desperate to be by her side once more. As we chatted, I could not help but think about the relationship which I had become suddenly and hopelessly embroiled in. Weeks ago, I would have scoffed at the idea of falling in love with someone so quickly and so deeply but, today, I was forced to accept the fact that it had happened. Weeks ago, however, I would also have dismissed the possibility of the planet that I lived on burning up around me as well.
Miss Clewes surprised me at half-past three.
I knocked on the door of my office and went inside to find her packing her papers and folders away into her smart and practical leather briefcase. As I approached she snap-locked the case shut and laid it flat on the desk in front of her. Her face appeared tired and she looked ill.
'Mr. Johnson,' she said wearily. 'I'm not well. I'm going to go home.'
For a moment I could think of nothing to say. From the second she had first appeared in my office, she had appeared to be almost inhuman and completely invulnerable to such trivial inconveniences as the stifling heat and illness. The Miss Clewes who stood in front of me now was different. She was a tired and worried woman.
'I'm sorry to hear that,' I eventually said, remembering to reply to the best news that I had heard all day. 'I hope it's nothing serious.'
She shook her head slowly and gently touched her forehead with a trembling hand.
'I'm sure it isn't,' she croaked before clearing her dry throat and speaking again. 'I don't think that I will be in tomorrow. In fact, I've spoken to my superiors and we have agreed that the rest of the audit will be postponed until the conditions improve. I'll be in touch with you when I am ready to return.'
With that, Miss Clewes stood upright (she had been leaning uncharacteristically against the desk for support) and pulled her heavy, formal skirt straight. She picked up her case, draped her jacket over her arm and breezed past me out of the room and then out of the office altogether. Once I was sure that I had heard the sound of the front door being closed, I allowed myself to relax.
The phone on the desk began to ring and I picked it up quickly.
'Steven Johnson,' I said, automatically and officially.
'Hello, Steven, it's Keith Etheridge here.' Keith was the manager of a nearby branch of the company and had been a colleague of mine for a number of years. 'I've got some good news for you mate!'
I couldn't cope with two lots of unexpected good news in an many minutes standing up and sat quickly down in my chair in my newly reclaimed office.
'I've just had a communication from head office to be circulated around the branches. We're shutting shop for the next few days until things improve.'
'It's about time,' I said, relieved.
'That's what I thought. There's no point in staying open. I mean, we've only had three members of staff come in today and that's still two too many to serve the number of customers that have been in. This heat's not doing anybody any good.'
I thanked Keith for delivering the company's message and then spent at least ten minutes trying to get him off the telephone. Although he was a pleasant and amiable man, he liked to talk and all that I wanted to do was get out and go home. I eventually managed to get rid of him, claiming that I had to take another call. (Keith was, in fact, the only person to have telephoned the office all day.)
I walked out into the main office relaxed and, more importantly, glad to finally have some good news for the staff. Despite the fact that the situation must have been really grave for the company to have taken the drastic step of closing all of its branches, I was pleased that it had been left to me to tell the employees in my charge. I normally only seemed to talk to them to tell them off when something had gone wrong or to ask them to do a job for me and I was glad that, for once, I was to be the bearer of glad tidings.
My news was met with a typically disappointing and apathetic reaction from the four staff that were still in the building and, without stopping to even ask me any questions or query the company's decision