The Knowledge Stone (42 page)

Sunia was nonplussed and not at all enthusiastic. It all sounded very complicated. How would she remember what to do? However, she realised this was a considerable honour. The only person who called HDC by his name was Margarite – and she was DHDC. Everyone else was instructed to call HDC “Sir” at all times.

‘Thank you, … Julian.’ She found it difficult to speak his name, it somehow felt wrong. ‘You are so kind to me, I don’t know why.’ Her voice was low and hesitant.

‘Sunia, I’m kind to you because I like you and you are proving to be a good assistant to me.’ Julian was looking at her tenderly, pleased with the outcome of his initiative. Then he said: ‘However this new arrangement is just for us when we’re working in here. Don’t use my name in front of Margarite or the others. This is something special between you and me, something secret.’ Julian twinkled conspiratorially and treated her to his most attractive smile.

Although Sunia spent a considerable part of most days in HDC’s office, there were times when he was busy or out-of-office for one reason or another. At these times, she took her place at her desk in the General Office. Margarite had given up trying to train her to do the DC work for which she was employed but she continued to be kind to her, greeting her pleasantly when she was there and sometimes pausing for a brief chat.

When she was present in the General Office, Sunia had decided to see if she could attach herself to Alex, one of the more experienced members of DC. Coincidentally, Alex was the young man to whom she had been attracted on her first visit and he had been especially friendly towards her when she joined the Department. So she had appeared at his desk and, in a respectful voice, had asked: ‘Alex, would it be all right if I followed you around and saw what you were doing. I’ll help you, if I can – just tell me what to do.’

Alex had looked at her doubtfully, thinking how such an arrangement might slow down his work. On the other hand, he had to admit she was a
very
attractive girl. It would be unkind to say no, wouldn’t it? So after a brief hesitation, he had smiled and answered: ‘OK, Sunia, stick with me and we’ll see how it goes.’

Sunia was very pleased. Now she had three things to do. Work for HDC as his informal PA, learn DC work from Alex and sit looking out of the window!

In fact the liaison with Alex began to work quite well for Sunia. Because she was able to regard him almost as an equal rather than a superior (e.g. a teacher) she began to feel that it was not necessary to establish herself with him as a stupid and inept person. In other words, she began to allow her long-buried natural intelligence to surface, the intelligence that had been demonstrated in her early school days, before bullying destroyed her life and her education. Alex was pleased when he noticed the difference in Sunia and reported it to Margarite.

‘That’s fine, Alex,’ she said, ‘keep it up if it’s not making your work too hard.’

Alex was becoming increasingly happy to have such a beautiful girl at his beck and call! ‘Not at all,’ he demurred, ‘she’s actually becoming quite useful and it’s really good to see her confidence developing.’

Of course Margarite kept a keen eye on the situation but had to admit that all seemed to be going very well.

The following week, HDC was going to be away on a prestigious training course for two weeks and would be totally absent from his office during this period. This meant that Sunia would be with Alex every day. On the first day, Alex came to Sunia’s desk.

‘Right, Sunia, what about you doing this simple document pack? I’ll be here to help you and to check that everything is OK.’

At first, Sunia looked stricken and responded that she could not possibly do it. She wouldn’t be able to remember what to do. She would make mistakes and everyone would be in trouble. Alex was insistent: ‘Look, I know you’re good enough to do it. Have a go! I’ll watch over you.’

So, feeling that something momentous was happening in her life, Sunia obtained the storeroom key from Margarite. Standing in the storeroom – warning light checked – she made her first real decision and spoke out loud: ‘A small folder, I think.’ At that instant, she felt wonderful!

During that morning, the document pack built up. Sunia had to obtain various documents and forms from a number of different sources and she checked with Alex several times to make sure she was doing it correctly. At last, the Schedule Sheet had been produced and the Check Sheet raised. The pack was complete! Sunia was elated as she passed her “very own work” to Alex for the initial check. He worked through it steadily and found everything correct apart from a minor error on the Schedule Sheet.

He pointed this out to Sunia and invited her to correct and reprint the sheet. ‘Don’t worry about this, Sunia. We all make mistakes that need to be corrected. That’s why we have such a rigorous checking procedure. When you have made the correction you need to take the pack to Margarite for the DHDC check.’

A widely smiling Sunia appeared in Margarite’s office with the Document Pack. Margarite looked at the Check Sheet: ‘Sunia, were you the Base Coordinator for this pack?’

‘Yes, Margarite, I was. Alex watched over me but I did all the work.’

‘Sunia, this is very good work. You’ve been hiding your light under a bushel, haven’t you? Someday you’ll have to tell me why.’

Sunia looked thoughtful and serious: ‘Yes, Margarite, there is a reason and I’m just beginning to realise what it is. I’m so grateful to Alex. He is such a wonderful person and a very good teacher. When I’ve worked everything out, I will tell you all about the reason for my slowness.’

The following two weeks passed happily with Sunia becoming steadily more competent at DC work, under the tutelage of the ever-patient and pleasant Alex. Margarite was extremely pleased. In addition, it was obvious that a special bond was developing between Sunia and Alex.

Sunia’s eighteenth birthday was now fast approaching. Some months before, her father had sought a discussion with her mother on the question of birthday presents.

‘Oh, we’ll get her some really good clothes, handbags, shoes, cosmetics, that sort of thing,’ her mother had said.

‘Yes, that’s fine, but I think we need to buy her a car,’ her father replied.

‘But she can’t drive,’ her mother said, ‘we offered to buy her lessons but she refused.

‘That’s true, but I think she is different now. Much more confident. Anyway, I’m going to buy her a car – just a small one. That’ll make her want a Driving Licence. And we can buy her driving lessons, too, as part of her birthday.’

