The Knowledge Stone

by Jack McGinnigle

  He addressed Margarite in his gravest tones: ‘I think that sounds like a very bad idea, Margarite. Junior staff training junior staff? That’s very dangerous and it’s inefficient, too. I will not have such a thing happening in my Department. I insist that this liaison be broken up immediately. That’s an order.’

  To his surprise, Margarite demurred; she normally backed down right away when he adopted his most serious tone. ‘I really don’t agree, Julian. The training with Alex has been highly successful and the girl is now learning well. I think it is essential for her to work with Alex. He is very good with her and he is one of my most reliable workers.’

  Julian gritted his teeth and looked angrily into Margarite’s eyes: ‘Listen, Margarite, I have given you my decision on this matter. I am extremely surprised that you should be arguing with me.’ Suddenly, he had a brilliant idea. ‘Anyway, I have decided that Sunia will now work full-time with me; I have been finding her very effective as my PA.’ He turned to leave the office.

  ‘Fine, Julian. I’ll get on to HR right away and tell them to organise a recruitment exercise for a replacement in the General Office. Do you want me to tell them about your acquisition of a PA, or will you do it? One way or another, HR will need to know. It’s an overall staff increase for the Firm. You know they’re very hot on that.’

  Julian froze in the doorway, his mind racing. If Margarite contacted HR, they would report a staff increase request to their Director and an Internal Staffing Review would need to be set up. He, Julian, would need to make a strong case for a PA. He would probably have to be interviewed by the Partners’ Board. If his case failed, it would be a humiliation for him and he would lose Sunia. However if his case was successful, they would insist on a Fair Recruitment Exercise and the best and most experienced candidate, internal or external, would be chosen. This would definitely not be Sunia, since she had no PA skills or experience. Success or failure, this course of action would be a disaster for him! Julian turned back slowly to Margarite, his face ashen: ‘Ah … Let’s take no action on any of this for the moment, Margarite. You will appreciate it’s a very complex matter and I need to think it through properly. I’m very busy at the moment with other things. I’ll let you know in due course. For the time being, Sunia can stay under your control.’

  No mention was made of Alex.

  ‘OK, I have noted that, Julian. No action, no change, at least for the time being.’ She watched him go with a slight smile.

  Moments later, Julian was back in his office, wild-eyed, heart pounding. Margarite had outmanoeuvred him! It had never happened before. Worse still, he had lost Sunia completely. Now he could not insist on having her for training or informal PA work, as he did before. If he did, Margarite would insist on asking HR for a replacement for the General Office. He knew it was very unlikely he could construct a successful case for a PA for HDC. None of the Heads of Department at his level had PAs and he was sure the Firm would not wish to make an exception for him. But even if they did, his PA would certainly not be his beloved Sunia. Julian slumped forward in despair and held his head in his hands.

  The weeks passed and Margarite was astonished at the progress Sunia was making. She was like a different person! Instead of the dreamy, detached and rather inarticulate person who had come to DC, panicking if asked to do anything and seemingly quite happy to spend the whole day staring out of the window, here was a bright and determined girl, hungry to learn everything she could and approaching every task with meticulous enthusiasm.

  ‘It really is a miracle to see,’ Margarite thought. ‘Who would have thought she was capable of this?’ As yet, Margarite still insisted that Sunia work with Alex and use him as her informal supervisor. However, she thought it would soon be time for Sunia to “go solo”.

  A few days later, a cheerful Sunia popped her head around Margarite’s door and asked if she could speak to her.

  ‘Yes, Sunia, come in,’ Margarite replied with a smile, ‘I’m really pleased with your progress, you know. You’re becoming a bit of an expert.’ Sunia blushed with pleasure.

  ‘Margarite, I want to tell you why I’ve improved. Finally, I’ve worked it out.’

  ‘Let’s make a cup of coffee and then you can tell me all about it.’ Margarite was curious to hear what Sunia would say.

