
Even now, John could look at those awards and recall the events. He always had his speech on his notecards. Mara pulled them together for him and he spent most of the day before each event memorizing all of the points she felt he should make about whichever project won him the awards.
He rarely bothered with the details before and let the team manage them. Mara was after all the Project’s manager so she managed. He learned what was needed for the speech and once it wa over let the details slide right back out of his mind. John frowned. Mara was no longer here.
She left, accepting a new job opportunity. He couldn’t recall what it was but knew her taking it had something to do with her family somehow. No notecard with details had been presented to him. He did know that it was not considered problematic and that she left on good terms.
Unfortunately, several people below her left at more or less the same time for various reasons so they couldn’t promote from within and had to hire new. Replacements were hired. The board chose younger, newly graduated applicants. John knew it was both because they could pay them less at the start and take advantage of their new knowledge and energy.
It was proving to be a bit of a disaster. They asked him questions about things clearly not his job. ‘And their ideas are horrible.’
For years, John presented issues to the team and then Mara would sort through the options and present plans for the best of the ideas. He would greenlight them and the projects would start. Later he would collect the praise and awards. This lot did not work in the same manner. They brainstormed ideas and expected him to come up with the plan. All he wanted was what he had before. He had no desire to change. He liked the way things worked.
Ten til Midnight 