Free The Unfinished Gift by Dan Walsh

endured far less hardship than Patrick completely lose their smiles; she’d wondered if they’d ever return. She had never seen a child react to so much adversity with so much composure and poise. Few adults could have handled the situation with as much character.
    “Have lunch with me?”
    Speaking of adults lacking character, she thought as she turned to face Bernie Krebb, her supervisor.
    “I’m sorry, Mr. Krebb. I have other plans.” Krebb had asked her out almost every day since she started this job. This was her standard response.
    “Mr. Krebb, Mr. Krebb. It’s Bernie, Kath. How many times are we going to have to go over this?”
    She looked up at his yellow eyes and bulbous nose. A limp cigarette dangled from his lips, the smoke wafting upward, irritating his eyes. He always acted like he meant for it to do that. Of course, he was wearing his hat. Always the hat, even indoors. Trying to obscure his balding head.
    “Well, first off, it’s Miss Townsend, Mr. Krebb. Not Kath or Katherine. And I agree . . . how many times do we have to go over this?” She knew opposing him wouldn’t help her career, but the fact was he made her skin crawl. He repulsed her in every way a man could be repulsive. He was even married with two kids. She vowed if he ever laid a hand on her, she’d do her best to break his nose.
    He walked in and sat on her lone office chair. His expression shifted to slightly business, but he still kept what he obviously thought was his most alluring smile. “I thought it might be better we talk about this in more pleasant surroundings, say at Rosario’s over a plate of linguini, but if you insist on being such a cold fish . . .”
    “What are you talking about?”
    He looked around as though he didn’t want anyone to hear, then leaned forward. “Been talk upstairs about making cutbacks in this department.”
    “And . . . ?”
    “C’mon, Kath. You know your numbers are down. And your monthly gas consumption is higher than any of the others.”
    Katherine looked down. They’d had this conversation before. Not about the cutbacks, but about how much time she took with each case, about getting too personally involved and emotionally attached. Most of the girls played it by the book, set the kids up as quickly as possible, then moved on to the next case. “So what are you saying?”
    “I’m saying when the cutbacks come—”
    “Now you’re saying it’s definite?”
    “Just a matter of time. They turned down our request for gas increases for the new year. Since our expenses are still going up . . . well, you figure it out.”
    Katherine sighed. Even with its downsides, she didn’t want to lose this job. The alternatives were waitressing or becoming Rosy the Riveter in some factory.
    “I’ve been warning you—don’t get so attached to these kids. You ain’t paid to love ’em. The way I see it, unless a guy like me intervenes, the boys upstairs are going to go strictly by the numbers. Bad time of year to be stuck without a job.”
    “And what would it take to get you to intervene on my behalf?” she asked, as if she didn’t know. Once he had told her how much she reminded him of Rita Hayworth, that she’d look just as beautiful with the right dress on. He loved the way her brown eyes lit up when she smiled. It almost sounded poetic, and she might have even enjoyed the compliment if it hadn’t been spewing out from such a putrid stump like Bernie Krebb.
    “For starters, stop turning me down for lunch,” he said. “Then we can take it from there. You know, the way things are meant to go, one thing to another. I’m not such a bad guy, Kath. Ask around.”
    What an idiot, she thought. All the girls were as disgusted by him as she was. Some were just a little more ambitious or brought up a little differently. And she hadn’t seen any of them move out of their cubicles. He had no clout in the agency. He was just a pathetic little man who thought way too highly of himself. “Mr.