  So Sunia told Margarite the whole story of her childhood and the horrifying bullying she had experienced as she moved from school to school in various parts of the world: ‘All the schools were different but the bullying was the same,’ she said sadly. ‘It only takes one bully and their pathetic followers to make the lives of their victims a misery. It’s no good trying to stand up to them. I tried that many times at first and always got beaten – sometimes psychologically, often physically. Bullies like to hurt people. I know now it’s because they feel inadequate. So a long time ago I worked out a survival strategy. If I could make them despise me as an inferior, they would leave me alone. At all the schools I made myself stupid, clumsy and pathetic and it worked. I survived! But unfortunately that became a way of life for me and I carried it with me after I had finished school. When I came here, you and Julian (I mean, HDC) were the authority figures here and I automatically wanted to establish myself as stupid and inadequate in your sight. If I made you believe that, you would leave me alone and not ask me to do difficult things that I would get wrong; because if I got things wrong, I would get punished – and that would hurt me, just like the bullying did. Do you see? It was just another application of the survival strategy.’

  Margarite looked at this beautiful girl with sympathy, deeply aware that she had misjudged her: ‘Sunia, I think you are really brave and very clever to have worked all this out. But how were you able to overcome it with Alex?’

  ‘Margarite, I like Alex. He was always very nice to me, even when I was being stupid and pathetic. Recently, I suddenly realised that I didn’t need to make myself stupid to him. He was not an authority figure like you (sorry, Margarite!) and he was not going to bully me. So I thought if I could persuade him to put up with me tagging along behind him, I might learn something and become a little bit more useful in the Department. After a while, I began to realise I wasn’t so stupid and became a bit more confident. Alex is so nice to me. I really like him.’

  Margarite smiled: ‘Well, I imagine that pleases him quite a lot.’

  ‘Do you really think so, Margarite? I want him to be pleased.’

  Margarite smiled again: ‘What young man is going to object to a beautiful girl following him around, hanging on his every word?’ After a short pause, Margarite said: ‘Sunia, I was very surprised to hear you calling HDC “Julian”. No one in the General Office calls him by his first name.’

  ‘I’m very sorry about that, Margarite. I made a mistake. I hope I’m not going to get into trouble.’ Sunia looked very worried.

  ‘No, you’re not,’ Margarite said, ‘but why did you do it?’

  Sunia looked uncomfortable: ‘He told me to call him Julian when we were together in his office. He told me not to do it anywhere else. But I made a mistake. I forgot. I knew I would.’ The girl was silent for a moment. ‘Margarite, I don’t like doing it. It doesn’t feel right. But he’s HDC and I felt I had to do as I was told.’

  Margarite thought for a moment and then said somewhat hesitantly: ‘Sunia, was everything … all right … when you were alone with HDC in his office? I was always a bit worried about you.’

  Sunia replied thoughtfully: ‘HDC was very nice to me. He was kind and I really appreciated that because, in my life, so many people have not been kind to me. He seemed to like me.’

  ‘What did you actually do, Sunia?’

  ‘Sometimes he gave me training on the computer terminal. Not the sort of training I need to do my DC job. Really it was training to do the job that he does. I thought that was a bit strange. At other times I sort of looked aft
er him, got him coffee, ran errands for him. The best thing of all was delivering envelopes or folders to other people in the Firm. That made me feel quite important. There were also times when he was busy and I did nothing. I just sat there. It’s what he wanted me to do.’

  ‘So you were always very happy with HDC?’

  ‘Yes … in a way … But …’

  ‘What’s the “but”, Sunia?’

  Sunia looked uncomfortable. ‘Well, I thought he touched me rather a lot – just on my hands and arms,’ she added hastily, thinking about the kiss he had insisted upon. After a moment, Sunia continued quietly: ‘But, Margarite, I’ve changed. I think it’s because I’m doing real DC work now. I don’t really want to work with HDC anymore. I just want to be one of the General Office staff. I just want to get better and better at my work.’

  Margarite looked at the girl with real pleasure: ‘Well that’s exactly what you’re going to do from now on. Thank you for telling me about your life – and your secrets.’

