Just last week, Charlotte was elated to be starting a tony new job in the legal department of a Fortune 100 company. But once there the mundane tasks seemed overwhelming and she could not see even a simple memo through to completion.
Her new boss, who had been so enthusiastic during the days of interviews, was annoyed and spent an hour this afternoon talking to the company's employment litigation attorneys. Then at ten minutes to five, Charlotte's boss demanded that she find a certain letter that had arrived several days ago. It was ten after six before Charlotte found it under a briefcase in another office. Was her boss trying to sabatoge her and make her look incompetent? Charlotte didn't think so. It had been impossible to concentrate all week, and every hour she had to hold back tears. But still it was so strange to find the letter in Aggie's office and not in the file.
Charlotte picked her toddlers up from daycare and paid the $50.00 charge for being so late. She drove home to the upper apartment in the ramshackle duplex she shared with her husband and the babies, and Judy, the neighbor woman downstairs who had loud fights with her teenage son every night for at least an hour.
Charlotte made a sandwich for her son and gave her daughter a bottle before putting them to bed.
Then she went into the bathroom, opened the cabinet, took out a large bottle of drain cleaner, sat on the bathroom floor, and held it in her arms for a long time. She tried to imagine the hellish burning in her mouth and esophagus as she swallowed it. She imagined the world going dark and her desperation at rest.
She opened the cap and put the bottle to her lips.
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