Silversmith to the Stars
The door swung open and Gloria Silvero stood there, flames
shooting from her eyes. “Maria! Get in here right now!” she screamed.
Maria looked forlornly at Pablo. Again?
How many times in the course of a day could she be called in for “special
attention”. She stood up at her desk.
Gloria glared at Pablo.
“What are you looking at? Get
back to work.”
Pablo swallowed. He
wanted to argue. He wanted to stand up
and say that he and Maria and everyone else were quitting, but they all needed
the work. There weren’t many jobs in
Plantsville anymore. Not since the
factory closed down two years ago. Pablo’s
oldest daughter was on the honour roll.
She wanted to go to university and become a registered nurse. Palbo didn’t want to be the reason that
Nerissa had to stay in Plantsville and work at Walmart until she retired.
Maria walked into Gloria’s office and stood inin the small
space just inside the door. She didn’t
say anything. She just waited.
Gloria held up a fork from the Galaxy collection. “Our silversmiths worked for seventeen months
on this new design, Maria.” She said Maria’s
name as if she was describing a hideous slimy creature that you found when you
lifted up a rock in the muddy part of the garden.
Maria nodded. “The
design is beautiful. Clean lines. Modern.
Should do really well.”
Gloria smirked. “So
what’s this copy telling me? That you
don’t need a new set of forks? That your
old forks will do just as well? How does
that sell forks? Well?”
Maria shook her head.
“The copy says that the Galaxy design is classic. It suggests that this is the design you want
when you’re serving your guests.”
Gloria grabbed one of the Galaxy forks and held it in Maria’s
face. “Are you arguing with me? Who’s the boss, here? Who has worked in silver for over thirty
years?”
Maria nodded again, hopelessly. She had been through this so many times. She felt so tired. “You have, ma’am,” but before she could finish
the word “ma’am”, the door behind her swung open and pushed her forward. She lurched towards Gloria, taking one
unfortunate step and pushing into the Galaxy fork before she could stop
herself.
Blood from Maria’s left eye spurted out and splattered all over
Gloria’s carefully made-up face. She
took her hand away but the fork stayed behind, imbedded in Maria’s no longer
blue eye. Maria remained upright for
several seconds and then fell, like a tall broken tree, forward onto the floor.
Gloria staggered back and she and Pablo, who had opened the
door, stared at each other across the office floor. “You,” Gloria said, “you . . . killed her.”
In shock, Pablo looked down at Maria’s body, which trembled
slightly before it became still. “I did?”
“Yes,” Gloria said slowly.
“We were talking and you threw open the door, without even
knocking. How many times have I told you
to knock before you come into my office?”
Kneeling down to take Maria’s pulse, Pablo looked up at
Gloria. “It wasn’t me, Ma’am. It was you.
You killed her.” He looked at the
fork. “How did the fork get into her
eye? How did it get so close?”
Gloria laughed as she wiped the blood from her face with her
monogrammed silk handkerchief. “No one
will ask that question, after I’ve explained about the door. Who will the authorities believe, Pablo? A poor immigrant who works in the advertising
department of a small silver company, or the famous Gloria Silvero, the silversmith
to the stars?” She picked up the phone
and dialled 911 as Pablo removed the fork from his coworker’s sightless eye.
