by Robin Roseau
"Well," said Raelyn. "I should take care of these lovely flowers. Then we can sit for a few minutes before dinner, or if people are starving, it's ready immediately."
"I'd prefer to unwind a little and enjoy this first glass of wine," I said. And so we had a plan.
Raelyn and I attended to the flowers. While we were at it, Dyson said, "Raelyn, Lyra said you're a recruiter. For Information Technology?"
"That's a crowded field," she replied. "My clients are usually trying to fill extremely specific needs."
"Like what?"
"Hmm. Well, I once had to find a personal assistant who spoke fluent English, Swiss German, and Mandarin Chinese with a background in international banking."
"Seriously?" Dyson asked. I looked over my shoulder at him, and his eyes were a little wide. "Did you find her?"
"Are you so sure it was a her?" Raelyn asked. She laughed. "Of course I filled the position. I always do."
"Always?" Felicity asked.
"Always," Raelyn replied. "I don't just find qualified people. When I find a candidate for a position, I learn everything about the person. Everyone has a price, and it's not always money. I figure out what that price is, and then and only then do I arrange an introduction with my client."
"How do you do that?"
Raelyn turned back to the flowers she and I were arranging. "Ah, perfect. Thank you so much, Dyson. They're lovely." She sniffed them. "Jaime, can you place these on the dining room table? That's so sweet." She handed the vase to Jaime then looked at Dyson. "Let's talk about that later." She looked at Felicity. "How were sales today?"
"Mondays are typically slow," Felicity said. "But we had a good weekend. Thank you for Friday."
We hung out in the kitchen for another fifteen minutes, talking casually and finishing our first glasses of wine. Raelyn stirred the stew periodically, and my mouth was watering long before she said, "Well, I think it's time to sit for dinner. Dyson, be a dear, would you." She handed him a pair of oven mitts. "There is a large trivet on the table. The Dutch oven can go straight there. Everyone, be careful. It will remain hot." While Dyson took care of that, she pulled two fresh loaves of bread from the oven, and I had a chance to sniff them. They smelled wonderful.
Raelyn ushered us out to the dining room then orchestrated seating. "I'll take the end. I'd like Lyra here to my left, and Felicity, do you mind taking the place at my right. Dyson next to his girlfriend, of course, and Jaime beside Lyra."
Jaime refreshed our wine. We passed bowls to Raelyn, and she dished stew for us. The bread went around the table, and then Raelyn said, "I am not a religious person, but I am deeply spiritual. I hope you will indulge me. If we can hold hands for a moment."
We took hands, Dyson and Jaime reaching across the table to complete the circle. Dyson looked a little freaked out about holding hands with a guy, but Raelyn smiled at him and waited expectantly, and so he took Jaime's hand.
"This meal represents the circle of life," Raelyn said. "I wish to honor the creature that gave its life so that we may live. I wish to honor the people who raised the crops so that we may live. I wish to honor the bounty of this beautiful world we inhabit." She paused then looked around the table. "I like to think of the Earth as a living, sentient creature, and in my head, and in my heart, I thank her for her gifts. You may each do as fits your custom." Then she bowed her head and was still for a short while.
We all did the same, and then Raelyn said, "Thank you." She squeezed my hand briefly, and I thought she did the same with Felicity's before releasing us both. "I know I am a little eccentric."
"I think it was lovely," Felicity said. She glanced over at Dyson for a moment then turned back to Raelyn. I could see the question in her eyes, but she didn't want to voice it in front of Dyson.
Raelyn smiled and patted Felicity's arm. "Oh, I don't believe in Mother Nature as some living, breathing person. If there are gods, I don't personally know of any. But I believe we should live our lives as if we do believe in Mother Nature. I believe we should cherish this planet. It's the only one we have, and if we do not remind ourselves from time to time, it is easy to become callous. The words I said earlier are not some solemn scripture. Tomorrow night may have an entirely different focus. If I say the same words each time, they would lose meaning."
