For Moon, life has never been easy. With a horrible name, a bad break in life, a rough job, and problems coming from every direction. What is a part time pretend magical girl to do?

“Moon?”, he waited until he had my attention, which was tenuous at best, “Can you come with me? Bring your laptop too.” As I gathered my gear together, putting my system to sleep so that it could come back up fairly quickly, Ralph conferred with the lead tech that I had been working with for the last half of the night/day/whatever and when we were both ready, he escorted me out of the conference room and through the corridors.

Now and then we ran into other people. Even though it was a Sunday, this building and its offices were still open and some staff were on duty as it housed a vast majority of the servers and mainframes that the company operated for various accounts that it controlled. They looked at me strangely as we went by. Not that I blamed them. Ralph had to lead the way, not being able to walk beside me because of the bulk of my petticoats. The edge of my skirt occasionally touched the wall or brushed against a doorway if I strayed from the center. The one good thing was that I didn’t blush as much now as I had been earlier when all this began. I was too tired for one thing and I was way too concerned and preoccupied for the other. Yah, I had so much on my mind that I didn’t care about walking the hallways of a corporate office while wearing massive petticoats that flared my skirt way out. Believe me, I stood out and I really was mentally preoccupied. Seriously.

We arrived at the parking lot and found his car parked close to the door in the VIP section. “I hope you don’t mind, but I thought it would be easier if we road over to the main office instead of walking across the campus where anyone could see us.”

I managed to get into the front seat and after a bit, buckled myself in without cringing too much. My skirt really was a hassle and I was so sore when sitting, even in a soft and luxurious car like this one. As with most cars this size, I felt awfully tiny. I was fairly short and skinny in the first place, but when I got into these big type cars it really proved the point to me. I didn’t care for big cars anyway as they held too many memories. No, I don’t want to talk about it. My laptop went into the back seat along with my star topped wand. I don’t know why I had ever bothered to bring that thing in with me into the office in the first place. Ralph pulled out while I dug through my little cloth bag like purse and repaired my makeup in the mirror, putting on a fresh coat of lipstick after being satisfied with the rest of my appearance. The curls in my hair still looked good, what you could see outside of my large, poufy hat with its large bow on the back that matched the color of my dress. Plus the bow motif worked with the ones on my blouse, gloves, and shoes. My ears were hurting a little from the weight of the dangling star earrings that matched the star on my wand. I wasn’t used to wearing earrings this long in the first place, much less ones of the size that dangled from my lobes. When I wore them for long lengths of time, they tended to be smaller and less noticeable.

My whole outfit was a magical girl’s dream and it was meant to be that way. I had copied it off of a old show that I liked. It wasn’t exactly like the one on the show, but a mix of various elements from two outfits. Hey, I wasn’t required to be perfect to the original. This is the way I had made it. It worked for me. Besides my hat, I had a white blouse with short poufy sleeves tied off with a large white bow on each sleeve, leaving ruffles below. Those ruffles matched the ones on my neck line and I had a huge dark pink bow right on my chest. My softer pink dress was like a tank top with shoulder straps that defined my narrow waist before they went pretty much straight out resting on my already mentioned petticoats. My stockings were white and my shoes were mary janes with almost three inch heels on them, including a matching dark pink bow on the mary jane strap.

I put my short white gloves, with their own dark pink bows and ruffled hems, back on as I stared out of the window as we made our way through the corporate campus. This was a large company whose main business, at least in this arm of the company, was providing services and systems to our customers. I was but one person, a tech of little importance, lost in the sea of acquisitions and mergers who was trying to keep from drowning. Part of my current plan was to stay afloat and find a way to get ahead and get noticed for the good that I could bring to the company. That image I wanted to project to management and to my peers did not involve my current outfit, of course. Still, that’s what I get for being a good employee. All my fault. I figure I might be able to get another job once all this was over, move to a different state in the process. It was a good thing I was single and could travel light. Probably the most extensive part of my possessions was my wardrobe. Well, the wardrobe that no one else could know about. Well, I should say, that no one else knows exists except for the cute over the top magical girl number I was wearing now. I could sure use some prince to save me right now. That or another magical girl who could help me out. I’d take either. Both were equally likely.

I was trying to stay awake as we parked in the VIP lot of the main corporate building, what we all referred to as the management’s penis, so named because it was a single tower nestled between two smaller buildings we called the left and right nut houses. Cock Tower was another. This name and descriptions are not allowed to be told to anyone who had business over there. So of course I’m sure they all knew about it. Heck, as tired as I was, I was afraid I was going to blurt it out as soon as I started talking. Ralph was eyeing me right now as I tried to control my giggles.

“Something wrong?”

“Oh, ah. Sorry. I’m just a little overwhelmed at the moment.” I did my best to stifle myself. Still, my head started screaming ‘PENIS!!!’ and I had to pause near the door as I held myself up. This was not a good sign for future interactions. I wasn’t sure if it was from the lack of sleep, my meds, or the drinks I had long ago. Maybe it was just me? Could it be me? Was I that crazy person people always talk about? I tried to think if I was the one who was the crazy person in the groups I ran with or if I was the sane one, but honestly my heart wasn’t in it. I didn’t want to tarnish my personal self image of the hidden crazy one. Then again, maybe we’re all insane at some level and we don’t let others know about it.

Riding up the elevator, my mind was still thinking of penises, yet in my defense I can say that it was no longer thinking about the building. My daydream involved what happened earlier that evening with the aforementioned item in question. I wondered if I could find my way back into … the elevator chime woke me up from my pleasant memory, my eyes opening at the same time the doors did.

It was manager central.

Not just any manager central, but near the level of the corporate godhood manager central. My guess, from the view outside, that we were probably a floor or two below the corona and the tip top …. PENIS!!!

I gently pounded my hand against my head in an effort to get that thought out of there.

Ralph led me over to a chair and had me rest while he ran off into a smaller side office. In short order he brought over a very large cup of caffeine ambrosia goodness. A few sips and I felt myself in heaven. Manager coffee in the manager shaft was far better elixir than those down in the pits could ever desire. I moaned and rolled my head back for a moment closing my eyes in ecstasy.

Ralph, I could imagine him with my eyes closed, couldn’t figure out the best way to shake me awake. For one thing I could hear him move to my side and he kept pausing, not sure how to get my attention. Not wanting to risk touching me inappropriately. He must know that magical girls can affect others in strange and mysterious ways. He must have finally given up on the course he was thinking and went a different route. He softly asked, “Moon? Are you okay? Do you need help?”

I blinked a few times, lifted and turned my head slightly to look at him. “Having a hard time figuring out how to wake me up? Well, so am I.” I giggled again followed by another until I finally was able to stand up. “Let’s get this over with. Where do I sign?”

“Sign? What are you talking about?”

“You know, my termination papers. That’s why we’re here? You need to send me home now that you’ve got what you need from me.” My gloved hand pointed accusingly at him. I’d like to say it was a straight and stern finger, yet it was more like a wet noodle. My focus wavered a little and I noticed that my bow on the back of the gloved wrist was a little smudged. Carefully I took my other glove off and used my hand to spruce it up a little. I had to squint hard at it and stick my tongue out of the corner of my mouth a little. You should try it; it really, really works.

