The girl next door.

She has golden, reddish hair, long and kinda wavy. Mid-thirties. Her background is a mix of Eastern and Western European. Her head is always tilted to one side, making me think she just had a recent neck injury or some kinda accident. She is soft-spoken and walks really slow. I mean really slow. Doesn't wear pantyhose, despite the employee handbook rule, page 32.

She comes in right on time in the morning, takes the 60 minute military lunch (the other day, I saw her put on her tennis shoes and start walking during lunch time in the neighborhood). She leaves right at 5:30...sometimes 5:31 or maybe 5:32. Great role model for me, as opposed to the guy who is in at 7 a.m. and leaves at I-don't-know-what-time since I am not there to find out.

The first day, she did not come in to introduce herself, so I took the initiative to do so, went inside her office and did my usual "Hi, I am ....", being social. She barely smiled but managed to mumble, "nice to meet you." Not a welcome, not a "it's a great place to work here...", Nada.

At the end of the first day, she stopped by for 2 seconds and said, "Hope your first day went Okay."

She is sad. Truly sad. Her big eyes scream it and her energy just vibrates all day next door to me that something tortuous has either happened to her in the past (like child abuse), and or is still happening to her. Maybe she is going through a divorce? Maybe her mother has cancer or just passed away from cancer? Maybe she can't have children? Maybe her ex-lover died in the Twin Towers on September 11th? (Or is it that lawyers are just sad people?!)

Whatever her problem is, money can't fix it. It's an unbearable loss...

I like the secretary much better. She is tall and heavy, in her mid-20's and already has two kids. She is happy. She was the one who called me for my interview and when I told her I have to come after hours, she managed it for me. She made it happen. She is good at her job and good at "managing" things, since I hear her all day, outside my office. This one is as white as they come...probably born and raised in Oklahoma or maybe Iowa. So for her, having moved away from there to California has been the achievement of a lifetime. She is done and happy.

When am i gonna be done and happy?