How to Get Ahead Without Murdering Your Boss

by Helen Burton

  Arnold stared back at her. "The decision has been made. You'll find your reassignment notice on your desk when we return. A position somewhere in sales I think — in our Darwin office."

  Kylie's eyes widened but her voice was eerily calm. "So why bring us out here and go through this charade?"

  "It was your last chance to show the kind of qualities Medivalue needs to take it into the future. I tried to teach you and you all failed."

  "I could teach you a few things," muttered Ed in the background.

  "Well, well, well," drawled Arnold as he swaggered out from behind the bar and walked towards Ed. "Another quarter heard from. And what would you teach me, Ed? How to be a loser? How to be a joke to my colleagues and a failure to my family? Hah. Look at you. Look at all of you." Arnold's arms swung wide, spilling some of his drink. He stumbled backwards and sat on the arm of the sofa, breathing heavily. Yasmin moved tentatively towards him. "Arnold? Are you okay?"

  Arnold wheezed and waved her away. "Stop acting like you care." He bent over, coughing. "You are the worst of the lot. You think that sucking up to me will guarantee you a job? Think again."

  Yasmin's hand flew to her mouth with a sob.

  Arnold started to laugh and then cough and splutter. No one moved to help him. The only sounds were the crackling of the fire and Arnold's wheezing.

  "Mr Strong, can I get you…" Lou started.

  "No!" Arnold shouted, getting to his feet. "I've said all that I want to say. You're all through. Pack your bags. We'll be leaving in the morning."

  "Mr Strong, there's a cyclone heading this way. You won't be able to leave yet." Lou's voice was calm and steady despite feeling as if the evening was spinning out of control.

  "I'll leave when I say I want to," Arnold was shouting now, red in the face. He turned to Lou and started to growl at her. "As for you..."

  "That's enough mate," Paul stepped in front of Lou. "We could say it's the drink, but the truth is you're just a nasty piece of work. If it was up to me, I'd put you in a boat and send you out into the middle of the cyclone, but I'd be worried that someone would feel obliged to go to the trouble of rescuing you again."

  "Who the hell do you think you are?"

  Paul was usually slow to anger but his patience had been tested to the limit in the past twenty-four hours. "I'm the person who's going to beat the shit out of you unless you shut up and stop being such an arrogant prick, that's who."

  Paul and Arnold stood face to face, Arnold breathing heavily.

  Arnold was the first to break eye contact, looking around the room. Sullen, angry faces stared back at him. Lou imagined she saw him falter for just a second before he squared his shoulders and brushed roughly past Paul. He stopped at the bar, grabbed a nearly full bottle of scotch and then continued on to the doorway. "A farewell toast." He took off the lid and lifted the bottle to his lips. "To the most weak-willed, incompetent team to ever sit around a boardroom table." Arnold appeared to lose his balance a little as he smacked his lips and turned to go. He paused for a minute and looked at Lou. "I expect my dinner to be served in my cabin immediately. The company here would make me lose my appetite." With that he walked out of the doorway and into the rain.

  17

  The embers of the fire burned low and long ago everyone had given up the pretence of trying to be sociable. Nathan's mood had seemed to lighten since he had confessed his lack of ambition to Arnold. He had even been helpful with checking the outside of the building and bringing in extra supplies but had then slipped out back to his own cabin. Yasmin had finally stopped sniffling and had started on a bottle of wine, finishing it just before falling asleep on one of the couches. Ed leaned across and tried to cover her with a blanket but she woke up and pushed him away. "I don't need your help," she yelled. She saw Lou watching them. "Well, what are you staring at?" She stood unsteadily and caught her breath. "I'm going to bed."

  "Don't you think it would better if you stayed here tonight?" Ed reached for her arm but she swerved out of his reach and headed for the door, stopping only briefly to grab another bottle of wine from the bar. Ed shook his head, caught Lou watching him and shrugged, "She's about the same age as my Debbie." He came over and joined her on the floor near the fire.

