One moment, the second hand on the clock was ticking along, and the next moment it stuck fast like gum under a table. Francine frowned and shook her wrist slightly. With one manicured nail she tapped on the face. Nothing. The second hand and the number three had fallen in love and couldn't bear to be apart every fifty-nine seconds. She made an inaudible groan. She had just bought this watch.
The conference room had grown white-wall silent and in her mind she saw everyone looking at her as she mucked with her broken watch. And when she braved glancing up Ted Donnolly from accounting was indeed staring at her across the black top table. Francine jumped slighly in her chair, actually shocked she had been right. Ignoring that Ted's stare was about a foot below her eyes she looked to her boss, sitting next to his boss who was sitting next to her boss. Well, they weren't staring at her, thank God. Actually...
"Um, hello? Ted? Mr. Leeson? Mrs. Dalton?" Francine looked down the other end of the table. "Bonnie? James? Ed?"
Nobody responded. Nobody moved, even, blinked or breathed or fidgeted or talked. Mrs. Dalton had been droning on and on about figures and then she just stopped. Mrs. Dalton never just stopped, she just prattled on towards eternity and that's why Francine had been staring at her watch.
She stood up slowly. Ted and his eyes stayed where they were. Everbody kept playing statue. Slowly Francine made her way around the table. No one responded. As though to make up for everything else, her heart started speeding up. She glanced out to the world below their high rise meeting room and froze like everyone else.
"Well, this is fucked up right here."
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