Bitch

I climbed the stairs and there was my seat. He lifted his bag off it as I approached. We were making progress, and it had taken nine months to get that far. Together we sat silently on the bus. It was the stop before mine when a peroxide got on. She was almost wearing a low cut top that threatened to spill out at any second. She walked down the isle and every male eye was glued to that wobbling top. She sat down on the opposite side of the aisle and my elbow slipped sideways. He turned and grinned sheepishly at me. A reaction, a sign of life if only I’d known how easy it would be I’d have rammed him with my elbow years ago. Still my stop now, my budding romance life would have to be put on hold until tomorrow.

At work I was casually doodling when one of the auditors arrived. “Thinking of getting married?” She asked. I looked down at my doodles. Had I really drawn so many wedding bells? “In about three years time at the present rate of progress. Have you got the sign offs for me?” “Not exactly.” Oh dear I didn’t like the sound of this. “Want to go and tell him all by yourself?” She shook her head. “What’s the problem?” “It’s sort very basic. The database doesn’t support the financial standards in the specifications and neither does the operating system.” “Serious then?” “Serious indeed.” “We’ll go in together.” I knocked on the door and we walked in. “How bad is it?” I looked at him “How can you possibly tell?” “If it was good news, you’d have just put it in the book.” “The new system doesn’t meet the financial standards.” He let loose a word I didn’t even know he knew. “When was the deadline?” “Yesterday.” He picked up the phone “Charlotte plan B on the contracting company who are doing the new financial system.”

Then he asked for the impossible. “Get me a programmer who will stay for ten years working on keeping the old computer programmes working and I don’t care how much it costs.”

Well even I knew the latest rewrite had got it wrong. Five years they’d spent on it and they got the fundamentals wrong. I called one of my personal assistant contacts. She mentioned in confidence they’d known after a year it wasn’t going to work but the contract was too lucrative to tell us and too big to fail so fifteen million down the drain. She called me back an hour later. There was panic at the contracting company apparently their bank accounts had been frozen. I hired her and let her come up with a plan. It was less ambitious than the last one but I thought it stood a chance. I had her hire people who showed an aptitude and knew our business and gave her a large training budget. This time round we brought in the end user departments very early in the game to give feedback. I estimated three years so realistically ten was what we desperately needed to keep the family company going.

The old computer had died years before and now we ran on an emulator whatever that was since you couldn’t buy a new computer of the same type.

Carla works as a social worker and together we demolished a tub of chocolate ice cream and bitched about how terrible the world was. “It’s a waste, a pure waste. Rhys is a trained programmer with two years’ experience then they brought in graphical user interfaces and he is suddenly redundant. I don’t know what I’m going to do with him. It took months to slot him into a job last time. I’m certain he’ll go into a deep depression.” “What was the problem finding him a job?” “Oh he’s bloody independent doesn’t want a guide dog but his sight is very poor these days and it takes him ages to find his way round a new environment.”

I sipped a second glass of wine. “I have money for support staff.” “You mean a sort of human guide dog?” “What qualifications would they need?” “To be able to see I suppose that and to be able to type.” “I’d want someone who’d stay.” “And put up with Rhys?” “And put up with Rhys.” “You could look for a new job?” “When he’s not being totally unreasonable, he’s not bad to work for.”

I forgot about it and placed ads in the paper and contacted the agencies. I had one reply from a guy who had a certificate from Microsoft. I had him in for an interview. “Is that the only qualification you have?” “It was three month course and it’s a Microsoft certificate.” I pulled up the computer screen and showed him that particular course was normally five days long. “Bloody hell, I thought it was slow.” I gave him an aptitude test anyway and his score was abysmal. “Thank you for coming in.”

Then Carla rang “I have a lead, a girl who is due out on probation after serving time.” “Why would I be interested?” “According to her probation officer she’s right bitch with a chip on her shoulder.” “Oh god Rhys?” “Rhys.”

I went to see her in prison. I think drab and dismal best described her. “You really want to give me a job?” “I have a vacancy for a team. If the programmer likes you then you have job.” “You’re mad. I made a mistake but now I have a criminal record. No guy ever looks twice at me and you’re offering a wage that isn’t minimum. The only way I’d get that sort money is wearing a face mask and working as a bitch in a BDSM club.” “Can you type?” “They taught me here in prison as if anyone hires typists these days. My life is just about finished.”

I met her at the prison gate when she was released. “You’re back.” “Get in the car.” I took her home and gave her the spare room. “You can stay here for a month. This afternoon we go shopping then Thursday you have your joint job interview.” She looked round the apartment “This is really nice. Now which guy do I have to screw?” “It is not a job requirement.” “I can eat you out? I got lots of practise in you know where.” I closed my eyes “Food first then shopping.” Then like the bitch she was she ate the rest of my chocolate chip ice cream.

