Washington, D.C. Mindy Holm got to work early, yet still she did not beat Eric. He already sat with his feet propped on the corner of his desk, a magazine in his lap and a cup of coffee in his hand. A woman's pre-recorded boomed over his speakerphone, barking out the time.
"Not again," Mindy moaned.
He smiled up at her as he reached over to press the disconnect button on the keypad. "Thought you might like that."
"I'm not late, though. I'm actually early."
"I know. But you know me."
She laid her purse on the desk and sank into the chair with a sigh. "Any messages?' "Nope."
"Good. Maybe I can get something done today."
"Now, why do you want to do a thing like that?"
Mindy booted up her computer with a mechanical punch of buttons and listened as a groggy hum filled the small cubical. No red lights blinked on her phone; therefore, there were no transferred messages from her superiors.
"See the game last night?"
Mindy stared at the computer screen, lost in the color changes as it went through the boot up process.
"Mindy?" Eric asked.
"What? Oh, sorry. Did you say something?' "Did you see the Washington game last night?"
"No. I crashed early. The TV was on, but that was about it." The computer was now online and she punched in her password.
"You missed a good one. I'll tell you one thing though; they were damn lucky. But you missed it. What do kind of shows to you usually watch?"
She glanced his way. Man, he's in an unusually chatty mood today. "I like old movies and reruns," she told him. There were no messages on her personal mail page, either. That was a first. Usually she was greeted with at least three tasks per day.
"Well, can't help you there. But you're missing some good games."
"I guess I'll get by," she mumbled.
With no specific job to carry out and no other messages to tend to, Mindy's day was an open book. The thought crossed her mind that she could run down to the local newsstand and get a paper, but somehow it did not seem right. She would not use company time to pursue her own goals. The idea of calling her mom also came up, but she quickly readjusted her thinking there, too. Usually, when there was nothing to do, she went down the hall to the national wire computer to check for interesting area stories-stories that she could expound on. The network computer allowed the user to browse headlines and articles from anywhere in the country. Generally, it was used for research, much like a library microfiche. The main difference lay in the fact that the wire computer was updated nearly every second. The headlines and articles were all current. They were happening now.