  Sunia was smiling happily as she left Margarite’s office. Alex was busy, head down, working hard at his desk. As she passed, Sunia ruffled his hair affectionately.

  ‘Hi!’ he said, smiling at her, ‘you’re spoiling my good looks.’

  ‘Nothing could spoil your good looks,’ she riposted, leaving him to interpret what she meant.

  The following week, Margarite appeared at Sunia’s desk. ‘Sunia, we have an important Document Pack to raise for Legal Team Three. I want you to assemble the Pack as Base Coordinator. Here are the Request Details.’

  Sunia looked at Margarite, wide-eyed, startled but delighted, too. ‘Oh, Margarite, I’ll do my very best; but do you think I’m good enough to take on such an important Pack? I might make mistakes.’

  ‘Listen, Sunia, you’ve heard me say it hundreds of times: Nobody’s perfect – not even me! Mistakes are inevitable and, if there are any, they will be picked up on the checks. I am confident that you are ready to do this standard of work. I expect it to be on my desk by the middle of this afternoon. If you have any queries or you need any help, Alex will help you, or you can come to me. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. You’re ready to do this. I trust you.’

  When Margarite had gone, Sunia sat back in that heady mixture of pride and fear. She noticed her hands were trembling. ‘Come on, get a grip!’ she reproached herself. ‘Stage 1: Understand the Request.’ She opened the Request Folder and began to read.

  ‘Congratulations, Sunia.’ Alex was standing by her desk. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t interrupt you – I know you have plenty to do. I’ll be here if you need me for anything.’ Sunia looked at Alex, her eyes shining with pride.

  ‘You’re a real friend, Alex. You’re my favourite person in DC. It’s lovely to know you’re on my side. Thank you.’ Alex flushed. He was glad she liked him so much.

  ‘I certainly like her – a great deal! Perhaps a lot more than she imagines.’

  By coffee time, Sunia had constructed a draft Schedule and Document List, the first essentials of the task. She was ready to start assembling the documents. Pleased with her progress, she decided that she needed a coffee break. For the first time in DC, Sunia felt she deserved her coffee – and it was a very heady feeling. She happily joined the other staff of the General Office as they chatted about their lives outside the Firm.

  To her surprise, Sunia found that she was actually quite an expert on clothes, unaware that the other girls had always admired the simple but expensive clothes she wore. And, of course, she was always ready to talk about cars, being the proud owner of a gorgeous Fiat Cinquecento SE Gucci! She also reported upon her driving lessons and her accounts of some of her errors were hilarious! At times, the room rang with laughter.

  Sitting unhappily in his office, Julian heard the laughter and wondered whether he should go and complain: ‘They are distracting me from my work,’ he said to himself peevishly – in fact he had only been reading the racing paper. Then his mind turned to Sunia, as it often did: ‘I hope Sunia is not becoming too familiar with that pathetic little boy Alex.’ Julian had become ragingly jealous of Alex. ‘It’s absolutely dreadful that this stupid boy now has complete access to her.’ Julian’s expression hardened into hatred with the thought that the boy might be touching her hand. How was she responding? Where else was he touching her? You know what young people are like nowadays!

  Now Julian was working himself up into a rage. Why he could even be taking advantage of the fact she is an innocent little girl! So powerful was this emotion that he gasped for breath, flushed with a raging love. At last, he calmed himself and became resolute: ‘I must protect her. I must watch them together. I must make sure nothing untoward is happening. If it is, that boy will be in trouble!’ Julian smiled unpleasantly at the thought and felt much better. That’s it, he would keep a very close eye on them.

  Coffee break over, Sunia was ready to go to the storeroom to raise the Document Pack Folder.

  ‘Margarite, can I have the key to the storeroom, please?’

  ‘I don’t have it, Sunia. Alex took it about ten minutes ago. It’s not come back, so he must still be down there. How is everything going?’