Ralph talked on as I preened my glove, “No, we’re not here to do any such thing. We’re here because we’ve got to give yet another report and since you are the main participant, you have to be here as well.” He looked me over again and started to say, “I’m not sure you’re quite ….”

Out from one of the office doors a middle age man popped his head out and interrupted him. He was very trim and fit. Probably was one of those guys that ran in the morning. I never really cared for early morning runners. No reason really. Not that I care talk about. Okay, I can’t run anymore and it sucks. Damn it all to hell. There’s so much stolen from me. It just isn’t fair!

“Ralph? Come on in. We’re ready for you.”

“Can you come carry our cups? I’m afraid … ah … that Miss Trail here is a little unsteady on her feet.” His arm came around me and helped me walk along to the door.

Part of me was a bit incensed. Unsteady? I was fine. I mean, I was wearing nearly three inch heels and I could still walk quite well. Not too many other people could walk as well as I could. Heck, I could name many people down around my office area who couldn’t walk in high heels to save their life. And I’m not talking about the other guys, but some of the actual girls couldn’t walk properly in them to save their booty. It always made me want to throw up when I saw them waste what god denied me. Not that I cared about god anymore, especially since he decided I must be worth punishment for having been born. Still, the arm felt kind of nice in a none creepy way. I guess I could let him be my knight in shining armor for a bit.

Besides, he called me ‘Miss’.

If I thought I could get away with it, I’d kiss him for that. As it was, I guess I’d settle for saying quietly to him, “thank you.”

We walked in through the first set of doors. My skirt and petticoats didn’t get caught on the frame, thankfully. We moved around what looked like a nice office with a wrap around desk with seating around the other walls before coming to another set of doors of a much larger office.

Before I knew what was happening, a woman appeared out of that office, wanting to help both Ralph and me… or was it just me? I got a good look at her as she worked around to my side. She was beautiful. And she certainly was a smart dresser. Maybe she was more of a smart dresser than she was beautiful? She certainly made Ralph look tacky. He was wearing jeans and a bowling shirt. Sure, he was all macho and everything even in his stupid bowling shirt, but she was quite lovely. Her hair was natural curls that most black women like herself didn’t use as often, preferring to use all sorts of chemicals to straighten and sort their hair into non-natural ways. Not that I’m complaining. Women have a right to do what they want with their looks. And a lot of women wear their hair in wonderful ways that require chemicals and stylists to achieve. Still, a lot can be said for a woman who can carry a natural look and make it look more beautiful than god intended. Not that I cared one wit about what god intended. After all, he messed up with me didn’t he?

Ralph tried to apologize, “I’m afraid that she’s been awake for a very long time. She’s sort of out of it.”

The lady looked at me as she helped me sit down as lady like as I could manage, what with the volume of my skirts and the smallness of the chair available to me.

He continued, “Should we cancel this? We can pick up after she’s had at least a few hours of sleep.”

I put on my best winning smile. “I’m fine, really. I’m mostly tired and my medication isn’t working too well right now.”

Both of them looked at each other, then the guy who was bringing in our coffee, and then myself. “Medication?” she asked.

“Yes, sorry. It’s why I was taking vacation for the next two weeks. My doctor has changed my medication and it takes a bit for it to settle in. Hopefully this one works well, but it seems to make me a little … you know ….” I waved my hand floppily in the air around me. “Floppy?” I did my best not to smile stupidly. I hope my smile was sweet and natural looking.

“So she’s a little punch drunk then?”

Ralph nodded, “Yes Ma’am. She’s been fairly solid up until recently, but in the last half hour she’s starting to feel some sleep deprivation. When she’s focused, she’s a lot less distracted.”

I felt my mouth grin. “understatement.” I’m not sure if I said that out loud and if I did, how loud I said it. It’s true though, my focus. It’s like a freakin’ laser when I apply it. Seriously, you don’t want to mess with me when I am focused. Maybe I didn’t say it out loud. I could have drooled and it sort of fell out. They were now looking at me. Did I do something stupid? Oh gods I hope not.

She smirked at me. “Indeed. Okay. We’re going to get started here officially. I’m turning on the recorder now.” The gentleman who had brought in our coffee pushed a few buttons on a nearby pad. She started to rattle off the date and time, and the reason why we were having this little session. “We have in attendance the technician who discovered the situation who goes by the name Moon Trail. Moon, what’s your real name?”

I must have jumped a little, because everyone was looking at me expectantly and I think they were thinking I’d just done something wrong. What was wrong? Oh, my name. I sighed. “Oh, it’s embarrassing. My parents were born again hippies and thought it would be cute to give us names that worked with the name ‘Trail’.”

“Your name please.”

“It’s Dusty.” I then spelled it out for them. You’d be amazed how many people can’t spell it right.

Ralph chuckled, “Dusty Trail? I can see why you wanted a different name than that, but why ‘Moon’?”

“College,” was my answer. It didn’t seem to satisfy him though. “I was a night owl and it stuck with me all this time.”

“Can we get back to this?” she looked at us all impatiently until she was satisfied. “We have Dusty ‘Moon’ Trail, as I was saying, the technician who discovered this issue. Moon, please state that you are here.”

“I’m here in the flesh.”

“Thank you. Regional Manager Ralph Wise.”

“Present.”

“My personal assistant manager, Charles McCormick.”

“Attending.”

“And myself, Winner Rollins, Regional President over the Health Care accounts.”

She noticed my face when she said her name. Her title didn’t impress me any. Well, mostly it didn’t impress me. What it told me was that she was a high mucky muck. And since she was at this level in the company that meant she was good at what she did. Still, her name was slightly amusing. I should really pay attention to the chain of command, but it never seemed to be that important to me. What use was it? Still, to have someone who was a Winner in my chain was interesting.

“Yes, Moon, I had parents who either had humor or intent on naming me ‘Winner’.”

She chuckled as she said that. I really liked her smile. She certainly had charm and grace within her. I wish she was my direct boss, that would be nice. I bet she was tough as nails and smooth as silk. On second thought, she sort of is my boss since she’s in my chain of command, but still I wouldn’t mind being under her directly. I like competent people.

Ralph began his report by covering the current activities. All system files and data had been copied over to a set of secret and secure systems that would be used as evidence and in the investigation. He then covered what he had done since I had notified him of what was going on. It took a long time, even while being summed up. I hoped I didn’t sound like a windbag when it was my turn.

Winner stated her activities and the direction we were all aiming for in this. Secrecy was the requirement while the investigation was going on. Her assistant merely stated he was attending as a witness to the activities and to facilitate the recording.

Thankfully we paused before my part was to begin. I wasn’t sure how I should begin. I needed to be careful though. I knew myself well enough to know that I could become quite free with my thoughts if I didn’t maintain control. I needed to focus. Charles got us all something to eat, but I wasn’t too hungry. I couldn’t eat normal food anyway. I mean, I was hungry. I know I was hungry, but my belly was doing an impression of a flopping fish out of water thing. Not something that was interested in eating at this time. More interested in getting back into the water I guess. Fish are amazing creatures, did you know that? Look at the oceans and the seas and lakes and rivers… They were everywhere. Why was it that we couldn’t take better care of their water? They were dying off from pollution and from being over fished. Such a shame. I wish the world could treat everything better. Okay, maybe not the world, but us. Yah, I wish we humans could be better treating everyone else. Why the hell were we such bad stewards of each other and the world? I mean, I’d really like it if people would at least treat me nicely. I’d love it if they could be understanding and helpful too. Don’t judge me. I guess there’s some hippie in me too.

