Unscrupulous Desire

By Jennifer Hitchcock

Staff Writer

eorge Simon--handsome, clever, and rich--sat at his desk dictating a memo to his loyal secretary, Myrna. A procedure familiar to both, marked by George's incessant rambling and Myrna's equally quick-paced shorthand scribbling. She did not raise her head until he had stopped talking for at least five seconds, the sign that he was finished. George's office was in the style suitable to a man who had scrupulously raised himself to the top: supple leather chairs, solid oak desk, wide strip windows with a perfect view of the river. Family photos marked his age and marital status. Objects on his desk were laid out in perfect, immaculate order; he insisted it be that way. A Filofax laid open to the current date, which reminded him of the endless engagements which he had to attend. It was okay because the company paid for it all. He would not hear of paying for any of it out of his own pocket. Meanwhile, he amassed a small fortune for himself, and the wife and family he begrudgingly had to support.
"Will that be all for now, Mr. Simon?" Myrna asked when the dictation had stopped.
George looked at the Filofax for about the thirtieth time of the day, even though he knew that Myrna was there to keep him on top of everything. "Yes, I guess that will be all."
"Don't forget to call your wife. She sounded impatient."
"That's right, she probably just wants to know what time to put dinner on. Thanks Myrna."
"Mr. Simon, I also would like to remind you that I go on vacation starting tomorrow."
George, half listening, with his head buried in the Wall Street Journal, responded with an "oh, very good, then. I'll see you the following week."
"There will be a girl from the agency to replace me next week. I will leave her a note with some important instructions. Remember, you are playing raquetball with Mr. Clark at 5:30, and then you have the dinner meeting with the two gentlemen from Cybertech."
"Thank you, Myrna. I don't know what I would do without you. Could you call my wife before you leave, and let her know I'll be a couple of hours late?"
"Of course, Mr. Simon," and with that she gathered her memo pad and document file, and joyfully left his office for the last time in a week. "What would he ever do without me?," she thought to herself. She called his wife. They had become quite good friends. It was not uncommon for them to exchange complaints about their husbands' neglect of their households. "Hello, Susan. It's Myrna. George will be a couple of hours late...yes, I know it's the third time this week...Kenny, oh, Kenny's fine. I had him checked...yes, thank G-d it wasn't more serious...(and after listening to Susan complain about George missing dinner, even though he knew she was cooking his favourite meal) believe me, no one sympathizes with you more than me. George is very busy, I must assure you that. But I also know what it's like when everything else in the world is more important than me and the children. Honestly, I tried to update Don on Kenny's condition, and he didn't even make eye-contact with me as he grunted a couple unintelligible responses..."
They each continued in the same vain, for about fifteen minutes. Susan had expressed her most heartfelt sorrow and anger that her and George had not taken a real vacation in two years. The second honeymoon he had promised her a year ago had still not yet come to fruition. All of Myrna's conversations with Susan ended on the same note. Myrna hung up the phone with Susan and felt even more disgusted with George than after the last conversation. After she had begun her telephone friendship with Susan she had gradually lost respect for her employer. Despite her desire to quit her job, she could not afford to be out of work. She had amassed a great deal of experience with George, and lower wages and less respect simply would not compensate for ridding herself of an employer she had grown to hate.
George was immediately impressed with the temporary girl from the agency. By the time he had arrived at work Monday morning, a fresh pot of coffee had just finished brewing. Already two phone messages had been placed on his desk, written with the neatest penmanship. An attractive curve rounded off his last name and, unlike Myrna's messages, were addressed to him in a formal, highly respectful manner. Every detail of the phone message was conveyed to him, word for word. He was perusing one of the messages when someone knocked on the door. He gave permission to enter and she walked in. If anyone had walked past George Simon's office at this moment, they might have heard the violins playing in George's head as he beheld her. Her chic clothes rustled against her perfect figure as she approached his desk. Her wavy, dark chestnut brown hair made a slight bounce and gracefully framed her face.
"Hi, my name is Kimberly. I'll be your temp for this week." Not getting an immediate response, she looked at him curiously, and asked,"Sir, is everything alright? Would you like me to get you a cup of coffee?"
Startled out of his beautiful daydream, in which he already had them making passionate love on a beach as the waves enveloped them, he stuttered, "Uh, yes, coffee. Coffee would be fine, thank you." He watched her as she walked from one corner of the room to another.
