Stopgap Measures

A promotion. Of course. After months planning for a careful exit for an impulsive departure, this would be what happens. The email came through with not just an offer letter, but some scheduled times for professional headshots. John was moving up in the world now after all. He’d probably need to wear jacket. No tie, though. That would be a good look.

They can take the “assistant” out from in front of your name, give a bump in pay that doesn’t quite match the bump in prestige and suddenly make you uncertain about something you thought was dead-set. The world can shift under your feet faster than you can move. That seems for sure.

John moved his focus from the tab containing his email to the one containing his Google Doc folders and to a particular folder marked “Next Steps.” He pulled up the documents he had used to sketch out his plan for striking out on his own, for launching his great creative endeavors. In a moment of particular confidence, he had marked certain milestones with dates. An attempt to set it in stone. John hated to fail to meet goals, afterall. How else do you get promoted.

He reviewed those timelines now, considering them in light of new evidence. A few taps on his keyboard and 2015 transformed into 2016. Next year. As soon as the change was made, he felt a kind of denouement, a feeling of the tide pulling away. It would come roaring back at him soon, in the form of congratulations and well-wishes and new projects. For now though, John craved distraction. He opened another tab and began following the well-worn path of his web browsing habits, signposted by URLs that autocompleted after one letter.

— Day 3—