  ‘I think it’s going fine, Margarite.’ Sunia’s voice was full of pride. ‘On schedule,’ she added proudly with a little smile as she left the office. In the corridor outside, she met Julian. She thought he was acting rather shiftily.

  ‘Hello, Julian,’ she said in a friendly tone, ‘how are you?’

  She was taken aback when he held a finger to his lips and spoke very quietly: ‘Where are you going, Sunia?’

  ‘To the storeroom to raise a Document Pack Folder.’

  ‘I’ll come with you, Sunia. I can help you.’

  ‘It’s all right, Julian,’ she replied, ‘Alex is already there. He can help me if I need help.’ She was astonished at his reaction. Without a word, he turned on his heel and marched into his office, slamming the door behind him.

  ‘I wonder what’s wrong with him,’ Sunia mused as she walked down the corridor. As she approached the door, she could see that the storeroom warning light was illuminated. In accordance with procedure, she knocked at the door and waited.

  ‘Just a minute, I’m on top of the stepladder.’ Alex’s voice. A moment later, the door swung open. ‘Hello, it’s my favourite girl! Come on in.’ Alex was greatly struck by her elegant beauty as she entered. He had been busy with his own Request and had already assembled a heap of papers and folders on the table. ‘Are you OK?’ he enquired solicitously, ‘do you need any help?’

  ‘No thanks, Alex. I want to do everything myself. I need to start by getting a large Document Pack Folder. My Request involves quite a lot of material.’

  ‘Do you know where they are?’ Alex was eager to help!

  ‘Of course I do, Alex. You taught me where they were. On the top shelf just beside the door.’ Sunia wheeled the tall metal stepladder into position and prepared to ascend.

  ‘Where is everybody? The place looks empty.’ Moments before, Julian had come to the General Office to check up on Alex and Sunia. Now he burst into Margarite’s office in a distinctly agitated state.

  Puzzled, Margarite glanced out of her office door. ‘Everybody’s here – except Alex and Sunia. They’re both down in the storeroom.’

  Both in the Storeroom! Still there. Alone together. Julian swayed with the shock of it. This was extremely dangerous. He had better take action right away. With these thoughts racing through his fevered mind he left the General Office and ran towards the storeroom as quickly as he could.

  As the storeroom door came into view, he felt a wave of pure panic. The door was closed tight! The warning light glowed! Anything could be happening in there!’

  Now he pressed his ear tightly against the door, hearing the low murmur of conversation. He strained his ears but
could not hear what was being said. Then he heard the sound very clearly – she was laughing, that beautiful little laugh that he had heard in his office so many times.

  Something was happening in there! Something that should definitely not be happening!

  Immediately, he worked out his precise course of action. He would surprise them. He would throw open the door and find out precisely what was going on. He would fix that boy! After all, he was the boss, wasn’t he? He was in charge. This was his department. This was HIS storeroom.

  A final listen at the door; now a worrying silence from within. Then – CRASH!

  Julian had twisted the handle and flung the door wide open with great force. However, the door only opened about ten centimetres before it was blocked by an obstruction inside. An obstruction which fell over with a gigantic metallic clatter. Julian’s mind worked with blinding speed: ‘He’s blocked the door, that’s what he’s done! He’s used the heavy stepladder to do it. But that won’t stop me getting in.’ Julian threw his weight against the blocked door and pushed with all his strength. The door gave way slowly as the overturned steps were pushed across the floor. Now Julian was able to see into the brightly lit room. Alex lay on his back on the floor with Sunia on top of him. He had his arms around her slim body.

  There is a special roar that a lion gives when it assumes its most intimidating persona. This roar is deep, long and very, very loud. It sends an almost primeval fear into all who hear it, even those who are far away. Julian started his “conversation” with Alex and Sunia by emitting such a roar! In the following stunned silence, he continued in an exceptionally loud voice, stentorian and razor-sharp with fury. Inevitably, it began with a question directed at the unfortunate Alex: ‘What are you doing to that young girl in my storeroom?’

  ‘Saving her from injury.’ A small voice filled with shock.