Sunia’s birthday was at the weekend. When she awoke on the morning of her birthday, there were many lavish presents piled around her bed. However her eyes widened when she saw the shiny car key on her bedside table. She immediately leapt from the bed and flew to the window. There, standing in the driveway below was an extremely pretty Fiat Cinquecento Gucci Special Edition in sparkling white paintwork with perfectly gorgeous alloy wheels. It had a broad pink ribbon tied around it, saying “Happy 18
th
Birthday Sunia”. Within seconds, Sunia was outside in her dressing gown and slippers, unlocking the car door and slipping into the soft two-tone leather seat behind the wheel. As she looked at the specially styled Gucci interior, her eyes shone with pure delight.

‘What a fabulous car! It’s like a film star’s car – somebody really famous,’ she breathed.

‘Do you like it?’ Her father, also in dressing gown and slippers, stood smiling beside the car. Sunia jumped from the car and threw herself into his arms.

‘It’s absolutely wonderful,’ she cried, ‘it’s the very best present ever!’

‘Yes,’ her father said. ‘It’s the very top of the range in Fiat 500s and the very latest model.’ Sunia’s father was a car enthusiast and would not dream of buying anything but the top of the range! He continued, looking at his daughter affectionately: ‘You’ll need to start driving lessons as soon as possible. Meanwhile, you will be able to drive it in here in our grounds. It’ll give you a start. I’ll teach you the basics, then it’s up to you. One of your birthday presents is a course of driving lessons.’

‘Papa, when can we start?’ she cried. ‘Can we start right now?’

Her father smiled: ‘Well I was thinking we should get some clothes on first and, I don’t know about you but I’m looking forward to some breakfast. Let’s do that and we’ll start after breakfast.’

They went into the house, arms around each other affectionately.

On Monday morning, HDC returned. Yes, it had been an interesting course, he told Margarite, quite useful. Had anything been happening here? Nothing much? Well, that was what he expected. He had organised things before he went so that it would be a quiet two weeks for the Department. He wanted to make sure that there would be nothing difficult to deal with while she was in charge.

Margarite said nothing but felt her jaw muscles tightening. How she wished that Julian would not treat her like this. Love does not die easily and Margarite still loved Julian despite what he had said and done to her. She always hoped that he would revert to his former self and they could start again, living together in the love she had enjoyed so much.

‘Fine, Margarite, that’s all. You can get on with your own work now. Would you ask Sunia to come and see me?’ Pointedly, Julian turned to his In Tray and started to read the top sheet.

A few minutes later, a reluctant Sunia knocked at HDC’s door. Suddenly, she felt completely different about her association with Julian. Where before she would have come with passive obedience, now she wished she could stay as she was, working in DC with Margarite and Alex. She felt a surge of love as she thought of Alex: ‘And I think he loves me too.’ Sunia had noticed how happy Alex always was to see her.

‘Come in, Sunia,’ Julian’s voice was filled with joy. ‘Come in. Happy Birthday! You see, I haven’t forgotten. Even although I was away on this important Management Course, I still remembered.’ Julian, smiled at her expectantly, waited to be congratulated.

With some effort, Sunia smiled palely. ‘Thank you, ah, Julian.’ Saying that name still felt wrong.

‘Sit down here, Sunia. Here is a birthday card and, “Surprise, Surprise”, I’ve bought you a birthday present. It’s just a little token of my … affection … for you.’ Sunia said nothing as she took the small box and opened it.

‘It’s very nice, Julian,’ she said, neutrally. The rose quartz glowed pink in the light and she did think it was quite a nice, unusual stone. ‘It needs a thicker chain,’ she thought, ‘this thin silver chain does not set it off correctly. Gold or platinum would be better.’

‘Put it into your bag, Sunia, you had better not wear it now. We don’t want all the other staff to get jealous, do we? We just need to keep it a secret between us. But you can give me a kiss, if you like!’ Julian was becoming emboldened and leaned forward enticingly.

Sunia was taken aback by this request. She certainly did not want to kiss him. Yes, she had appreciated his kindness and friendliness, making her his informal PA, and so on – but kissing him? It didn’t seem right. She hesitated for a moment, then leaned forward and kissed him very lightly on the cheek. ‘Thank you, Julian, it was very kind of you.’ Her words were spoken perfunctorily, an echo of the trained words of childhood.

Julian, oblivious of her reluctance, was over the moon. She had kissed him! Her lips felt so soft and warm. His desire for her almost boiled over. He ached to hold her in his arms. He reached out, intending to grasp her arm and draw her closer but she moved back out of his reach.

‘Julian, I have a headache and I’m not feeling very well. Unless there is something you specifically want me to do for you, could I continue my work in the General Office? I can just sit quietly and do it. I have been doing some work for Margarite while you have been away and she is quite pleased with my progress.’

Julian was very surprised. Margarite satisfied with Sunia’s work? He never expected to hear that. He would have to have a chat with Margarite about this. ‘It must have been all the training I have given her,’ he thought, although, deep down, he was rather puzzled. In truth, he knew that he had not done any training with her that would be useful for the work of the General Office. Then he became aware that Sunia was still there, standing motionless, looking at him impassively.

‘Ah, yes, Sunia. I’m sorry to hear you don’t feel well. Do you want to take the rest of the day off?’

‘No thanks, Julian, I’ll be fine. I’ll just work quietly at my desk.’ Julian followed her slim, beautiful figure hungrily as she left the room and closed the door quietly. But now he felt uneasy, unsettled, uncomfortable. Something had changed. What? How? Why?