  "I notice that you haven't had a drink tonight," said Lou in a low voice. "Everyone else seems to have indulged to keep out the chill."

  Ed ran a wrinkled hand over his face. He looked tired and drawn but somehow more contented than Lou remembered him when he arrived a little over 24 hours ago.

  "Well today, after 'rescuing' Arnold I don't know," he paused and stared into the embers. "I guess I started to think about my own life and how I am living it. It was tough today, but I loved feeling useful. Like I was making an actual difference in someone's life. Today I kept looking around at my colleagues. What kind of life do they have? All the gossip and infighting and having to watch your back. I don't have much time left and I don't want to spend it surrounded by people who put their job first and their friends and family last." Ed gave a wry smile. "Look at Arnold. What if he had died today? What has he got to show for his life? A wife who hates him, a company that's doing well but staffed by people who can't stand him. He's rich but…," the sentence tapered off. "When my time comes, I think I'd like to go differently."

  "I don't know that many of us get a choice do we?" Lou gently teased.

  Ed smiled. "No, but we get to choose how we live and so far I'm not very impressed with how I've done that. Young Clearview, his generation has the right idea. He told me he's going to look for a less stressful job. Maybe even move to a smaller town. In my day we didn't feel like we had choices about our careers, our lives. Everyone did what they thought they should do."

  "Yes a lot of damage is done in this world by that word 'should'," said Lou. Her gaze took in the sleeping forms around the room. "I made my mind up years ago that I would have my own business, run my own show."

  "You should be proud of what you've achieved here lass," said Ed placing a hand on her shoulder. "You've shown me a thing or two." Ed sat up straighter. "I'm glad that Arnold has finally told me to go."

  "Really?" said Lou. "But you were so upset last night when you thought you were fired."

  "Yes, crazy isn't it? But climbing up that rockface in the freezing rain this morning I felt really alive for the first time in years. I'm angry about the reason of course but it felt good being outdoors and really helping someone in a practical way, not just selling them a product that no one cares about or that's going to be copied and reproduced and sold cheaply to people who don't even know why they're buying it. It should be produced for people in the third world who need it — but our board of directors is only concerned with profit. No, I realised that I had been hanging on thinking that I needed more money to retire. But I've got enough money if I live simply. The truth is," he paused, "I just didn't want to let go of the title and the job and the feeling that I am needed. I'm not. I'm replaceable as a sales manager but I'm not replaceable as a human being. I want to find out who Ed Senior really is — or used to be. I want to be a father and a grandfather and do it right. I want to matter to the people who love me, not to some corporation that wants to tip me out on the scrapheap."

  Ed stretched his legs out in front of him. "Cramp," he explained to Lou. "Happens when a body isn't used to being placed in strange positions."

  Lou nodded and smiled. "Sounds like you're about to do a lot of things you're not used to." She leaned over to him and whispered. "Congratulations."

  "Thank you. Sorry dear, rabbiting on like this. You probably want to get some sleep."

  "It's been a pleasure Ed," said Lou.

  Ed nodded and with a slight groan got to his feet. "All this talk has made me a bit peckish. I think you said that there were some leftovers in the kitchen?"

  "Yes I'll help you," said Lou, starting to get to her feet.

  Ed put his hand on her shoulder. "No you stay here. I'm fine to rustle up a sandwich by myself. T
hank you dear."

  Lou nodded and watched him take one of the torches and disappear out the door.

  She scanned the room in the half-light from the fire. Everyone else was now sleeping soundly guessing from the snores. She remembered being surprised the first time she passed by Clara's room and heard snores that would saw wood in half. She hadn't thought a woman could make that much noise. She seemed to be quiet enough tonight though.

  Kylie had used her laptop until the battery ran out and then had stalked about the room, unsure of what to do. Lou had offered her a book but she finally settled into a lounge chair with a glass of wine and a few magazines before declaring she couldn't concentrate and insisted on sleeping in her cabin, against Lou's advice.

