***
Terri anxiously waited for Tierra by the elevator, to return from lunch. As soon as the doors opened she could tell that there was a problem.
“What’s wrong, Terri?”
“I don’t know what’s going on, Ms. Rodriquez, but while you were on your lunch break, a crew came in and started taking things out and moving things in.”
“What crew? I didn’t authorize any crew!” the duo walked quickly by everyone towards her office passed her male counterparts who were eye-balling her. They were equally wondering what all the commotion was about as they stood arms folded across their chest.
Tierra was unsettled when she reached her office and pushed open the double doors. She stood paralyzed at the site before her.
“Here you go miss,” a man said handing Tierra a receipt, jolting her back to reality.
“But, I didn’t order any of these things.”
“It’s all been taken care of Ms. Rodriquez. Have a great day,” he replied, tipped his cap and walked off with three other men.
Tierra stood in the doorway of her office and fell back against the door, awe struck. Her office was completely transformed. It looked like an office that you’d see in a Black Enterprise. Not to say that she didn’t have hers hooked up before, but now, this was something she just couldn’t get over.
In the new office sat a beautiful, rich colored, Cherry wood desk, with a high gloss finish. On one side of the room was a wall-to-wall five shelf matching Cherry wood bookcase. Her extensive collection of law, marketing, and business books were all placed perfectly on the new shelves. Two tiger print upholstered chairs, with rich brown Italian leather with studded trim sat in front of her desk, a square glass table in was positioned in between them. A black rug with a tiger print border blanketed the middle of her Calamander wood floor and a black oversized leather chaise sat in the corner behind her desk, in the corner in between two windows. All of her pictures, degrees and awards, had been reframed in black and deep brown colored leather frames, some hung on the wall behind her desk, while others graced the middle shelf of the bookcase.
Her most precious picture was the one of her father, her mother, her Abuela, and herself when she was ten and graduated early from elementary school, being pushed ahead a grade. It was her most prized possession because later that year her father died suddenly. She looked around frantically for the picture that was not sitting on the new desk.
Finally she found it. Breathing a sigh of relief, and passionately picked it up and held it to her chest, closing her eyes. She replaced it on the smaller table behind her desk. Smiling at the 8 ½ inch glass Veladoras sitting on the table, she wondered who knew her rituals so well? The white paraffin inside of the glass jar was encased by the image of a pair of praying hands on one side and the Lord’s Prayer on the other. She picked up a lighter that sat on the table and lit the candle.
‘I love you papi,” she whispered, a single tear forming in her eyes.
“Who did all this?” she asked to no one in particular, though Terri was standing in the doorway.
“I did,” a voice said from behind the two of them.
Tierra turned around to see Mr. Baxwell standing next to Terri, with a soothing smile on his face. It was obvious he was very pleased with himself. But Tierra wondered what it was all for?
“So, do you like it? I wanted to surprise you. Are you surprised?,” he announced.
Mr. Baxwell, sir. I do like it,” she began uneasily. “But I’m not, what I mean to say is, Sir what is this all about?”
“Terri, can you give us a minute please.”
“Yes Sir,” Terri turned and closed the doors behind her, leaving a perplexed Tierra with an ambiguous Mr. Baxwell.
He had much to tell her and little time to tell it and he could tell she was full of a million questions.
“Tierra please sit down.”
Tierra looked at her boss his face was full of anxiety, which made her nervous. She sat in one of the new chairs in front of her desk.
“I know you’re confused as to why I did all this, and I apologize for that. I allowed so much time to pass that, I’m at the end of my own timeline.
“Mr. Baxwell, Sir, is everything OK?”
“Actually Tierra it is, and it isn’t. I guess it all depends on how you look at it,” he sat in the chair adjacent to hers and took her hand into his.
“This is going to be hard for you to take in, but I need you to listen to me closely. I’m out of time and what I’m about to tell you… well there is no easy way to say it.”
Tierra had a puzzled look on her face.
“What’s going on Mr. Baxwell?” she asked, sounding worried and concerned all at once.
Tierra sat and listened intently to the words he spoke. Her mind drifted to and fro with his announcement. She was beyond shocked. He sat next to her physically shaken as he confessed things that had been going on right under everyone’s nose. Suddenly the past two months began to make sense to her. In fact the past two years all made sense. She now really understood why he pushed her the way he did. Why he sent her to night school to obtain her masters, and why he raised her to the status that he did. But, she was still wrapped her mind around his words.
“Sir, I don’t mean to interrupt,” she spoke in a low tone. “If I understand you correctly you want me to stand in until you find a replacement, do I have it right?”
“Well, no actually you don’t.”
“Its ok sir, it makes perfect sense to me. You’ve been pruning me to hold the reigns. I’m honored sir. But, how long have you known you were sick?”
There was a long agonizing silence, as Tierra analyzed her bosses face. She could now clearly see the signs of the sickness he just confided in her that he had. His time was limited, as treatments were only keeping him alive and functioning at this point. Unfortunately, they caught his disease too late and are unable to cure him. Until now, she attributed his tired, reddened, puffy eyes and pale complexion, to his age. Maybe even his overzealous 12 hour work days. On more than one occasion, she even confronted him, worried about his health. He always had a logical explanation for his disheveled appearance. Bottom line, he was the boss… what could she do?
Now, with her mentor for the past three years unmasking his true health issues, she was at a loss for words. She wished she had read the note when he first handed it to her. So much was going through her mind, as tears swelled and dropped from her eyes.
“No, please Ms. Rodriquez, please don’t do that,” Mr. Baxwell begged, standing up walking over to her desk and plucking two sheets of Kleenex out of a small box on her desk and handing them to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder, took a deep breath in, and released.
“Tierra, please… come with me.”
He walked over to the door, opened it, and waited for Tierra to join him. Tierra wiped her eyes, rose from her seat and smoothed her barely pink blouse and brown pinstriped skirt before following Mr. Baxwell to his office.
As she walked by Terri and the others employees, to get to his office, she could hear the almost inaudible conversations about what they all perceived had just taken place. Little did they know, they were so far from the truth about her meeting. When they reached Mr. Baxwell’s office, and Tierra walked in, the lead attorney for the company was standing in the corner looking out at the Connecticut River. He turned smiled, walked over and shook Tierra’s hand.
“Please sit down,” he motioned.
For the first time since in B.E. history, Mr. Baxwell closed the vertical blinds to his office shutting out the rest of the office. There was an immediate unsettling silence that came over the staff, as everyone looked at each other searching for answers.
“WHAT?! But MR. BAXWELL…” Tierra’s strained voice shattered through the silence. For the first time, even Tierra’s normally egotistical male colleagues, felt dreadful at the fate they thought was coming for her.
Moment of Weakness