"If I were going to say something," Jaime said. "I would have offered honor to the woman who prepared such a lovely meal." He inhaled deeply over his plate. "Thank you, Raelyn."
She smiled. "You're welcome. Eat up. There's more than enough."
Over the meal, conversation was simple and light-hearted. Raelyn made a point of including everyone, specifically asking opinions and soliciting stories from each of us. Then she asked about Dyson's job, and Felicity groaned.
"Is that topic off limits?" Raelyn asked.
"No," Dyson said. "But Felicity thinks my job is boring."
"That's not true," Felicity said. "But I'm working very hard teaching you there are things to talk about other than your job." She turned her gaze back to Raelyn. "While you were at the shop Friday evening, I was at a party filled with twenty computer geeks and four other women. You can imagine the topics. Wait. Topic."
"I can talk about other things," Dyson said, staring at his plate.
"Sure, if someone else starts the conversation," Felicity replied.
"I start other conversations," he said defensively. "I asked Raelyn what she does."
"And when you did, you turned it back onto I.T., and perhaps were even wondering if she had a job for you somewhere. I applaud your networking, Dyson, and I'm very proud of you. But conversations always turn back to your job."
He looked away from her. "I can talk about other things."
"All right," Felicity said. She folded her arms and waited. And we all looked at Dyson.
I felt bad for him. I would have wilted under the attention, and I'm not sure I could have come up with a topic. We all stared at Dyson for perhaps ten seconds, with me wondering if there were a way to rescue him. Instead, it was Raelyn.
"Well, I am a recruiter, and I actually am interested in at least the basics of understanding what you do, Dyson. Our jobs are important to all of us, after all, and I've found that is deeply true of computer programmers. Your job isn't just what you do, it is a big part of what you are. Do you mind answering a few questions?"
"No," he said, still not looking at her.
Raelyn spent just a few minutes talking to him. Her questions were precise, requiring a sentence or three to answer. It took a minute or two, but Dyson became more animated as he spoke.
"I can see you love your job," Raelyn said.
"I do. It's like... I spend the entire day solving puzzles. And I create things."
"In my experience, many computer programmers are extremely creative, intuitive thinkers. Would you say that describes you?"
He looked at her for a moment. "I never thought about that."
"Well, when you're writing a program, do you map it all out, step by step, before you start, or do you pick a direction then trust your abilities to fill in the details as you go."
At the beginning of the question, he began to offer an expression I could best describe as horror, but he smiled when she finished. "I pick a direction. I've worked with guys that work the other way, but they're slow. And they have to back up a lot."
"Why?" Felicity asked.
"Hmm. If you were going to drive from Los Angeles to New York, and you were planning your route, would you start planning by saying, First I have to turn right out of my drive, then I turn left at the corner?"
Felicity just stared at him, but it was Jaime who said, "No. You pick the basic route."
"And you have to ask whether you want the shortest route," Dyson said. "Or did you want to make a point of traveling through certain cities. Maybe you have a friend in Chicago you haven't seen for a while, so you might swing a little further north."
"Maybe it's winter, and you want a warmer route."
&n
bsp; "Or summer, and stay the hell out of the south," I added.
"Maybe there's terrible road construction on a section of road, and you either want to avoid it or carefully pick the time of day you drive through there," Dyson suggested. "You see?"
"I see," Raelyn said.
"Well the guys who have to plot it all out have a hard time starting with the big picture. They know they have to get on the interstate, so they start by planning their route to the interstate. And they lay it out that way. But then they find out a road is closed or the traffic is terrible or there is a convention in that town and they can't get a hotel for the night. So their entire plan is screwed up and they have to back way up."
"So what do you do?" Felicity asked.
"I know my starting point and I know where I want to go. I decide I'm going to go through these five points, and I trust that the roads between them are good. Then I look at each section a little more closely to make sure I'm not wrong. Usually that's enough, and I have my map. If it's a big enough project, I might have to look a little deeper a few more times, perhaps only on some sections. But I have an entire project planned, and I can usually describe the roadmap on a few pieces of paper. I can be assigned a project by my boss and have the plan in my head by the time I get back to my desk."
