Six Months Later

“You’re free to come in now Mr. Hanson.”

Marcus calmly looked up from the magazine he was reading and set it down, exhaling. “Okay…Let’s do this.” He mumbled aloud. The previous six months had done little to change his appearance. He was still the youthful bushy-haired, mixed-race man. There was just one noteworthy difference between him then and him now. Six months ago when he entered this very same bank Marcus Hanson was 5 “10”. Now he stood in the lobby at an even 4 “11”. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why. With his little personal pep talk out of the way Marcus entered Victoria’s office where a new surprise awaited.

It was still the same carefully cared for room as before, only now it was even bigger. As Marcus climbed into the same seat he had during his previous he realized that the wooden desk before him now stood taller than him. Behind it sat the same beautiful woman as before, only now she had gotten even taller – easily twenty feet.

Despite the superior size she now sported Victoria still looked down at Marcus with the same nice, but professional smile. “Ah Mr. Hanson. It’s nice to see you again. How are things going?” She spoke as if they had only seen each other yesterday.

Before responding Marcus had to push his seat back a few inches to meet the woman’s gaze, some memories of his time as a young child reminiscent of the experience. “I’ve been better as you can probably tell.” He laughed nervously, gesturing to his smaller self. “Sadly the company idea didn’t work out. Turns out a couple friends weren’t as willing to invest as I was. Now I’m in the job market again. Money’s a little tight as you can probably tell.”

Victoria nodded with the same professional look, though her eyes seemed to have a distinct lack of sympathy for the man. “Such is life I’m afraid. It’s better to try and fail than to never try at all. I’m sure you can bounce back given enough time.” As encouraging as the words were they rolled off her tongue with such efficiency that it was clear they had seen a lot of use.

The meek little man before her gulped. “About that…”

There was a brief pause, the nervous statement hung in the air for a moment. Slowly Victoria leaned forward, smile still plastered on her face but her eyes narrowing ever so slightly as if she were now speaking with a child. “I take it this is about your loan? Would you like me to give your grace period an extension perhaps?”

Marcus’ eyes widened. “That obvious huh?” His hand reached for the back of his hand as he laughed nervously. “You caught me. I was hoping you could give me a few more months. I promise I’ll make all the payments I just need some time to sort everything out.”

Like the last time Marcus’ words hung in the air for a long moment with nothing but silence between the two. Their gazes met with Victoria’s increasingly serious stare making Marcus nervous in his seat. Two golf ball-sized pupils seemed to see right through him. The only sound he could hear was Victoria’s finger tapping on her desk the entire time.

Finally, she sighed. “I would like to help you Mr. Hanson. However it goes directly against Charlottesville Bank policy. I simply cannot extend your loan further. You will be billed at the end of the month. I’m sorry, but my hands are tied.”

“I..see…” Marcus seemed to deflate in his chair. Whatever meager confidence that had gotten him to this point seemed to abandon him, leaving only the sad realization that he had no way to pay these bills. Come the end of the month he was going to get a whole lot smaller. That depressing notion visually drained the life from his visage.

Victoria looked down upon the tiny man, her professional mask cracking ever so slightly. She sighed. “I probably shouldn’t do this but…would you like a job Mr. Hanson?”

“Huh…?” Marcus looked back up at her.

“As luck would have it I’m looking for an assistant right now. It’s nothing glamorous, just busywork and cleaning, but it’ll give you a bit of an income to live off of.”

His dopey expression turned into one of amazed disbelief. “Are you serious? When can I start?”

“Today if you want.” She said shrugging.

“You’ve got it Victoria!” Marcus smiled in relief. “Thank you so much! You won’t regret this I promise.”

“I sure hope not.” Victoria smiled and rolled her eyes. “I think I have your first task then. Think you can handle picking up lunch?” The woman reached down to her side and placed a purse on the table, shortly afterwards pulling a few bills from it and placing them upon the table. “I was thinking of something nice and simple for the day. Subs perhaps?”

Marcus nodded, reaching up for the money on the desk above. “You’ve got it Victoria. I’ll get right on it.” He said enthusiastically as he left his seat and made for the door.

“And Marcus?” Victoria called as he grabbed the doorknob.

“Yes?” He turned back around.

“It’s Ms. Lockhart now. If I’m going to be your boss you need to start treating me like it, okay?” She smiled warmly at him.

“Alright Ms. Lockhart. No problem. I’ll be back soon!” He nodded once for emphasis and left the room.

Inside Victoria couldn’t help but chuckle a little.