THIRTY-ONE
November segued into December and temperatures rose, particularly on the first floor of the PCB. Following a third warning for poor timekeeping and the discovery of vodka in a water bottle kept beside her computer, Marjorie was summoned to Colin Theobald’s office and dismissed with immediate effect. Supervisor Tony relayed the information to the remaining TDKs soon after he had escorted her from the building.
Rumour ran rife along the front desk, Marjorie’s future envisioned as precarious, with few employers likely to engage a citizen sacked from a PCB position. Emma kept her opinions to herself, wishing, despite having been irritated by Marj’s constant complaining, that she could have offered the prospect of a liberated life. Then, a week later, the arrival of a replacement T
