Chapter 2

'The dragon' who was Mrs Rogers, turned out to be a middle aged lady of fifty plus, with iron grey curly hair, and watery blue eyes that peered suspiciously at you through her thick rimmed glasses.

She was a tall thin woman who towered over Miranda's own five foot four inches, and so gave that woman the chance to 'look down' on her.

Miranda could see why they referred to her as the dragon, but she felt herself warming to the cantankerous old bat, as she saw the mountain of paperwork that that lady had to face.

"I don't know how you've been managing on your own!" Miranda exclaimed with a touch of awe and admiration.

The older woman smiled stiffly at her, although her shoulders did go back with a touch of pride.

"I am very good at what I do Miss Redmond!" she informed her in a superior voice.

"I don't doubt that for one moment Mrs Rogers!"

Mrs Rogers looked at her suspiciously for a moment as though she thought that Miranda was mocking her ... however all she could see, was absolute sincerity in this beautiful young woman's face.

"Yes ... well..." she shuffled together a large pile of the work on her own desk, and thrust it at Miranda. "Here ... that's your desk and computer over there..." she indicated the desk on the other side of the room, with her eyes. "Let's see what you can do with that lot!"

Peter had already shown her, her desk; before Mrs Rogers had arrived this morning, and thankfully he'd also sorted out her computer log on and password, so that she could actually use the computer which had been assigned to her.

Miranda seriously doubted whether Mrs Rogers would have been so helpful with any of that!

Miranda sat down with a forlorn little sigh, this job was going to be ... testing!

She began to slowly look through the files and folders and paperwork, and was relieved to see that without exception, it all had little post it notes attached, telling her exactly what she needed to do with each file.

For the most part it was hand written notes, and experiments that simply needed to be typed up.

And so after a little while, Miranda logged on to her computer and pulled the first file towards her.

By lunch time her back was aching a little; and her brain was numbed, but the pile of work had all been done.

She rubbed her lower back with a sigh of relief as she hit the return key, which sent the last document across to the printer. It had been a good morning, but now she was dying for a cup of tea – and her stomach was beginning to make grumbling noises.

Mrs Rogers glanced across at her.

"Have you done ALL that?" she asked with a note of surprise.

"Yes." Miranda nodded with a smile. "It was pretty much all typing, and as my CV said - I'm VERY good at typing."

"I suppose that you are..." Mrs Rogers acknowledged begrudgingly. She opened her mouth to issue more instructions, just as Peter walked through the door.

"I thought I'd show Miranda where the café is and we could grab some lunch together?" he smiled charmingly at Mrs Rogers who just scowled back at him irritably.

"Oh very well ... I'll see you in an hour Miranda!" she looked across at her pointedly.

Miranda stood up and grabbed her coat and bag. "Yes of course!" she exclaimed gratefully.

At the door though, she turned back uncertainly. "Can I get something for you Mrs Rogers?" she offered hesitantly.

Mrs Rogers gave Miranda her first genuine smile. "Thank you for the offer, but I shall go out for my own lunch as soon as you get back."

"Would you rather go first?"

The older woman's smile almost reached her eyes. "No dear ... you go and get yours ... you've certainly earned it!"

The café that Peter took her to was just down the road, and around the corner.

It was a bustling little place, with clean plastic tables, and brightly coloured chairs.

Peter led her to one near the windows which wasn't so much on the main traffic route, of people coming and going.

"What do you fancy Peter, this one's on me," Miranda murmured softly. "I feel the need to splash out a bit, although I'm most certainly too late to get paid this month, I've got my redundancy from Harding's Enterprise, and some money saved up, so the bills will all be paid – with cash to spare..."

"This isn't exactly your five star restaurant," Peter chuckled, "but since you insist on paying ... then who am I to argue?"

They looked optimistically at the plastic menu.

"A portion of chicken and a jacket potato for me I think ... along with a side salad; and we can share a pot of tea?" she looked questioningly at Peter who nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I think I'll go for the same; simple, cheerful and filling."

Miranda pulled out her purse and handed Peter a twenty pound note. "You go and order then, while I nip to the ladies room to freshen up a little, my hands feel like they are covered with ink powder from that printer."

By the time Miranda returned from the ladies, Peter was back at their table with a tray, two cups and a pot of tea.

"The food will be out presently, they said, so we might as well have a cup of tea while we wait."

He looked across at her hopefully, and Miranda sat down and arranged the cups and poured the tea.

"Ahh, that's just what I needed." She sighed after taking a sip of the strong brew. "I've not had a drink since first thing this morning."

Peter frowned across at her. "Didn't Mrs Rogers tell you about the little room just at the end of your corridor?"

Miranda took another sip of her tea. "We were so busy this morning I never thought to stop and ask ... the poor thing she must be dying for a drink!"

"Huh! I'll bet you any money that's she's made herself one, whilst you're out on your lunch hour!"

Miranda was saved from replying by the arrival of their food.

They were both hungry, so for a little while they were silent.

"So how did you enjoy your first morning?" Peter suddenly asked cheerfully as he paused in his eating.

Miranda delayed answering whilst she chewed and swallowed her food.

"Well, it was for the most part straightforward enough ... just basic typing, but the contents were fascinating. Formulas, tests and experiments, followed by results and conclusions, and further proposals for study ... and ALL of it to be forwarded to Marcus for his inspection and agreement."

"Yes that's where I come in!" Peter jumped in a little smugly. "I'll be reading through a lot of it, and gathering a summary for Marcus to look at; which we will then mull over between us, before passing it back down the line, with his decisions, and recommendations."

"Wow!" Miranda murmured impressed. "That's a fair amount of responsibility you're carrying, what happens if you don't understand it?"

He looked positively offended by her question. "I've been working here long enough, to at the very least get the gist of what happens up in the Research and Development Department ... that was one of the reasons I think, that I was always assigned to Marcus in the first place."

They were silent while they finished their lunch, but as they were sitting over their last cup of tea, Peter suddenly looked across at her slightly anxiously. "So do you think that you'll enjoy working at 'Phillips'?" he asked, trying to sound casual but there was a slightly nervous edge to his voice.