It was my turn. You know, I think one of the nicest things about today was that no one was making fun of me and of my predicament. They were all such nice people. That’s just like how we should be treating all the fishes too.

Winner prompted me again to start my side of the events. “It started with the on call person. His name is Fish Silva. I mean Frank… Frank Silva. He is on duty to field calls from the system if there are problems with the system cycles. It’s actually a pretty quiet system. Anyway the system encountered an error, sounded the alarm, and he was called in to diagnose the issue. Frank is… well, he isn’t ‘new’ new, but he’s the second more newest member on the team. Since I had been helping him out he called me about the problem. He knew I was good at handling system problems.”

“So what is the problem again?” I didn’t feel comfortable being at the office, especially dressed the way I was. It was supposed to be a relaxing Saturday, not me at the office handling a crisis. I was towards the end of watching one of my favorite anime magical girl series. You could say that I had a thing for them. Anyway, after the week I had and the night before where I couldn’t sleep to save anyone’s life, I needed the time to relax. And if relaxing by dressing up like the character on the magical girl marathon I was watching is a crime then I was guilty.

“This job here came down in step ninety.” I watched as he controlled the mouse on the screen to show what he was seeing and such. Frank wasn’t a bad guy, he really wasn’t. His fault was that he was new to the business and that he hadn’t learned to figure things out on his own too well. Some people were that way forever. I was trying to show him how to do things the right way. And I was doing it in secret. Why? Because this whole account was full of idiots of various varieties. And I mean that in the nicest way.

You see, I had learned long time ago to take the reins and drive the wagon. I didn’t let the horses take me where they wanted to go. I didn’t walk beside the wagon and lead the horses. I sat there on the bench and drove the dang thing myself. I had a great mentor in my first job out of college. He taught me that you learn in stages. You couldn’t be expected to know it all. That was impossible. What he did expect was threefold. First off you had to build your knowledge of the system. That was a never ending quest because the system was always changing. The system had cycles that did functions. Knowing the basics of what the cycles were supposed to do helped you to remember the details. You should know that in a cycle that was supposed to work on data regarding “dogs” you wouldn’t find anything about “cats” and if you did, there was something wrong. From there you dug into the issue.

The next thing he stressed was knowing the system programs. Not the stuff that we coded as that was part of the system. No he meant that you had to learn what the things like the operating system did and how it did it and what order it did it in. You needed to know the database in the same way. You needed to know each and every language used in the system and how it all worked together. And you should be able to go in reverse and read it even in the most basic level of the languages. This was the most stable aspect of the system. The database didn’t change how it did its job unless there was a major upgrade. So as long as you kept up with the system programs, you could do the third part.

Investigation. Digging into the issue. That was the key. You couldn’t count on being correct about what everything did. You looked, you investigated, and you checked it out. You NEVER EVER took it for what the document said it did. Not even your own stuff unless you had recently worked in it and was the last one who touched it.

That’s what I was trying to teach Frank. Never ending job it seemed. Most people never bothered. They’d call the expert on that area and then take a back seat.

“Why are you in the office again?” Frank asked.

I sighed. It wasn’t worth pointing out that I was supposed to be on vacation, it would only make him feel bad about calling me in to help. I certainly wasn’t going to mention what I was wearing or had been watching when he called. “I left my laptop at the office, so I had to come in when you called.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“No problem.” I lied. “I was out and about near the office when you called, so it was nothing to drop by. I need to pick up my laptop anyway.” Again, lies. Well, mostly. My laptop was at the office. I was on vacation after all.

It wasn’t long before I had Frank’s problem resolved. It didn’t take long at all to resolve it. What took the time was walking him through how I found the issue and how to correct it. Especially since it was him who caused the problem. He had recently promoted this code earlier in the month. Since this was a monthly job, he didn’t hit the error until the first time it ran. All he had done was forget to define a file to the system’s generational data set list. Like I said, he’s new. We all make that mistake if we aren’t careful.

But something didn’t quite look right. I looked at the time and listened to the quiet deserted office. No one was going to be here on a Saturday night. Unless they were an idiot like me. Still, it was far better to stay here for another hour than to go out into the daylight where people could see me. I had spent a long time getting ready and dressed in a costume and I didn’t have time to get out of it to come into work only to go home again and get back into it. So I was here in costume. I was trying not to be seen too. If Frank knew what I was wearing… Well, lucky for me he was at home.

So I stayed and worked on tracking down what looked wrong to me. There was this file that had a strange date/time stamp signature upon it. From what I could see, it should have had an earlier stamp than it was showing, because the job that last touched it ran earlier than what this file showed in its date/time stamp. That is, the time stamp on it was more recent. That’s what the mystery was. I’m sure someone had done something stupid. With the crew in this account, it was inevitable.

Thinking about my teammates made me sigh. They weren’t bad people. They were only ignorant. And I meant that in a nice way too. Still, quite a few of them had reached the limit of their ability a promotion or so ago. Thus this team was heavy with people who all ranked above me who couldn’t tie their shoes. A few of them could though. More the pity for it all. Those that weren’t complete idiots were few. Of those few, most were fairly good at what they did, but they were very sheltered in what they did. They only worked in their little world and didn’t want to know or do anything outside of it. And they certainly didn’t want to let you into their world. If they did than someone else would learn what they did and could cause them problems. By keeping the world in the dark, they were the experts in their areas.

The problem really laid in management. Our account manager used to be a techie, like the rest of us. But he had been promoted out of that into management. Most techies who go that route suffer from one of the following afflictions. Either they no longer had the knack, thus their move to management reflected their loss of techie skills. Or they still had the knack and even though they hadn’t touched the code for years, they felt they still knew every in and out of the system and could make techie decisions without looking into the actual tech.

Generally these managers were either bad at being managers, but were being pulled along by those above or around them. Or they found they were good at being bosses. Problem with those folks is they want to keep pleasing folks to prove they are the same old good guy. That means protecting their own. Don’t upset the applecart. What was the best thing to do for a techie who goes to management? Move them off and far away from the team they came from. Put them into as foreign of a system as possible with people they don’t know. That way everyone benefits. Without that support system, they have to rely on the people to do their own work and they can judge things better. And people can judge them better too. No more relying on past images saving them in their new job.

But hey, what do I know. I’m just a lowly tech trying to stay afloat. Our company had been through several mergers and downsizes and I had found myself floating around accounts who would take me in. My oldest account no longer was around. My last account downsized and because I had a lot of sick leave and wasn’t on a major project at the time, I got the opportunity to find another account to work for. Thus why I was here. Far away from the city where I used to live and now working in the main corporate office complex of one of the past merger acquisitions.

This account wasn’t very good. I could tell they had cemented their staff long ago and anyone who came in now was not going to be accepted well. Unless they got a mentor. Problem was I scared these folks. I actually knew what I was doing and I was better than they were. You can call me arrogant, but I’m not kidding. I really did know enough to run circles around these folks. You see, what made me good was that this account used the same system programs and languages that I had known in my first account. It was very specialized knowledge. That’s why they picked me up in the first place, because I knew it and could demonstrate my knowledge.