How do you dress to attract a blind person? It would have to be texture. I pulled out a pair of black fishnet thigh highs and worked from there. “Is this a regular office job?” “Yes.” “Fishnet stockings in an office, kinky is he?” I found a mid thigh skirt in a thin material and a garter belt. “Try these.” She looked at me then pulled them on. Not bad, I could see a tiny bump where the garters attached on her thigh. A nice opaque silk blouse that was soft to the touch over a skimpy bra, well she wasn’t that well endowed and the thin bra straps showed nicely under the silk blouse. There my creation was done. I picked up another dozen pairs of stockings, well they were on sale after all.

Next morning Beth looked a bit nervous about wearing the fishnets into the office so I wore a pair of black seamed stockings with a garter belt under a wrap over skirt to keep her company. We climbed the stairs to the upper level he moved the bag but I was with Beth. Bother what was one more day. I smiled at him and sat in an empty double seat further back. Beth and I chatted away, she told me how nice it was to have choice in her life once more and to make her own mug of tea.

As we got to the top of the stairs I turned and gave him a smile and a small wave, which he returned. Definite progress, I started to think about whom we’d invite to the wedding.

I left her in my office when Carla arrived with Rhys at the front door. I led him through to a cubical by talking quietly to him the whole time. Carla had mentioned he preferred that. Next I led Beth to the cubical where Rhys was sitting back in the chair with his feet on the desk. “Rhys this is Beth, Beth meet Rhys. Now if you can work together you both have a job. To start there is a printout on the desk in front of you Rhys and I have some questions to ask you about it.” I glanced at Beth how seemed a bit disconcerted that Rhys hadn’t even looked in her direction.

“Beth can you pick it up and read it out to me?” “Are you blind or something pick it up and read it yourself.” Oh well not the most tactful start to the day. “Just pick it up ad read it and yes I’m blind.” “But where’s your dog?” “I don’t have one.” Beth seemed to be a bit taken back but picked up the printout and started to read. I let her read the first section then asked Rhys to describe what it did line by line. He did very well according to my notes. Then I asked him if it would be possible to increase the maximum values as in my notes it talked about single word length instructions limited the maximum value it could calculate and according to my financial estimates we were due to exceed that in two years time. “Well I’d just have to go through the code and change the variables from single to double length and the program instructions to double length as well.” “But it could be done.” “If that is your wish, your wish is my command. It might take me a day or two and it would need testing by the end users. Say three months?” I breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m happy any questions?” “I looked up how to get here. It’s two buses and I don’t think I can manage that each day.” “You could get a dog?” Beth suggested. Rhys laughed “No dog.” “Taxi?” “I hate not knowing if they’re driving the shortest route.” “Or you could collect him and take him home each day.” I interjected. Beth looked at me and then at Rhys. You could see her mind ticking. She wanted this job. She wanted the money. “How long does the job last?” “The system is being rewritten and the estimate is three years.” Rhys chuckled “So it’s good for ten.” “There is a bonus of three million dollars if you stay to the end.” Beth gulped. Rhys just smiled “So four percent would give us enough to live on for the rest of our lives. The bonus would be split. I assume.” “The same ratio as your pay so you get a couple of million, Beth gets a million.”

“Fuck for that kind of money I’ll be your seeing eye dog.” “Bitch you mean?” Chuckled Rhys. “Do you have a spare bed?” Beth moved over and lifted his feet off the table then sat in his lap placing his hand on her thigh directly over the bumps. He moved his hand down to the hem of her short skirt then felt the fishnet stockings underneath. “Fuck.” Rhys exclaimed as his fingers explored. “That’s fine by me. Just as long as I have somewhere to sleep.” Beth leaned in and deeply kissed him on the lips.

“So guys do we have a deal?” Beth looked anxious until Rhys turned and faced me before speaking “We have a deal, but I feel Beth and I ought to do some team building exercises first.”

I spoke to my boss and told him all that had happened including Beth wearing fishnets and Rhys discovering the bumps on her thigh. “Well done I knew you’d find a way.” He took my hand and pulled me down onto his lap his hand rested on my bumps. “Same deal for you, be my bitch, so stockings and warm my bed. Stay ten years and you get a three million bonus.” He kissed me and my toes curled. I frowned at him “I want an exclusive, no one else.” His eyebrow raised for a moment as if he was going to change his mind then he turned and typed into the keyboard and there was a whirl by the side of his desk as his laser printer spat out his printout. “Sign.” I looked at it and there was the three million after ten years but I reread it. “This a prenup?” “I don’t get all my inheritance until I marry. You were demanding an exclusive contract so why not.” I thumped him hard. Beth has agreed to be bridesmaid.