Lost and Found (Growing Pains #1)(66)

“Okay,” she said, turning to look at Krista’s stuff. “Oh my. You’ve been busy. Okay, let me show you how this works.”

“How—uh, how the machine works?”

“Well, yes. You didn’t think I was going to do it all for you, did you? I got a million things to do!”

“Oh right, of course. Sorry, I just thought someone did this normally. I don’t really know how the art department works.”

She laughed and patted Krista’s shoulder. “Of course not. I’m surprised you haven’t run out screaming by now. Every once in a while a Research person has to spend time in here and they always leave with scowls!”

Crap! She was about to be lumped in with the rest of the stuffy people from her department!

Thinking quick she said, “Oh, hah hah, it’s not that bad. Big machines, though. Well, we’ll see what happens. I just hope I don’t completely screw the pooch.” She inched forward, trying to look like she was eager to learn.

Phyllis laughed again, then began going through how to work the machine. She pointed out levers, talked about buttons, gave one example, then patted Krista on the back and walked away.

Krista stared at the machine for a long moment. She probably should have written something down…

There was only one thing to do. She fished out her phone and dialed without thinking.

“Hello? Krista?” Ben’s voice was a barely contained frenzy.

“Hi Ben, yeah it’s me. Tell me I haven’t interrupted anything.”

“Freaking Muni dumped me off in no-man’s-land and said the bus was out of service. Damn it!”

Ben saying “freaking” and “damn” meant he was really riled up. It took a lot for that guy to get on edge. But then, Muni could give Mother Theresa something to swear about.

“Do you have a second?”

“I have a million seconds. I have to wait with a bus load of people for the next full bus to come along and try to squeeze onto that bus. I had a seat, too.” He let out an exasperated and enraged sigh.

“Well then, good timing, as it were.”

“I guess. What’s up?”

“Okay, I am standing in front of some binding machine. Some giant art book machine...thing. It has levers and buttons and I am completely lost. Tell me you have worked on one of these.”

“You are in luck. I worked on a binding machine for a time last year. It was an extra course I dropped halfway through. I thought it would be fun but it turned out just a lot of work. We mostly worked on a printing press, which was neat because--”

“Ben. Focus.”

“Oh right, sorry. Okay, tell me what you are looking at and maybe I can help.”

She did. She tried to tell him as much as she remembered about the levers and buttons. She told him the model and what it looked like. It turned out this machine was a low quality model. Being that he had worked on a top quality model at the expensive art school he went to, he had to dumb himself down to help out, but he knew enough to get her going. He then had to go because a bus was coming and he needed to shove his way on. He didn’t want to be late for his class.

She’d written stuff down that time, but she was about as good at machinery as she had been at wood shop. Not. A. Clue.

She very nearly gave up. The only thing that kept her going, that convinced her that binders wouldn’t cut it, was having a department full of crazy, smirking art people thinking they were better than Research. She’d be damned if some messy-desked morons were gonna show her up!

Plus, she didn’t give two rats about this department’s budget. If they thought leaving someone unattended on their machine was acceptable, then Krista would waste a bunch of their expensive paper without feeling bad.

So there!

She hit some buttons, pulled some levers, and half expected a gum drop to fall out of the chute. Instead, it was a marred piece of purple paper. She gave a couple more tries, almost figured it out, and then decided she might as well give it a try. Sean would have to forgive her.

Plus, she had it all in soft copy—she’d just hand him the flash drive if this all went pear-shaped.

After an hour and a lot of ruined, expensive paper, she had her first binding done and it looked really good! Totally better than binders! The second binding looked even better, and the third had her owning that machine with a smirk that the art department could draw then frame.

Suck it!

She worked late into that night, trying to get everything done and looking good. It wasn’t just about the material, it was about presentation. She wanted to wow everyone. She wanted them to realize that she deserved a spot on the team, and even though she didn’t have much experience, she learned fast.

She hoped that’s what she would portray anyway. Otherwise she would hand in a pile of useless, expensive garbage that was overkill in the wrong way.

That would really, really ruin her day.

As she made her way out of the dark art department, she noticed a light on from the dark hub. It looked like Marcus was cramming for the meeting tomorrow. At least she wasn’t alone.

Chapter Fourteen

It was Friday morning and a horrid thought struck Krista as she swung her bag under her desk. What if Sean expected me to be through all my steps by now?

In a panic, she called Marcus.

“Geek girl! All set for the big meeting? I hear even Monica is going to be at this one.”