5:30
The alarm goes off. Maddy hits the button before it can disturb her husband. Who is she kidding? He can sleep through anything. She goes to her office to study for her exam for her graduate statistics course at Boston University that night.
6:30
Shakes hubby awake. Gives the first wakeup call to Peter age 12 and Julie age 8. Into the shower. She dresses in a black suit, white sweater, black stockings and knee-high black boots, sets up breakfast. Leaves lunch money for the kids. Outside, she scrapes the frost from the car window.
6:49
Stuck in traffic already. Usually she gets another 20 miles before the first jam. Whatever possessed them to move so far away from her work? Doesn't matter to her husband who has his own IT service and works at home.
7:49
Arrives at the office. Answers 11 e-mails. Goes to coffee room for tea. Secretary is settling in and they checks on the day's schedule. The pile of papers in her in-tray diminishes only a little while the out-tray grows in the same amount. Her secretary takes it away, but leaves three more folders in the in-tray. Two are stuffed with papers.
9:00-noon
Four meetings, each requiring follow up work. She wonders about lunch. Orders in from restaurant on the ground floor. It's cold by the time she has a chance to take the first bite. She has finished two of the five items assigned from the morning meeting.
l:15
Catches up on phone messages which arrived during the meetings. Lists follow ups needed. Makes three calls and asks secretary to set up a meeting with Bob, Janice and Sylvester for next Monday and lists things to put on the agenda. Makes sure every thing is on her computerized time work sheet.
2:30
Goes downstairs to get on the bus taking staff to Philip DuBois's funeral. He worked in the next office and she still feels badly that she didn't noticed how he had seemed depressed over his workload and not enough time with his three-year old twins. 35? Much too young to die. She wondered how his wife, the bitch, felt when the police came to tell her he'd hung himself in a motel room. Just like Phil to be too considerate to do it at home where she or the kids could find him.
5:00
Time to head for class, the test, for which she doesn't feel prepared. She walks by the other offices where her colleagues are at work for at least two or more hours -- as she would be, if she wasn't going for the MBA.
5:15
Finds a parking place in the garage near the B.U building where the class is. Still a lot of cars, but there are free spaces. Before getting out of her car, she checks the floor carefully. At least every other time she's parked there, she's seen a rat, some as big as a Jack Russell.
6:20
The professor greets everyone with a smile and a good luck wish. Only 15 people, all older, are in the class. He hands out the test and the bluebooks. The first two questions are easy.
What is she doing? Why is every minute of her day pre-programmed? When was the last time she ate Breakfast with her husband and kids. He works in IT from their home. When will she have time to decorate for Christmas? What were Phil's feelings the last few weeks? The last few minutes before he kicked the chair out from under him?
Her pen stops. Does she really want to go from law to the madness of the corporate life her friends tell her about, that is they tell her when they find a half an hour for a glass of wine?
She puts her pen down, gathers up the test paper and blue book and gives it to the professor. He's kinda cute, middle aged, with a five o'clock wantabe beard. His eyes look as if a bit of the sky on a wonderful day stole the blue. She'd never really noticed.
"Finished?" he asks.
"Oh yes," she said.
Checking for rats and seeing none, she gets into her car and wonders while she'll her husband about her quitting grad school. What will she say in her resignation letter to her law firm? Should she make pancakes for tomorrow morning's breakfast.
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