Anyway, I had my own problems. I’ll admit that. They are all personal though. I didn’t like to let others know about them. I have a very extensive medical history and because of some things, I needed medication to keep me mentally able to walk some days. Sometimes the meds stopped working as well as they used to and I had to switch over which always took a little time during which it really was best that I didn’t work unless I was up to the task even if I could focus on that task. I have a very clear focus. It kept me alive all that time when I was struggling to stay alive. Anyway, the last account I was on I had let them know about my meds and the switchover I had to do and they got rid of me. So it wasn’t worth it. Sit down, be quiet, and don’t rock the boat.

“So what was the problem with the file again?” Winner asked.

“When you write a file to the system it will put a date and time stamp on it. There are ways in the operating system to get around it, but generally they require knowledge that most people don’t have. Plus it also requires security that most people don’t have. Finally, it isn’t something you can hide in a job script. It would mean you’d have to have security added to that script that most people don’t have thus they couldn’t run as part of the normal batch cycle.” I paused as I took another slug of coffee. “Did I mention that most people can’t do this?”

At their nod I continued, “So that was strange. I went back into the job scripts before there and found the files that built this final file. In my own development area, I pulled that data down and ran it through the job scripts before, during, and after; step by step. I got it up to where the original issue happened and compared the file sizes with what was in production, but one of the files in my development area was a larger size. It was the same file that I first noticed the new date/time stamp was wrong and it wasn’t wrong in my area. The production one looked like it had some data pulled out since it was smaller. And the job that ran at the same date/time as the modified date/time stamp of the file in question never listed that file as a parameter. The files it did list as parameters were all for a report that it did. I looked at the code and the output, the reports looked legit on the surface, but why was this one file suddenly different? I then played with the file copies I had and was able to pull all the data out that was different. They were all for a particular doctor. And when I looked back at the production files, not all the data records for this doctor were pulled, but there were a lot that had been pulled. As I said, it was weird and wrong. Even though the programs were the same as that within production, there was a different result based upon when or where it was run.”

“What does this part of the cycle do?”

My face contorted as I thought and focused on her question. “Oh, it is a statistical review of services rendered. Like, you’re a pediatrician. Your claims are fed into here and are analyzed and compared to other pediatricians. In this way we can see if there’s a doctor who is performing outside the norms of what other doctors are doing for that area. That’s the basic thrust of it all. It catches those who are doing more of a certain type of procedure, or a diagnosis, or if they had a lot more claims than anyone else. This job runs monthly so that the statistics are pulled into the database for analysis.”

“So what happens when a doctor operates outside of the norm?”

“I’m not too sure. That’s not an area that I’m fully familiar with. I know enough about it though to figure out that if they are outside of the norm, then they are flagged to be checked. I’m sure if they are okay then everything is fine, but if they continue to be outside the norm then something further is done.”

Ralph added his two cents, “The reviewed data can be used to find fraudulent claims. For example, let’s say that an eye doctor is submitting more claims for glasses than anyone else is in his area. It could be that he’s getting the business, but it could also be that he’s faking the claims and pocketing the money.”

Winner nodded. “So all these claims were for one physician?”

“Yes. That’s what was so freaky about it. Looking at the rest of the documentation, I could see that if that data wasn’t fed into the next part of the cycle, then it could make it look like this doctor had less claims than he actually submitted. So if had a lot more claims and now he was brought down into a more normal range… Well to me that meant something was very wrong. I couldn’t take this to the expert for the cycle. Chances were that they were part of this whole mess. So I went to the tech manager, Barbara Werner.”

“And what did she say?”

“Oh, she wasn’t home. I got her teenage son who said she was at some party. And he said there was no point in trying her cell phone as she had left it home.”

“With Barbara out, who did you contact next?”

“Um. That’s the thing. I didn’t know who to go to. The account manager is the type who I don’t trust.”

She looked at Ralph who shrugged his shoulders, “First I heard of it Winner.”

“Um,” I hesitated and finally continued, “James Arthur tends to protect his people from others. I knew of a story where one of his people reported to him in a closed door session some misgivings she had about how someone under him was not doing the right thing. Anyway, James went and told Barbara and this other tech everything she had said. When she confronted him about it he said he had to do it because they were his friends. She left the company immediately after that.”

Winner rested her forehead on one of her hands. “That’s not right.”

Ralph asked, “How come no one went higher about it?”

“With a reception like that? Who was she to go to? Besides, she now had the account manager, tech manager, and some techs after her. She didn’t feel like she could get a fair shake anywhere. They started to pull things out on her and she was getting written up.”

I thought about how Sue had left. I really liked her. She was a good egg and the first to let me know some things that were happening there.

Sue gripped her paper cup to the point where it dented. “Those people can’t be trusted.”

“So what the heck happened?”

“Look, the basic thing is this. Don’t trust them. They will lie and cheat to get their way.”

“Yah, but how do they lie and cheat?”

“Haven’t you been listening to me? They are all in some sort of secret club or something. It’s like if one of them gets in trouble, the other ones bail them out. With James floating over them protecting them from anyone below or above. All they have to do is build up a file against you. It doesn’t have to be true. So you might stand up and tell James that they aren’t playing by the rules, then James tells them and then they lower the boom on you with whatever they’ve plowed up.”

“Doesn’t that sound awfully farfetched? I mean, you would have to have incidents that were somewhat new for it to be of any use. And that way you could show that the troubles didn’t start until after you first went to James.”

“All they have to do is to keep it up to date. Drop the older and weaker stuff. We all do something wrong now and then, so they can build on what we really do and make up the rest. And believe me, they have a file on everyone for when they need to use it.”

Pausing for a moment, Moon thought about how things could be written up about his performance. He had issues and the last manager made sure to use them against him. His last change of medication required that he take off a lot of work here and there while he adjusted and that was used against him. He had best start trying to ether stay off everyone’s radar and stay afloat until he could move on within the company, or find someplace to go outside the company. He lifted his head up to face Sue again and pulled his hair back behind his ears. That’s one plus he liked about the company he got merged with, they let him keep his shoulder length hair.

Sue frowned for a moment and exclaimed, “When did you get your ears pierced?”

He froze and she continued, “And why are you wearing girl’s earrings?”

Ah shit, he forgot he was wearing them. It was Saturday after all. And they unmistakably were girl’s earrings.

“So…. Anyway, I knew that James was the wrong person to go to. And thinking about it further, I got to where I felt that even Barbara was the wrong person to get in touch with. I had heard that Barbara, Michael, and Jessica were pretty tight. I mean…” I looked over to Ralph for support.

He picked up on it thankfully, “You mean they hung out together?”

“Yah, some. But mostly they had a history of being ‘pals’. Back before Barbara became a tech manager, she was a techie with them and after she was promoted, she sort of stayed in contact with them.”

Winner tapped her fingers on her desk while I drank some more coffee. “What do you mean, ‘hung out together’?”

“Well, James was originally the tech manager before he was promoted to account manager. And Barbara was promoted to his old spot. After a while, both Michael and Jessica were promoted and given offices on either side of hers.”

“But they aren’t management. In fact her position doesn’t rate coming out of the cubes either. None of the them should be in an office,” Barbara stated emphatically. “Offices are only for account managers and above.”