"Did you learn to think this way in college?" Raelyn asked.
"No. Nothing you do in college is that big. You learn about the basics, the building blocks."
Raelyn asked about college, then she asked, "Did you three go to college?" That was discussed, and somehow the concept of student loans came up. Raelyn asked Dyson whether he'd had loans.
Eventually the conversation moved in other directions.
"You know," Jaime said, leaning back in his chair. "This is the best stew I've ever had."
"I know it's just basic, comfort food," Raelyn said. "It's not fancy."
"It was good," Dyson said. "I wish I could cook like this."
"There are classes you could take," Raelyn pointed out.
Dyson looked away. After a moment, Raelyn said, "Ah. They're usually crowded."
"Yeah," he replied.
"Well," Raelyn said after a moment. "How about we clear this away and retire to the living room. We can share a sweet little treat."
Ten minutes later found us all in the living room. The sweet little treat was simple: chocolate brownies and ice cream. We all plopped down with our bowls and expressed our appreciation. Raelyn got everyone else talking while she sat back, listening. I leaned against her, enjoying the contact.
We talked about this and that for another hour and a half. We talked about places we'd like to travel and things we'd like to do. Along the way, Raelyn collected her iPad and showed us pictures from a trip she had taken. Politics came up briefly, but Raelyn steered us away. Then I could see Dyson getting restless. We didn't open the shop until ten, but Dyson had to be to work earlier than that, and he had to drop us off first.
"I can see our evening is coming to a close soon," Raelyn said. "But Dyson, earlier tonight, you asked me how I can be so successful recruiting. Would you like to see?"
"Sure," he replied.
"Understand, I've only spent an evening with you. Normally I would have spent more time than this. But it should be enough for a demonstration. Dyson, I want you to-" she glanced at me. "Play hard to get."
He smiled. "All right."
"We'll have to play act some of this." She looked around. "And conveniently, I have three actors available right here. Are you ready for the performance of your lifetimes?"
Jaime laughed. One by one, Raelyn pulled Jaime, Felicity, and then me out of the room and spoke to us. While Jaime was gone, Felicity asked, "What is she doing?"
"No idea," I said. "But I bet it's going to be interesting."
Dyson looked nervous. "I didn't think this was that complicated a question."
"She's showing off," Felicity said. But then she turned back to me. "Lyra, I'm sorry I was a bitch. She's really nice. If she makes you happy, I say Go for it."
"Thanks, Felicity," I said.
When it was my turn, Raelyn pulled me to the kitchen. She pulled me into her arms and kissed me quickly, then she stepped away. "I like your friends."
"I do, too, and Felicity is warming to you."
Raelyn buffed her fingernails against her chest. "I'm just that lovable." Her expression sobered. "All right. You're an employee of my client."
"Okay."
"When I prompt you, you're going to talk about the vacation you took. It was a company perk. Twice a year, we do getaway retreats. They're team-building exercises. Last winter, we all flew via private jet to the Virgin Islands and spent a weak aboard a seventy-two foot catamaran. It was amazing." She handed me her iPad, already opened to pictures from just such a trip. "The trip this summer was to a resort in Banff. Hiking, photography, and the like, mixed in with team-building and product planning."
"All expenses paid, I presume."
"Of course."
I began to laugh. "Is this really what happens?"
"It's different for everyone," she replied. "Ready?"
I nodded and we returned to the living room.
After that, Raelyn took possession of Dyson, giving him a tour of Black Star Enterprises.
"Black Star?" he asked.
"Yes. One of my clients."
"They just landed a contract to build robotic devices for the ISS."
"So they did," she replied. She walked him around the living room, talking about what he'd be doing for Black Star. From his body language, I already knew he was hooked, and he wasn't going to "play hard to get" any better than I had been with her.