  And Paul. Paul had edged his way closer to the fire until they were seated side by side. Lou admitted only to herself that she liked the feel of him close by and the smell of his skin. But she also knew that she needed to think first about her business and her guests this weekend. Personal matters could wait. She looked at his face as it glowed in the light of the fire. No, business first, no matter how tempting the distraction.

  The wind still pounded against the building but it seemed to have dropped a little in the last hour or so, and the thunder and lightening had passed. Lou wasn't worried about the lodge standing up to the storm as she had supervised the building herself and knew that its' thick stone walls could withstand anything. The rain on the roof became soothing rather than threatening and she gradually sank into her blanket onto the floor.

  18

  Lou didn't know what had awoken her but suddenly she was alert, her heart pounding. Even though the windows were shuttered she could tell that it was early morning. Light had started to filter into the room. It was silent and it took a few moments for her to realize what was different. The winds had dropped and the rain was falling so gently that it could hardly be heard against the window. In her half-awake state Lou struggled to think clearly. Something wasn't right. There was something she should be remembering. What was it? She looked carefully about the room again. Paul was now stirring beside her. But no Clara. And it seemed as if all of the guests had stayed in their cabins. She should check to see how they had fared.

  Lou's heart started to beat faster for a reason she couldn't quite put her finger on. She shook off her blanket and headed outside into a gentle but persistent rain. They had been lucky. A few broken tree branches seemed to be the only damage.

  "Good morning." Kylie was on the deck of her cabin doing some stretches, dressed as if she was ready for an inner-Sydney gym.

  Lou stopped at the bottom of the steps and leaned on the railing. "Morning. I am just checking to see if everyone is okay after last night's storm."

  "You mean the one in the lounge or the cyclone?" said Kylie with a raised eyebrow.

  Lou smiled. She was continually surprised by Kylie's ability to keep on top of whatever was going on.

  "Both I guess. I'm off to the other cabins now."

  "Well I won't be joining you. I'm only halfway through my routine."

  Lou nodded. "Breakfast will be ready in an hour." She waved over her shoulder but Kylie was already concentrating on her next stretch.

  As Lou made her way along the muddy path, she almost sank up to her ankles in water. Filling in the holes and repairing the garden was going to keep her busy for the next few days. She heard a splash and saw Nathan navigating the puddles and heading for the main building. She gave him a wave and turned up the hill towards Yasmin's cabin. "Well that's two down and three more to find," she muttered to herself.

  Reaching Yasmin's cabin she walked up the steps and found the door ajar.

  "Yasmin?" She hesitated, remembering the angry scene the night before. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door and stepped inside. The bed looked as if it had been slept in and an assortment of empty bottles bore testament to a late night. Lou crept towards the bathroom and was thankful to see that the door was open and the room empty. There were several open bottles on the vanity unit and some pills strewn near the sink. Yasmin didn't look the type to be taking so many pills. She picked up a bottle and read the prescription. 'Arnold Strong'. What were Arnold's pills doing in Yasmin's cabin? Did Yasmin need the comfort of a warm bath and a pill or two to take away the pain of her boss's comments the night before? It looked as if she had been soaking in a hot tub as there was plenty of water on the floor. Or maybe she and Arnold had made up and they were sharing the tub?

  Lou returned to the bedroom wondering about what to do next. At a movement outside the window Lou gasped and edged slowly towards the half-open door. There was the sound of steps outside and the door suddenly sprang open.

  "Paul!" Lou sank against the wall, her face drained of colour.

  "Whoa, what's up?" Paul grabbed her and held her up. "What are you doing?"

  Lou shrugged him off. "You scared me." She went outside and took a few deep breaths. "I came to check on Yasmin but she's not here."

  Paul yawned. "Yeah well. It looks like the cyclone's moved away."

  "Yes but we could still have trouble."

  "Of course we do," he said with resignation. "Don't you ever give up?"

  Lou started back towards the lodge. "Yasmin's gone now. And so has Clara."