"Forgive me if I was a little late in introducing myself. One of the secretaries took me to show me where everything is," she apologized as she prepared his cup of coffee.
She was not the ordinary temp. Most of the women who filled in for Myrna were older women who were in between jobs, and, although completed their tasks with remarkable skill, hardly made George's day more exciting than usual. Kimberly was young and beautiful. She had just completed college and was taking a year off before entering business school. Her years of belonging to the swim team had given her a figure that made her stand out from all the other women in the office. Every time she entered his office she sent George into a fit of rapture.
Hardly thinking about his wife, he immediately began scheming how to secure Kimberly's interest in him. At last it was decided upon. She aspired to reach a respected position in the business world, still had a great deal to learn, and no doubt would seek a mentor. He took it upon himself to offer her advice and provide her with contacts. He also offered her an internship in his office if she wouldn't mind doing some occasional menial work.
The plan took. On breaks, and even on trips to his office, she would ceaselessly thank him for all his help. "Nothing is too much for a deserving worker with a promising future," he would tell her. Her face lighted up with gratitude. He gave her the license to discuss her career plans and to ask him information about how he got where he was, even though it usually cut into her work time. Without a single bit of effort, he got her to work overtime without pay. On "strictly business," he took her out to dinner and would begin a conversation with the pretense of discussing some work matter. Kimberly found herself working late almost every night, and going out to dinner with George almost as frequently. She missed many evenings of drinking and dancing with her girlfriends, but she did not mind at all. George was quite aware that she would do anything for him to repay his favours. Meanwhile, he got a great deal of work completed for free.
Imagine Myrna's surprise when she returned from her "vacation," or rather, time spent tending to her children, and found Kimberly with George in his office, casually discussing the perils of the business world as if they had been intimate friends for years. She could not help but notice their disappointment upon her entrance. After a moment of awkwardness, George proceeded to introduce Kimberly.
"Hello, Myrna. I hope you had a wonderful vacation. I would like you to meet Kimberly. She will be staying on with us as an intern."
With a look of suspicion, she shook her hand with cool politeness. "I hope everything went smoothly for you."
"Oh, yes, I could not have asked for a more pleasant temp assignment. Mr. Simon has most kindly offered me a permanent spot here, working under his direction, until I go back to school."
"How nice," was all Myrna managed to say.
George broke in. "Myrna, if you could call my wife and let her know I'll be home a couple of hours late, I would appreciate it."
"...let her know I'll be a couple hours late. Yeah, I bet you will, with Kimberly," Myrna repeated sarcastically in her mind. She was no fool. She caught their secret glances to one another.
The wonderful thing about Kimberly, George reflected after several consecutive dinner meetings and weekend trips with her, was that he did not have to win her affection with material items, as he was required to do with Susan. Susan did not have any wealth of her own before she married him. She was constantly irritating him with requests for new clothes, vacation brochures, money for a new, state-of-the-art dishwasher. Kimberly, on the other hand, belonged to a prestigious, wealthy family that satisfied her every material desire. She did not want nor need anything from him, except advice and guidance.
Several weeks later, George, accidentally slakening his scruples regarding his affair with Kimberly, informed his wife that he was going to Mexico for an important business convention.
"Will Kimberly be going with you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Kimberly will be going with you, won't she?"
"Oh, Kimberly, my assistant. I almost did not know who you were talking about. Yes, she will be helping me with my presentation."
She stared at him with a hateful scowl. "Don't lie to me. I know everything that has been gong on between you two. Myrna had told me everything. You took her to Saratoga Springs! How could you? You see her every night. No wonder you never come home on time. You've got your little tart to keep you busy. Myrna knows your expense account, George. Sure, as long as you don't have to pay for your fling, you just go right ahead. Cheap son of a bitch. What happened to our second honeymoon, huh? Too busy with Kimberly, and who knows who else?"
George was absolutely stunned as he silently listened to her attack. "That's it, George. I have managed this household as best as I can with the little you give me, wearing last year's clothes and not going anywhere, while you come and go as you please. I can't take it anymore! I want a divorce. I'm calling Joe McKenna tomorrow to seek legal advice."
The mention of Joe McKenna's name made him cringe, and she retrieved her only pleasure from the day by watching his reaction. He had argued against George in a huge anti-trust suit and won a large settlement for the opposing company.