Then she "introduced" him to Jaime, who was standing, staring at one of the walls.
"I heard you had a good night on Thursday," Raelyn said.
"I kicked ass," Jaime said. He turned to Dyson and held out his hand. "Jaime Kane. You must be Dyson." Jaime sized him up and down. "Are you any good?"
"At programming?"
"No. Half Gravity."
"Half Gravity?"
"Yeah," Jaime said. He gestured to the wall. "We have an ongoing tournament. It's Thursday nights most weeks. We're up until forever." He gestured again. "I had a great night last week and moved up two slots."
"You guys play Half Gravity every week?"
"Not exactly," Jaime said. "We used to. Now it's Half Gravity Two."
"Two isn't out."
"Not officially," Raelyn replied. "We have connections."
From her seat, Felicity was chuckling. She leaned towards me. "She had him at robotics for the space station."
"She's not remotely done," I replied.
Felicity eyed me. "What's your role?"
"Hot babe, of course," I said. I grinned at her. "You'll see."
Felicity narrowed her eyes, but she didn't look too intimidated. Not too intimidated.
"How are those classes going, Jaime?" Raelyn prompted.
"Great. Randal is amazing. He really knows his stuff."
"Classes?" Dyson asked, walking right into it.
"Company perk," Jaime said. "Continuing education."
"We find our staff doesn't have time to attend formal classes on a schedule, but we require them to have opportunities to be more well rounded," Raelyn said. "We arrange for one-on-one training in a wide variety of topics."
"I'm learning wood turning," Jaime said. "Already I'm making the most beautiful bowls. Last year I took cooking classes with this amazing woman named Elsa." He sighed. "If only Elsa was a guy, it would have been love at first sight."
Felicity huffed. "She cheats."
I laughed. "She sure does."
Jaime sized Dyson up again. "So, fresh meat. We'll go easy on you at first."
Dyson laughed nervously. "You mean you hope I'll go easy on you. All those muscles and shit don't do you a bit of good in Half Gravity."
Raelyn took Dyson's arm and gave him more of the "tour". She showed him the imaginary robotics
lab and described his workstation. "We upgrade every eighteen months," she said. "Some of the team bring their old machines home with him."
Felicity laughed at that.
It became my turn. She introduced me as one of the robotic hardware specialists, talking about stuff I didn't remotely understand. But then Raelyn said, "Lyra is quite the sailor."
I laughed. "Oh, that was a fun trip," I said. I pulled out the iPad and went into the spiel that Raelyn had prompted. Raelyn nudged us until the three of us were sitting on the sofa, looking at the photos.
I hadn't noticed, but Felicity moved away, but then she said, "Knock, knock."
We all turned to her, and she had her hand lifted as if she were knocking at the door.
"Felicity!" Raelyn said, bouncing to her feet. She hurried to her and air kissed her cheeks.
"I thought we were going to lunch," Felicity said. "But your driver brought me here. I didn't know you were going to be here, Dyson."
"Come in, sit down," Raelyn said. "Lyra was just telling us about her trip." And so I went through the pictures on the iPad, although Raelyn did most of my talking for me. She went through some of the pictures and then began naming people. Then she turned to me. "This one." She pointed. "Isn't he Peg's husband?"
"I thought he came with Dan." I wanted to see what she'd do with that.
"Oh, you're right. Dan's partner, Evan. He was really funny. This one must be Peg's husband then."
"I think you're right. I didn't get to know him very well."
Raelyn turned to look at Felicity and Dyson, now sitting across the coffee table from us. She smiled, and I thought it was somewhat pointedly.
"You invite spouses on your team-building trips," Felicity said in a flat voice. "Raelyn, no one does that."
Raelyn smiled. "Of course they do," she said. "When you really, really want to hire someone, you find out what they want, and then you offer it. So, shall we all go to lunch and discuss when you'll be starting, Dyson?"
"No," Felicity said. "You cheat."
Raelyn laughed. "Why do you say that?"