“Yah, well, that’s nice. I guess the none of them ever got the memo.” In spite of the glare Winner gave, Moon continued, “I mean, hey, who’s going to stop them? James? HA! Even Ralph here never bothered with it. Everyone’s in the club so who cares about actually following the rules. I mean it isn’t…. like…” I trailed off finally getting the clue both had been sending. Yah, my big mouth. “Sorry, I went overboard on that one.”

“To be honest, I didn’t really catch it myself,” Ralph admitted. “But you’re right.” He wiped his face with one of his hands. “You’re right. I bought into the whole golden child image myself. I didn’t enforce the rules because Barbara, Michael, and Jessica were all considered top notch members in the account. It shouldn’t matter, but I let it matter and affect what I should have done when that rule was made.”

Winner looked at him. When she spoke her voice was sharp and seemed to burry itself deep into his chest. “Explain to me your involvement in all of this.”

He shrugged and tried to fire off a disarming grin, but it fell flat before her. “Well, um. I can say that I need to review my decisions and actions in this new light. I, ah… let James’s group do what they wanted because it’s always been a stellar group as far as numbers and issues. I mean, they’ve always had problem children in their lineup, but they tended to get weeded out when they… came…” His head fell into his chest for a moment. “I’ve been a fool. I bet a lot of those cases are just like what Moon was describing. Ways of getting rid of people they didn’t like. I should have spotted the trend and picked up on it.”

“Ralph, the day a manager actually catches all the tricks thrown at them is a day that never comes. You learn and you get better. We’ll discuss that and look into it more later on. We owe it to the people that have left to make an effort to clear their names. Moon, why don’t you continue.”

I blinked at everyone for a moment, “Where was I?” I was still thinking about Sue’s disgust at discovering I was wearing girl’s earrings. My bad.

“You tried to contact Barbara, she’s out, you didn’t want to contact James and then you realized that you probably shouldn’t have even contacted Barbara.”

“Oh yah, right… Um, I probably did something I shouldn’t have. Let’s just skip this part okay?”

Winner’s face tightened and I realized that as much as I enjoyed seeing Ralph get the end of her anger, I didn’t like it directed at me at all. I was sure glad she wasn’t my direct boss. Who the heck would want to report directly to her? Must be crazy folk.

“This is being recorded. We can’t skip over it. And since it part of this issue, we certainly won’t skip over it. So you will tell me what you did and you will be honest about it otherwise you and I will be having a short conversation about your career here, no matter what good you’ve done for this company. Do I make myself clear?”

Oh yah, she’s in the penis building. I felt my backside suddenly tighten in a way that reminded me more of what she was threatening to do then what had happened already last night. I had to be honest with her? To that degree? My stomach went back to being a flopping fish. Then again, with the right… No, focus! FOCUS!

“Yes ma’am. You see, when I had called up Barbara’s home and got her son, he gave me the address to the party. He didn’t know their phone number, she had left her phone at home, but he figured I could use the address to look it up. You know, there are websites that can do that sort of thing.”

I pulled into an open spot and looked at the house. Did I say house? It was more like a freaking mansion. And it was certainly rocking. I checked the time. It was around 10 so it was still early as far as parties go. Not that I know about parties, but it seemed that from what I heard most parties, the serious ones at least, go way into the night. I checked my purse and made sure that I pulled the items I thought I’d need out of it and stuffed them into my costume. Thank god it was a costume party. I needed to get in and catch the three of them here, so that I could get the evidence I needed to support my case. According to the information I got on the address Barbara’s son gave me, this was the home of that doctor whose claims had been pulled out of the system. And she was here at his party. She shouldn’t have been able to do this alone, so that meant one or more of the other techs were here too. Management sticks together, but if I could get the evidence high enough, I could prove my point. I had a disposable cell phone, my lipstick, some tissues, and my keys all secreted now in places on my body. The lipstick, keys and tissues went into some side pockets under my skirt. My phone I had to slip down in between my blouse and dress where my bra provided a handy cradle to hide it. Hopefully I could get away with this.

I made my way up to the door, my heels clicking away on the stone walk, my dress swishing side to side with my hips. My legs, lower neck, and arms were catching the night time chill in the air. I felt like the world was in sharp focus around me. Even though I had a job to do, I had never ever done anything like this. Could I get away with it? I wish I could go to parties like this every weekend. Heck I wish I could go anywhere on the weekend. Should I go back and use some more perfume? When was the last time I used any and has it worn off?

I realized the guards at the front door were looking me over. Oh yah, keep walking. Don’t stand there looking like a fool. If you’re going to be a fool, at least be a moving one. They are harder to hit that way.

As one covered the door, the other stepped up to me. “Do you have an invitation miss?”

My heart fluttered. Part of me was singing the hallelujah chorus. The other part of me? Eh, not so good. Yah, it was needing some resuscitation. “Oh, I forgot it at home. It’s such a long way to go back to get it. Do I need it to get in?”

“Rules state that everyone has to have an invitation.”

“Oh…” I quickly decided to play the role I was meant to play from the day I was born. “I guess that means I can’t get in then.” I turned away and took a few steps, letting my hips do a little more of a wiggle, then turned back with a finger up to my face in my best innocent girl pout I could muster. “Are you sure I can’t come in? I’ll be good, I promise.”

Mr. Stony Face actually blinked for a moment before coming back with his response. “No invitation, then no entry.” And then he soften and added, “I’m sorry miss.”

Oh I almost had him!

“Hey Tony,” the guy behind him reached up to his shoulder. “Let her in. You know he’s got a weakness for anime girls like this.”

Anime girls? Oh a kindred soul I hope! Yah, I was the spitting image of a cute sweet anime girl. I was a magical girl extraordinaire!

Okay, I may not have been a spitting image of a real magical girl, but that was what my costume was all about.

“Really? I thought he was more into Japanese girls.”

“Well that’s what anime girls are. Sort of.”

Yah, what he said. I got the idea I needed to sell this better. My hands grasped themselves and were held tightly under my chin, my arms locked together down towards my elbows, almost like I was praying. My legs also pulled together and I sort of crouched a little as in some sort of great expectation and anticipation of some great news. I felt my breasts push together and I was certain that if my blouse wasn’t covering it up, some sort of cleavage would have been greeting these two lunks like a siren call to come and test the waters. Maybe I was taking this a little too far?

“She’s not Japanese,” Tony cleverly pointed out, his head turned so that he was missing out on my wonderful deliverance.

But his pal got it full force. “Tony, she doesn’t have to be Japanese to be an anime girl. I’ll take the rap for this. Right this way honey, come on in.”

I felt Tony watch me as I minced in, stopping to give a kiss on the cheek to my unnamed rescuer. When the door closed behind me, I started to drop my act and then quickly put it back up. I was surrounded by people. All sorts of people. It was amazing!

I needed to keep it up. I realized after I walked into the second room that I didn’t need much effort to give off the innocent little waif unaccustomed to large parties. I was totally projecting that. I had the walk down and the hand gestures. Oh shy little me. I saw a mirror close by and looked at my hat with the large bow on my head, my curly hair coming out from underneath, my star earrings, my star topped beribboned staff, the matching bow and dress that went with the hat.

