The Very Nice Box

Chapter 3

9

Over the next several days Ava and Mat built a small universe of routines that they attended to during their commute. They identified the worst bumper stickers, funniest vanity plates, and storefront signage that was missing letters, like the restaurant dynasty pizza, which appeared to be called nasty pizza.

They read from Dope Horoscope, sometimes checking the romantic compatibility of people at STÄDA: Jaime and Judith’s relationship would be aggravatingly dope! It was impossible for Ava not to laugh at the thought of this coupling. On a few occasions Jaime and Judith had been roped into appearing side-by-side on STÄDA’s new Diversity Panel, during which they were essentially asked to applaud STÄDA’s commitment to empowering its employees of color. Their open disdain for this sort of tokenism appeared to be where their similarities ended.

This morning, as they waited at a stop light near the Simple Tower, Mat suddenly turned to her.

‘Do you ever wonder why we’re here?’ Mat said.

‘Here at STÄDA? Sometimes,’ Ava said. ‘When I first got hired, I had this dream of eventually becoming a full-time woodworker. That was my main skill, and I imagined I’d be able to work more with my hands. But then I grew to love product engineering, and it paid more and felt more practical, so…’

‘Oh, I meant more like here on earth,’ Mat said. ‘But that’s cool. So that’s why you spend so much time on the Test Floor. That, and to avoid office parties, of course. Your other great passion.’

Ava felt a pulse of excitement at the idea that he noticed where she spent her time. ‘I guess so.’

‘So if you found yourself without a job and with a full wood shop tomorrow, what would you build?’

The thought of being without STÄDA was like staring off the edge of a cliff.

‘I can’t, um… I don’t know –’

‘It’s a fantasy, there’s no can’t.’

‘Okay, well,’ Ava said, ‘my parents had this beautiful piano – a Steinway – made out of walnut. I see listings a few times a year for cast-iron piano frames, which is the part the strings are attached to. The body deteriorates and they go out of tune and people don’t want to pay to fix or move them. Anyway, it’s sort of a silly obsession, but I’ve always wanted to try rebuilding a piano from one to replicate my parents’. But I’m definitely not skilled enough. Just something I think about sometimes.’

She briefly considered telling him the truth about her family, the whole story, but she couldn’t bring herself to paint the details of the accident. The intent lingered on her tongue, but she swallowed it away.

‘Well, if anybody could do it,’ Mat said, ‘I think it would be you.’

Ava’s face burned. They turned the corner and were stuck in a short line of cars on their way into the STÄDA parking lot, rubbernecking a crowd.

‘What the –’ Mat said, coasting forward. Several news vans had gathered around the Vision Tower construction site, which was flanked with green plywood. An interview was underway beside graffiti that read Imagine a garden here. Mat rolled his window down as they passed by.

‘They want to call us Vandals,’ said a voice straining to be heard over the crowd. ‘That’s not how we see ourselves, and frankly it’s ironic! Their presence will gut this neighborhood, but they still manage to see themselves as victims.’

A crowd of voices encouraged her on. The newscaster cut in. ‘And what would you call yourselves? Activists? Protesters?’

‘We don’t have an official name for ourselves, not like they’ve given us. It’s interesting how they try to belittle…’

‘Whoa,’ Mat said, rolling up his window. ‘I didn’t realize we’d reached a boiling point here. Tension is the enemy of productivity. I’m talking to Security about this.’

By the time they reached the elevator, Ava’s phone was buzzing with S-Chat messages about the scene on the street. Someone had dropped a livestream link to the interview in the company-wide chat room, and people were rattling off responses. GIFs of celebrities eating popcorn. A handful of angry emojis. A few sincere attempts from the Customer Bliss team to thread a conversation about STÄDA’s corporate social responsibility efforts.

The elevator doors opened on Floor 12, and a woman dressed in red was waiting on the other side, looking annoyed. Ava recognized her – she had led the Marketing campaign for the Cozy Nesting Tables. She had a silky curtain of dark hair and lipstick that was somehow both deep and bright. She was one of the few employees who wore heels to work, and they brought her almost to Mat’s height.

‘Sonia!’ Mat said, swiping a palmful of hand sanitizer and rubbing it in. The three of them walked through the bright glass corridor toward their desks, other employees bustling past them with tablets and furniture samples.

‘It’s Sofia,’ she corrected.

‘So sorry,’ Mat said. ‘Of course, that’s what I meant –’

‘And I thought you were going to look at my campaign for the Supportive Door Hook an hour ago.’ Sofia checked her watch, which was a new edition of the Precise Wristwatch. Instead of ticking, its second hand glided.

‘My bad,’ Mat said. ‘We got caught up in the commotion down there.’

‘Well, I managed to be here on time, for this. Can we do it now?’ Sofia said, moving out of the way for a man carrying a Polite Hamper into the Imagination Room.

‘Actually, I… the problem is,’ Mat said with a conciliatory smile, ‘it’s going to have to wait until –’

‘I booked him next, I’m sorry,’ Ava said. ‘I have to run preliminary user manual copy by him before it goes to press.’

Sofia turned to Ava, apparently seeing her for the first time. ‘For the Very Nice Box? I was supposed to go over that with Mat this afternoon.’ She rubbed her temples. ‘So I guess it’ll be easier to reschedule that campaign brief than I thought, since apparently you will have done my job for me.’

‘I’m glad I can help,’ Ava said.

Sofia looked her up and down, lingering on her sneakers. Ava felt a pang of pride standing beside Mat. She enjoyed the mental calculus that Sofia must have been doing to recognize their closeness.

‘I’ll make sure I get Mat back to you by this afternoon,’ Ava said.

Sofia looked at her coldly. ‘Thanks,’ she said.

‘Awesome,’ Mat said, leading Ava away by her shoulder. ‘Then we’ll reconvene later.’ He flashed a smile at Sofia, who blinked her annoyance at him before turning the other way.

Ava made her way to her desk, where Legal’s feedback on the Very Nice Box was waiting for her. Should have safety latch in case child gets trapped inside. She closed her eyes and took a breath. What kind of child would get itself trapped in a box? Her S-Chat dinged with a GIF from Hotspot showing a woman’s horrified reaction to seeing an iPhone with 13,273 unread emails.

You, Jaime wrote. And according to the teaser, it gets much worse. Please add this to our agenda for Monday <3

Ava closed out the messages, lost in a different distraction. What did Mat see in her? There were other smart people working at STÄDA. There were other people with dogs and interesting Passion Projects. There were other people who probably would have liked to listen to an engineering podcast with him. There were other people who would even have given up one of their Unlimited Vacation Days to have some time with him.

But he had apparently chosen her, and she was surprised to relish the effect: the glances she’d been fielding from her colleagues when Mat joined her for an Unlimited Outdoors Break – without CCing Judith! – or pulled an Encouraging Desk Chair up to her desk while she opened her Sensible Bento Box. No, she was getting ahead of herself.

From her Practical Sofa that evening, Ava texted her SHRNK to sort out the feeling.

How do you feel about the possibility that Mat might have feelings for you?

I can’t believe he would.

Why?

Because I’m… me. He looks like he stepped out of a cologne ad.

Let me ask my question again: How do you feel about the possibility that Mat might have feelings for you?

Ava quickly closed the app. She called Brutus onto her Practical Sofa and patted his head, her pulse quick against her neck.