“I’m worried about her, Jan,” Marta said. She doodled on the notepad in front of her as she spoke. Each of the little doodles was a little frantic scribble in some random shape. “I think she really needs some help.”

There was a pause before Jan replied, “Well, what do you think we should do? Don’t you think she’ll be upset with us if we confront her?”

Marta shrugged. “I don’t know, but I can’t do nothing. We’ve been friends for over 20 years. I feel like I’d be turning my back on her if I did nothing. She may be upset for a little bit, but I think she’ll come around.”

Jan sighed, “Yeah, you’re right, I guess. Still, I can’t believe this is happening.”

There was a tap on Marta’s shoulder. She turned around and found her boss looking down at her disapprovingly. Marta turned back towards the phone quickly and in a hushed voice said, “Listen, Jan, I gotta run. The boss is here.” She hung up before Jan could respond knowing that Jan would understand. Marta had told her all about her dictator of a boss before. Marta wheeled around to face her boss once again.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Georgan,” she said. “My friend is in some trouble, and I was trying to rally the troops to help, as it were.”

Mr. Georgan frowned. “Not on my dime, Marta. You know better than that. Now where is the Freedman report?”