The girl in the mirror looked back in wonder at me, then I felt it. A small charge slowly moved up my spine and all my nerves flared into overdrive of excitement. My face beamed a smile back at me and the thrill turned into a nice little girl giggle! If I could have died right then, I would have been in heaven. I was out. I was being accepted. It was marvelous!

I caught a face in the mirror looking over my shoulder, sending my silent joy into a sudden squeak of a squeal as I spun around.

“Hey there, sorry to frighten you. But you look familiar. Do I know you?”

“Um, I don’t know. Do I know you?” Really, I had the most brilliant come back lines ever.

The guy before me was dressed as a swashbuckler, with the right sort of boots with the floppy tops, the tight black pants, the broad leather belt and white open shirt showing off a very nice set of manly pecks with just the right amount of hair upon them. He wore a scarf mask over his head and eyes and he had the deepest voice I had heard in real life.

I mean wow.

I felt weak.

Actually weak.

Seriously, I had to lock my knees together. Damn! No one had ever done that to me before. I didn’t even know anyone could! Had I fully crossed the line? Ye Gods!

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am David, part time swashbuckler to King and Country. And you are?”

“Oh, um. Sakura. I’m still in school, so I’m not much of anything else,” I smoothly covered myself.

He tsk’d me. “I certainly do recognize you Sakura even without your magical cards on hand, but in any event, what is your real name?”

“Oh, Dusty,” fumbled out of mouth. My hand suddenly sprang to my lips in a futile effort to stop what had already been said.

“Ah, fair Dustie. That’s an interesting name. I’ve not heard it before.”

Cleverly I recovered, “My, ah, parents had a sense of humor. My sister’s are named Meadow and Spring. Mine was supposed to evoke sunsets I think.” That really was the truth. My mind wasn’t working well enough to make up lies at this point. I thanked my lucky starts that I didn’t have my brother Rocky’s name or Forest’s. I think Meadow would have been nice though. Thinking about them was bringing me down. I missed them all and the way things should have been.

His eyes twinkled at me. “Well I think that’s well suited. A beautiful name.” He came to my side and started leading me through the room towards another set of open doors. “Is this your first party here?”

“Oh, yes.” I realized then that his hand was holding mine and I was suddenly glad I had gloves on to hide any sweaty palms I might have. “I was told that I could come as an anime character and that he would really like that.”

“Oh, you know him then?”

“Dr. Lon Braselton? No, not at all. One of his staff told me about it. I know her sort of and she wanted me to come. I’m not sure where she is though and she said she’d meet me here.”

“Well then, let’s take a stroll and see what we can see. Perhaps we will bump into her here. I’m afraid I don’t know any of his nurses, so I won’t be of any help. But Lon and I are old school friends and I know he’ll take an interest in meeting you if he sees you. I’ll introduce you if we run across him.”

I felt myself relax slightly at that point. I was worried that he might ask me who it was specifically I was supposed to meet. I was stupid for even bringing up that I was to meet someone in the first place. Still he seemed as ignorant as I was about Dr. Braselton’s staff, so that was a good thing. I’d just have to beg off from meeting him if we did happen to see him around. I smiled at David as he guided me around.

In the next room I was amazed at the costumes that people were dressed up in. There were cat girls, and game girls, and all sorts of fun fantasy type characters. One of the biggest things I realized that none of these costumes were the buy off the shelf kind. They all seemed very good quality type you get in very special type stores, and a few looked to be specially made for their wearers. When I asked, David pointed out that I should have been told that. “Only the best goes into these parties.”

“Oh, I wasn’t aware of it. I make costumes myself, so I guess that is why I wasn’t told since I obviously had the right ones to wear already.”

Luckily he allowed me to use my camera to take a few simple pictures. “Keep it hidden and I’ll let you. We’re not supposed to take pictures here, but given you are a fan of costumes, I guess it can’t hurt.”

I ended up dancing with him for a few dances in the room after that and he was a most perfect gentleman throughout it all. After one of the songs, I happened to spot Jessica and got her picture without her realizing it. It came out well too. And in the next room I was able to get Michael Cheng. There was no mistaking him. Plus his costume was horrible. A very poorly done kung fu type. Seriously, live a little and break out of the mold Michael! At least Jessica made a damn good looking mafia guy.

We ended up taking a rest with drinks in our hands. One of the things I know about myself was that alcohol and I have a certain limit. And I had already passed that limit right after we had danced when I had my first drink. I’m sorry, my limit is less than one drink. Seriously. Don’t laugh at me! I’ve never done well with alcohol or drugs or anything. That’s why I stay away from them. My stomach is way too small and this stuff goes right through and into my blood. I have to be very careful on what I eat or drink and what sorts of medications I take. I have to be Miss Natural.

So as the fourth drink smoothly went into my belly, I was feeling really good. I couldn’t believe my good fortunes so far. And David was especially nice. I felt so good leaning back into him upon the cushions. It was as if I was on a cloud of feathers softer than any silk could ever be. I lifted and turned my head ever so slightly and planted three kisses upon his cheek before he turned to face me directly. His lips were gentle upon mine and his face was slightly rough against my own smooth complexion. We kissed for a while like this before my neck started to hurt and I had to turn back forward. We broke apart for a moment and I finished off the last of my glass, wondering why I didn’t go out more often. Why had I never bother to kiss anyone before? Didn’t I realize what I had been missing?

David’s soft nibbles on my neck broke that train of thought from reaching any sort of conclusion. He reached down and undid the top two buttons of my blouse on my back. It didn’t really give him much access though so he decided to touch me through the blouse and under my dress around my bra, but he found that my phone I had nestled between my dress and blouse was in the way of things. He pulled it out as I pointed to a couple I wanted a picture of. It was Barbara with some guy. They were dressed as a couple from the Victorian age. And I have to say, even though I didn’t really want to admit it, she certainly knew how to pick her guys. He was handsome. Even more so was that I loved her gown and I wished I had one like it. She must be in some sort of corset to fit into it the way she was and I began to wonder if there was some way I could get her out of it so I could steal it. Maybe her date would do it for her. He certainly was acting like he wanted to do so.

David was very kind to snap their picture for me, then he handed my phone camera to someone else and they took a few photos of us as he slowly kissed me and I kissed him back as his hands roamed over my body. I felt him behind me as he poked me in the back with Mr. Happy. I couldn’t believe that I was managing to do such a thing to a guy like him. His smoldering eyes desired me as I held his gaze briefly, before I shyly glanced downward. I wasn’t sure what I could or should do regarding that. Upon seeing my hesitation he had me look around the room and I realized then that what had been a fairly empty room with a few couples in private conversation had blossomed the same way we were. A few were kissing softly, others were deep inside each other with the costumes removed to where they could get to each other. In a few spots, they weren’t just two bodies anymore.

I admit that I wanted to run away in terror. I’m such a prudish girl I guess, but David held me gently and softly kissed me until I relaxed again, allowing his hands to roam over my chest and to push down where my legs met in between. My heart felt queer in a way I never had felt before. Okay, I’m sure that’s a poor choice of words. Yet with each kiss there was a soft flutter in my chest, my breath became shallow and I felt myself wanting David to do more. A lot more. More than I should want him to do, yet I didn’t care anymore. Not then, not at that moment.