"Please, honey, there is no need to do that. I know I haven't been around much lately, but believe me, I have been working the entire time." He shuddered at his own response to the accusation of his infidelity.
"Lately? Try the past two years."
"I know. I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry."
But it was too late. Susan stormed out of the room. Thirty seconds later, the bedroom door slammed behind her. His son and daughter, Bobby and Melissa, walked into the living room, eyes barely open as they were startled out of their sleep.
"Hey, Daddy's home. Where's mom?"
"She went to bed. Come tell daddy what you did in school today."
Their naive tales provided a welcome change to what just took place with his wife.
Susan called Joe McKenna the first thing in the morning. He immediately agreed to a preliminary consultation, but insisted that he see both her and George at the same time on that date. The appointment was set for the following week. George could not concentrate on anything, for he was preoccupied with dread. He could not bear the thought of being McKenna's opponent once again. McKenna would stop at nothing to win.
Kimberly continued to go to George's office with the same frequency, but George gradually rescinded his favours and attention to her. Instead of intently listening to her discuss her hopes and fears and responding with inside advice, he would only half-listen to her as he frantically flipped through his Rolodex to find a suitable attorney to represent him. He never made eye-contact with her. Her persistence did not pay off; in fact, it made him more irritable toward her. "Uh-huh, uh-huh...excuse me, Kimberly, I need to make a private phone call," was his only response to her when she would pour out her innermost thoughts to him.
By the time the first appointment with McKenna arrived, Kimberly had become furious with George. She stopped going to his office. She only did him favours if asked, and even then with as little civility as possible. George hardly noticed the change in her behavior, however. He was too concerned with his own problems. McKenna made it quite clear to George that he had a strong enough body of evidence proving George's infidelity and domestic neglect. He would make sure that Susan won a large settlement. George was beside himself. He returned to his office, hastily packed up some documents, and stormed out before anyone knew he had come or gone.
"Gee, Mr. Simon has sure gone off the deep end," commented one secretary when he called to inform personnel that he would be absent for a few weeks.
"For a man who was so meticulous about his business dealings, he had really let things go to pieces," commented another, on the accounts he let slip away.
On the first few days of deliberation, McKenna tore George to pieces. The evidence he had was devastating. Susan's testimony sealed his fate; she was clearly in distress. Susan won a two million dollar settlement, plus full custody of the children. When asked to make a statement of defense, George could not utter a word. He only sobbed.
Immediately after the judge handed down his decision, Kimberly left the firm. To everyone's surprise, she filed a law suit of her own. She claimed that he had manipulatively made it impossible for her to work anywhere else but at his firm, and that he caused her severe psychological distress which made it impossible to function. Kimberly's family hired the best lawyer in the field that money could buy. The judge once again handed down a decision against George. He agreed with all the testimony and evidence in support of Kimberly's claims. The settlement was for another two million dollars.
Now in severe psychological distress himself, George returned to his office. He sat in his comfy leather armchair and gazed out of his window, focusing on the little specks that scurried across the street and the river that snaked behind them. Shortly, the new secretary who replaced Myrna entered his office. "Letter for you, sir."
"Thank you, Clare." He took the letter, carefully opened it, and scanned it quickly:
Dear Mr. Simon:
The executive committee of ethics has come to the decision that your recent proven guilt of sexual harassment will make it impossible for Price and Fisher to retain your services. Please accept our heartfelt regret.
Sincerely,
Thomas Price, President
He laid down the letter. "So, that's it. Twenty years for nothing." He collapsed on his desk and sobbed. He was completely broke, and now jobless. He quickly left his office and took the elevator to the roof. From there he could see the entire city. Still in the state of shock, he plunged head first off the building. A crowd immediately surrounded him. His face was still in the shape of when he uttered his last words: "Four million dollars and no job."
Susan and Myrna laid on the beach in Acupulco. The sun and the noise of the ocean placed them in a state of utter peace. They slowly sipped their margaritas.
"Susan, I don't know how to repay you for inviting me along with you."
"Yes, Joe and I are absolutely captivated with the place. We will be returning in a month with the kids for Club Med. Anyhow, it's about time I got to go somewhere. You and I both deserve this."
Myrna smiled. She thought of Don at home, almost losing his sanity as he tried to get the kids dressed, fed, and off to school. For a moment she pitied him, but not for long.