  "So Yasmin's gone for a walk and so's Clara. Didn't you tell me she goes every morning without fail?"

  Lou stopped and looked at him.

  "See? You're jumping to conclusions," said Paul, as they neared the back of the lodge. He saw her face fall. He put his arm around her shoulders and marched her towards the kitchen. "Come on, let's make some coffee for the troops and tell them the good news. They might be able to leave this beautiful place today and go back to their mad, important lives."

  "But I was going to check Arnold's cabin," she halfheartedly protested.

  Paul stopped her and looked her in the eye. "Do you really want to face that dickhead after last night?"

  Lou smiled. "Scrambled eggs on toast with bacon?"

  Paul rubbed his stomach. "The way to a man's heart…"

  She was still smiling when they opened the door to the kitchen and saw Clara on the floor, sweeping up something. Judging from the jacket she had on and the mud on her boots she'd already finished her morning walk.

  "Oh you gave me a fright," said Clara getting to her feet. "Some glass on the floor there." She turned to Paul. "Do you think you can try the generator again?"

  "Well I've got my orders," said Paul. "I'll get cracking. Bit wet out this morning?"

  Clara turned and looked down. "Oh I forgot I still had this on." She took off her jacket, shaking it out on the floor and hanging it up behind the door.

  "Okay. Keys?" Paul turned to Lou who tossed the keys to him. "If I can't get it started soon it won't happen at all." He turned and went out the back door.

  Lou started to get out some plates and cutlery for breakfast. Clara went to the cool-room and came back with some bread and cereal.

  "Clara when you were out walking did you happen to see Arnold?" asked Lou. Clara started to slice the bread. "No I didn't see anyone. Is he missing again?"

  Lou looked at Clara standing there with the breadknife in her hand and her heart started beating faster. "Well I haven't seen him this morning. I can't imagine he would take off again in the middle of the storm."

  "Well maybe he needed to clear his hangover," Clara turned to the bench and started to bring out pots and pans.

  Lou took down the plates and cups and placed them on a tray. "Clara how did you know Arnold had a hangover? We never said anything about what happened last night."

  Clara slowly turned and placed the pans on the bench between them. "Well it was pretty obvious. A few bottles missing from the lounge. You and Paul looking pissed off. You don't have to be Einstein to work it out."

  "No I guess not," said Lou. She pretended to count the plates on the tray and, trying to sound casual, asked, "So what time did you get up this morning?"

  Clar
a stopped slicing and sighed. She looked Lou in the eye. "Why?"

  "Well I'm just trying to work out when Arnold might have left so we know if we have to get worried again." Lou started to gather some fruit together.

  "Well I went for a walk an hour or so ago and he wasn't about when I got up."

  "Okay. Thanks. I might just go and see who's awake and ready for breakfast."

  "Sounds like a good idea." Clara didn't look up.

  19

  Lou tried to shrug off a sick feeling in her stomach after talking with Clara. There was something she couldn't quite put her finger on. She was still mulling it over when she turned the handle to the lounge and was surprised to see everyone standing in a group. But they barely noticed her. Their eyes were fixed on Yasmin who was hysterical.

  She turned, saw Lou and raced over to her.

  "What did you say? Slow down Yasmin I can't understand a word." Lou tried to listen while the others gathered around them.

  Kylie took command. "Yasmin, pull yourself together." Over the sobbing, she said loudly, "Yasmin says that Arnold's dead. Again."

  "Well I won't be going out in the rain to find another dummy. Not after what he did to us yesterday," said Nathan.

  "Cheers to that mate." Paul had just entered the lounge and was quickly catching up on what was happening.

  Lou looked from one face to another and realized if she was going to set out after Arnold it would be on her own. She made a decision. "I understand your reluctance but Arnold is one of my guests, and it is my responsibility to ensure that you are all safe. Come on Yasmin." She turned and then paused at the door. "Breakfast will be ready shortly for those of you who aren't coming with me." With that she left.