I turned into him so we were face to face and kissed him deeply as he held me tightly against him. As I laid upon his chest, his hands pulled my skirt and petticoats higher. Gently his fingers played with the tops of my white stockings where they hooked innocently with the garters that were over my panties. I’m positive the real Sakura wore tights, but I like being a little naughty. Soon they had followed the garters up to dance lightly upon my rear then to grab it in a handful as he pulled me up, turned me around and then back into him. I was so delirious. I don’t do well with breathing since the accident so long ago. My breath was alternating between gasps, gentle moans, and shallow caresses; I couldn’t breathe hard. I had been reduced to panting and I couldn’t do anything further. I couldn’t run because of that. I used to love running. At least I still had my legs unlike…. Oh gods, I was slipping… Please don’t let me faint! Don’t grey out, please… oh this felt so good. His mouth was kissing my lips and my back and all over it seemed, even in two places at once. I didn’t realize for a few minutes that it wasn’t one mouth upon me, but two or three. More than one set of hands as well. My eyes fluttered open and before it was not what I had expected.

Before me was not David, but the man who had been wearing the Victorian style clothes. Now he was mostly out of them and what was aimed in front of me was definitely not the mouth I had been recently kissing! Foolishly I was distracted from behind, my skirt was raised over me and what must have been David pulled my hips upwards to where the pillow was cushioning my knees as I was raised upwards to find something cool being spread over my backside. Someone else was back there with him. My mouth opened to protest, but it could do no more than begin to form a word when my tongue felt something slide over it. My eyes, I’m sure, must have been a sight to make everyone laugh. I’m certain they might have bugged out of my sockets before bouncing off of the body in front of me. There was so much hair there that I had to shut them quick, afraid of what might get in them. This Victorian gentleman proved he was no such gentleman as his hands grasped around my head and started to control how far back I could move away before being pushed back into him. His deep musk invaded me and smothered everything else out.

And of course it was but a distraction. In a few moments, it became clear the more pressing problem laid behind me. I was opened up now in a way that while yes, I admit I had fantasized about before, but honestly never ever thought I would ever do in my life. Yes, I am no stranger to things back there. Yes, okay, you’re right, I have several such toys at home and I have gotten increasingly bolder as to the thickness and size as I worked my way up to take some that were slightly larger than what was in me now. And yes, a few buzzed. Some rocked. Some flexed. Some shimmied even. One even played some Elvis tunes. But Oh My God None had ever felt like what was behind me now! Should I say behind me? More like in me!

What part of me that was offended at such invasions of my personage must have died at that point. Maybe it would come back to life later on, but for now it was well and truly dead beyond any doctor’s ability to revive. Which was funny in a way, as David and the Victorian gentleman? Turns out they were doctors. I didn’t know that then, but I found out later on. I’m sure that had I know it at that point, I would have found myself laughing in the most unladylike way at the most inopportune moment when two such fine men were swaying me back and forth in a rhythm that kept beat with my heart.

I didn’t pass out, but I almost did a few dozen or so times. Eventually they completed themselves. And I kept both as mementoes. Perhaps those mementoes met somewhere in between where they had found entrance. I’m not sure. And afterwards? Yes, I think I could be persuaded to do it all again. Still, at that moment I didn’t care about that. I wanted to luxuriate between these two men and feel them rise to the challenge again. The woman behind the man whom David called Lon laughed a bit when David asked if she had something. I really didn’t catch what he said completely, but I realized what it was shortly thereafter. She handled him a short devise that she removed the wrapper for and as I watched it go into David’s hands I wanted to bury my face where no one would ever see it again. He expertly plugged me from behind and I felt the small string as it rested against me. My panties were then pulled back up and my skirts were pulled back down. It was messy down there and I probably should get cleaned up.

David gently helped me to my feet and after he kissed me further in a way that showed his enjoyment of the entire affair. He introduced me then to Dr. Braselton and to Barbara. He found my anime girl outfit truly amazing. Which was why he couldn’t pass up an opportunity to have a chance with someone dressed like me. He also seemed to get into magical girls, but not like I did. Then he let Barbara help me reach the bathroom where we both went in. To say I was terrified is to express my feelings in a way that belittled what I really felt. She helped clean me up and her hands strayed upon my rear in a way that suggested she was willing to do so much more, touching the tip of my hidden treasure. I could only shake my head. She then applied a pad to my panties to help with anything that might leak.

“First time was it Dustee?”

I nodded.

“Don’t worry. If you want to come back and join in, we’ll be waiting for you. In the meantime, you might want to fix yourself up a bit. All that is hell on the makeup. And your hat looks like it might be coming off.” Before she left me though she turned around and handed me my camera, “Oh, I’m sorry but I saw the pictures and had to erase them. I’m not sure why David didn’t tell you, but we have a very strict rule about taking photos of others. And I hope you don’t mind, but I used what memory you had to film the three of you. Come join us when you’re ready? The two doctors are quite taken with your company. I wouldn’t mind sharing some of you as well. If you want, we could go to my place sometime and play dress up.” I was so lucky that she didn’t know my real name. All she knew me by was Moon. She left me then, letting me decide what I really wanted to do. I could return to the three of them for some more pleasure of their company or I could leave. My skin was tingling. Every time I touched myself, I felt my spirit weakening and my desire to be with them again. It was amazing to have people feel pleasure with me. That I could give them pleasure… Oh wow! I wanted to go and get Barbara to trade costumes too and so much more. I wanted to go back, but there was that voice screaming at me that I needed to get out of there. That something was majorly wrong. That I shouldn’t be feeling so … well, everything! I didn’t know what I might do next.

“So what did you do?” Winner asked.

“Huh?” Was I drooling? I could tell I was smiling stupidly.

“You said you got the address, it was a party that required costumes, so you had to wear a costume to get in. You had picked up a disposable cell phone to take pictures…”

“Oh! Yah, sorry. Did I fall asleep? I’m so sorry. I … Well, I went to take pictures. It was a costume party and everyone was required to wear one, so dressed like this I was able to get in unnoticed by them and actually get close enough to all four of them. No one recognized me, which is good. I wasn’t able to take any pictures, they had a rule about it and wiped my camera’s memory. But I did get these.” I reached into my purse and pulled out three invitations.

“Well that certain puts all three of them with him. Look at that, they have their first and last names on them plus his with the address, the date and time of his party,” Charles noted.

“Charles, don’t touch them. Get a zip lock bag and wear some gloves to put them inside there. We might need to use them as evidence.” Winner turned back to me and asked, “Where did you get them?”

“Well, I had found them by the front door. There was a basket that the guards were putting the invitations in. So I flicked through them, found theirs, and slipped them out hidden in my clothing.”

Ralph asked, “While you were there, you said you did see these three employees and Dr. Braselton?”

“Yes, but I’ve nothing to prove that I saw them. And someone could always argue that they were in costume anyway so how did I know it was them and… well there are all sorts of ways you can get out of it. These,” I pointed to the invitations, “should have their fingerprints on them. Which was the best I could do.”

Winner agreed, “Well, if we have need of them we’ll use them I’m sure.”

