Rankled

"How dare he?" Cassie fumed. It was a good thing that there wasn't much traffic here at The Station because Cassie's driving was erratic at best. "How could he treat us like that?"

"I'm stunned. I've worked with him before and he did not behave like that. Cassie, I would never have taken you there if I had known. Please forgive me," Frau said.

Cassie stopped the car and turned to face Frau. "Forgive you? You, my dear friend, did nothing wrong and there is nothing to forgive. Without you and Sten my life here would be so much less. You have been nothing but helpful." She noticed that Frau's color was starting to return to normal and his hands finally rest quietly in his lap. She hadn't realized how upset Frau was. "Are you doing okay?"

Frau looked at her then, finally really seeing Cassie instead of his guilt. "Yes, I'm just ashamed for High Lord Thorton and my own inability to see how this would turn out. I swear he didn't act like that before."

Cassie began to giggle and then it burst forth in a full belly-laugh. "Of course not. You are a high ranking person and you were helping him with his negotiations. But we are going to just forget it now. It's over and done."

"Cassie, what did you do for the Boss?" asked Sten.

"What?"

"Well, I guess I want to know the same thing High Lord Thorton did. What is your 'rank' so to speak? This is idle curiosity. You were brilliant back there and took no crap from that man. Where did you learn that?"

"Oh. I was many things. My Boss isn't all that creative. She made me and used me over and over. I've been both a prosecuting and a defense lawyer. I've been a surgeon. And a private detective. I've been a major on an interstellar spaceship. She starts story after story, using me in various jobs."

Cassie paused for a moment. "She never saves the stories. She writes, edits, rewrites, adds, reads, sits in the chair staring at the screen and then she selects all and hits Delete."

There was silence in the car. Cassie turned forward and began to drive, slower and more carefully. It was horrifying to have a Boss who never saved.

But Cassie was an optimist. "I guess I should get a bumper sticker for this car that says 'Jesus saves; Boss – not so much.'" At least she could laugh about this.

"You really are all those professions?" asked Frau.

"Yeah. And more, some not as 'glamorous.' I've been a scullery maid that solved mysteries in a manor house and nun in a silent cloister. The conversation in that story was scintillating," snorted Cassie, drolly. "I've been an artist and inventor. I've been a scientist and college professor. She writes and writes. But never Saves."

"And you retain all those skills?" asked Frau.

"Yes. She just keeps piling more on."

Frau looked over at Sten and began to laugh. "She's brilliant. And she doesn't even realize it."

"My Boss created me smart because what good is a stupid heroine, but brilliant? You are kidding," Cassie laughed with her friends.

Sten said, "You know, most of us only have one career, one story, one way to be. Your Boss has given you the gift of wide ranging talents. You will do well here."