Free She's the Boss by Lisa Lim Page A

my mind that you could be a hermaphrodite.”
    Humph. I walked right into that one.
    I stubbed out my cigarette under my foot before fixing him with a hard stare.
    For one glorious moment, I made a mental image of a Carter voodoo doll and spent an enjoyable minute sticking imaginary pins into him.
    “Oh, look who’s scowling now,” he said, not trying very hard to disguise the fact that he was laughing. “You can dish it, but you can’t take it, can you?”
    God! How I despised that man!
    Our eyes locked in mutual distaste. I was still in two minds about whether to pick a fight with Carter when my gut instinct convinced me it wouldn’t be a good idea. After all, he was still my boss.
    And for a second, it looked like Carter was struggling in his mind as to whether to stay and fight or go in peace. At long last, he gave me one of his ice-cold lightning smiles and walked off into the crowd.
    Gloves off. And truce. For now.

Chapter Seven
     

     
     
     
     
    Yikes! I gasped in horror then smacked my hand over my mouth. The zombies had breached the walls and they were going to eat me alive, starting with my brains! I stood there motionless, peering out my window, transfixed by the rhythmic swaying of the undead.
    Oh my God! The realization came without warning and my heart thudded with fear. The zombies weren’t going to leave until I was their supper. They were waiting for me . . . like crows on a wire.
    I awoke with a start to a crow cawing outside my window. Sunlight filtered through the threadbare curtains and I could almost make out the bird’s shadow.
    Phew! I sighed heavily, lighthearted with relief.
    It was all just a bad dream.
    I forced myself out of bed, pushed back the curtains and came face to face with the black crow. It glared at me with its beady eyes.
    This was a bad omen. Black crows signify death!
    “CAW!” went the crow, “CAW! CAW!”
    Shit. I stepped back in horror. For every ‘CAW’ cawed, one day would pass before someone died!
    I raced to the bathroom, tugged on a pair of jeans and shot out the front door. “Maddy!” I cried as I barged into her apartment. “Oh thank God you’re alive.”
    The scene was so familiar I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Maddy was working on her laptop, her foot resting on the kitchen chair and her fluffy Persian cats, Spartacus and Crixus, were snoozing by her feet .
    “Ah!” Maddy glanced up from her laptop. “This is just like my chick lit novel. You’re my impossibly charismatic friend who just pops up at opportune times to offer me witty advice.”
    “Did you see the black crow?” I paused to catch my breath. We lived in the same apartment complex and for all I knew, the crow could be cawing at every window. “Did you see it? Did you?”
    “See what?” Maddy asked patiently.
    “THE BLACK CROW!”
    “Nope.”
    “Well I did. And it cawed at me. Three times.” I paced agitatedly across the floor. “It went CAW! CAW! CAW!” I stopped pacing and craned forward, staring at Maddy with round eyes. “I swear, someone’s going to die. AND THAT SOMEONE COULD BE ME!”
    “Don’t be silly,” Maddy said mildly. “Crows don’t signify death. Remember that movie The Crow ?”
    “No,” I said distractedly.
    “Crows are protectors of the dead.”
    “Oh,” I murmured. Now that the imminent threat of death had been removed, my wits were slowly coming back. I slumped down on the kitchen chair, careful not to disturb the Gladiator Cats. “Well that’s a relief.”
    Maddy stared at me and said nothing for a while, then, “Are you all right, Kars?”
    “Me? Yeah. Of course. Why?”
    “You seem a little out there.”
    “I do?”
    She nodded solemnly. “And you know what?”
    “What?”
    “I think we need to find you a decent man,” she said with all the generosity of the newly engaged.
    “Thanks. But no thanks ,” I said a touch defensively. “And please stop doing that.”
    “What?”
    “Trying to set me up with all these men. You