I was allowed a bathroom break and double checked myself, replacing my pad in case of anything further. I was still dripping. Lucky for me the manager’s bathrooms didn’t require you to pay for anything and they were of a much better quality than what you could find in a normal ladies room. I guess. Okay, so I know it to be true. Don’t judge me! I had taken out the tampon long ago when I had to go to the restroom after Ralph called in his people. What I really needed was something soothing for myself there. I felt very sore and … well, wonderful. Winner had to come and get me out of the bathroom as I had sat there and daydreamed a bit about David. It wasn’t exactly how I imagined my first time would be, but Lord have Mercy! I honestly don’t know if I could even tell that story and have anyone believe it.

Winner made certain I was comfortable before having the recorder turned on again. “Let’s start where we left off. You had left the party, what did you do then?”

“Well, from there it’s pretty much work-work-work. I made it to the office and logged in. I had gotten the idea that I needed to go above James, my account manager. I told you that I didn’t trust him, right? I did? Okay, well, I don’t trust him. So I sat there for a bit and decided who I could call. I guess the best I could do was to contact James’s boss, Mr. Wise here. It took some convincing…”

Ralph butted in, “I have to add this was around two in the morning. So I wasn’t very receptive.”

“More like he thought I was a fruitcake. I think I was babbling too. And I don’t babble at all. Probably the first time in my life ever to do so. Maybe it took me several times to explain it for him to get it. And I thought for certain he was going to call security and send me packing, but he came up and looked at the data I had and I told him that those three were at the party and how all this was pretty much a nightmare.”

“Not to mention that Moon was dressed in the costume that was worn to the party, which reminds me; I couldn’t figure out why you didn’t change before you went back to the office.”

I groaned a bit, “Time sir! It was essential that I get someone else involved before the morning.” I glared at him for a bit until he motioned me to continue. My eyes I’m sure told him, ‘Say something stupid and I’ll tear you up.’ That or, ‘please god don’t let everyone know how drunk I was nor how horny I felt. Not that you knew how horny I was feeling, but god I wanted to do every piece of office supply or furniture I saw.’

Perhaps it was better I continue talking. “So anyway, I get Mr. Wise into the office. He sees what I see, I step him through it. He realizes that there’s something to it all and then he calls in some people to do triage. I worked with them after they arrived over at the server farm and that’s where we are now.”

“That is it.” Ralph looked at Winner and myself. “We’ve already gone over my status as to what happened and all that, so I think that covers it.”

Winner sighed, “It looks like we’re going to have a lot of legal in here this week. I’ll have to alert them after we finish up here. That concludes this interview.”

Charles turned off the recording and said, “It’ll take me a little bit of time to type all this up. I’ll be faster if you don’t bug me about it.”

“Yes, yes, I am sure you will. Get on it. Let’s get copies made, get legal involved, we’ll sign them tomorrow, and then lock them up. In the meantime, we’ll sit here and go over anything we need to do next.”

“Can I go home now?” I pleaded. I’m certain I was confident and not pitiful.

Winner shook her head apologetically, “Sorry Miss Trail, we should cover some other items first.”

My heart thumped with what she said. I gave her my best sunshine smile. “I like you.” At least I hope it was sunshine and not creepy.

She paused for a moment, not quite sure what to make of that. “That’s nice. Ralph, I don’t think she’s able to drive home.”

“You called me Miss,” I supplied, figuring she needed to know why I liked her. Like I said, I felt I was probably a little creepy and I didn’t want to give that sort of impression. I mean, here I was a short and very skinny guy dressed in my best magical girl costume. It was a time to make good and important impressions.

Ralph turned away from us and must have caught something in his throat as he was coughing a bit.

“Ralph? Ralph Wise you had best get that out of your system and start answering me.”

He finally recovered, thanks to a few chugs from his water bottle. “I think, given the way she is acting now and how she acted on the recording that we probably should have her examined by a professional doctor at the hospital.”

I tripped. It’s not my fault. I was running and my skirt got caught and oh my god I hope I didn’t rip it… anyway, I’m the ground. You know, there is a pretty nice carpet on this floor.

How come they are yelling?

“You got her? Help me get her to her feet. Easy Moon, you’re okay. Everything is going to be A-O-Kay, alright honey?”

I gave Winner a hug. “I like you. You’re so cool. And you look so good in that dress. I wish I could look that good. Did you come straight from church? I’m sorry I ruined your Sunday.”

“Ralph, I think that’s a good idea.”

“What? Getting her to a doctor?”

“Damn IT RALPH!!!” yelled Winner.

How come is it that when you need an elevator to open, it is never on the floor you are on. Even if you pound on the door it still doesn’t open. Who was hugging me? OH, it’s that nice lady. I like her.

“Easy there. Easy… Let’s sit back down, okay?” She shot a look at Ralph daring him to do something stupid.

“I don’t wanna go to the doctors. I don’t wanna get locked up. I’m sane! Really I am…”

“No one is going to lock you up. You are okay. Everything is fine.” Gently, Winner pulled me away from the elevator and back to a chair. “Come on, let’s sit down for a moment.”

“I’m fine, I tell you I’m fine. Please don’t lock me up!”

“No one is going to lock you up. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

Ralph guarded the way to the elevator while helping Winner get me to sit down. “She wasn’t acting this way earlier, honestly. If she was I would have got her to the …” At Winner’s death stare, he stopped talking for a moment. “She really was okay earlier.”

I let them know, in case they didn’t get it. “I don’t feel too well.”

“Should we call for a… um, a ride to get some help?”

“Not yet. I think we can get her there faster ourselves.”

“This is why I don’t drink. It really messes me up.”

“What is she talking about?” demanded Winner.

“When I first got to her, she let me know that she had a few drinks at the party, but she was fine then.”

“She had drinks? At the party? What sort of drinks did she have?”

“They were pretty good. Fruity and cool. But I really don’t like to drink. I had four of them. I tried to tell David I didn’t like to drink, but he wanted me to and I didn’t want to look like a party pooper. They tasted good too.”

“Ralph, sit here. I’m pretty sure that they weren’t ‘innocent’ alcoholic drinks.”

I protested, but she didn’t seem to care. “But I’m nothing but innocent.”

Ralph bent down to look me in the eyes. “Moon, does alcohol make you act this way? Is that why you don’t drink it?”

“Hmm? Oh, not really. I get drunk way too easy. They took most of my digestion stuff after the accident. There’s not much there that’s left to digest things, so nothing works the way it should. Besides, I’m just tired. I don’t feel really good though. Like something is happening with my meds. I didn’t feel good last night either, but I’ve been focusing myself through …”

He called back to Winner, who was on her phone, “Her pupils don’t look dilated, but given her medication issues, maybe we need to let her doctor know in case this is a reaction to them?”

Winner nodded between prompts on her phone, “Okay, let’s get her to the hospital then. Ah shit!”

Okay, this time it was the bow on my heels. I’m pretty sure of it. Cuz I can walk really well in heels and look really good doing it. Women could take lessons from me. Especially some of those women from the customer service department that look like they are stomping around. Did I tell you that some of the actual girls couldn’t walk properly in heels to save their booty. I think I’ll throw up. All those stupid women wasting what god denied me. Oh, throwing up isn’t good. And my head really hit that elevator door really hard. Or was it the wall? Damn, my hat is getting wet from the stupid mess of a puddle thingie I made. Why is life so mean to me? I just want to go home and watch my shows and play along with them. Oh who cares, I’m going to sleep.