Post 172: Anonymous Article

I don’t know what grabbed me about the email in my inbox, why I didn’t just toss it into “Junk”. From an unknown sender, I’d usually ignore it. All it had was a link - no context, no explanation, nothing. Suspicious, right? But maybe it was my state of mind - I was holed up anxiously in my office that morning, door closed, while my dwindling practice just outside it swarmed with new women, giggling and cheering - that led me to click it.

It was a link to an article, or rather - a digest story. A piece about a paper retracted from some small, Belgian journal on viral science. Why would anyone send me this? As a gerontologist, I was about as far away from a virologist as a physician might get. I’d never even been to Belgium. And who was this person that sent me the link? Was it even a person? Or some sort of, I dunno, bot. The sender’s email address seemed like nonsense, encrypted maybe. Anyway, I read the article and, yes, I do admit, something sounded fishy. But what did it have to do with me? Why did I in particular care about some strange new protein found in some waffle-eaters?

Just as I was pondering it, a “knock-knock” came on my door.

“Knock knock!” a voice called in, as the woman behind it cracked open my door, tentatively at first. Peeking around it, a face I recognized saw me and smiled.

“Hi, Dr. J? It’s Angie,” she said, stepping more boldly onto the room, “Angie Wade. Nice to finally meet you!”

I had to grab the edges of my desk, to control my reaction. Angie, one of the new hires. Angie, overqualified with the great marks from a good school and a management position at a bank. Angie, who’d sent me more jiggle-videos than I could count this past weekend. The Angie that had just stepped into my office uninvited, closed the door behind her, and was sauntering over to my desk.

“H-hi, uh...good to meet you too…” I stammered, caught off guard and feeling way off my game. Truthfully I’d been way off my game all morning. Not only was I anxious for today, but I felt uneasy, jittery, unfocused. It was an uncomfortable feeling, like having ants under my skin. And the worst thing? The worst thing is that I felt like I needed to see Melissa to make it better; it had been since Friday. But, with all the new staff coming in she had cancelled all my patients for the day, allowing me to hide in here, and busy as she was she hadn’t visited. But, here was Angie. “You’re a f-friend of Melissa’s, right?”

“That’s right, we go back a long time,” she beamed. Something about her smile told me she liked how my voice broke, how nervous I seemed, and she stepped closer, right up to my desk, to look down on me.

“Well, uh, welcome,” I said, offering my hand up and out across my desk. She took it, in a firm grip, her eyes locking in on mine, and we shook. With a lady entering the room I would normally stand up in greeting, but I was concerned that the sight of her in that dress might bring on another one of my crippling, ever-more-frequent erections. Something about her smile told me she knew that, too.

“Thank youuu, I’m so happy for the opportunity,” she answered, eyes never leaving mine and not letting go of my hand. Her mouth parted, and - in a silent moment - I felt like she was sizing me up. She was leaned over just enough to demonstrate her healthy cleavage, but not quite so much as to look like she was doing it on purpose.

“Wh-where did Melissa set you up, where will you be working?” I asked, “So many new people today, it sounds pretty crow-“

“For now I’ll be in accounting here with Kathy,” she cut in, “but I asked to be put on the new project, financials for the Evolution study, so hopefully I’ll have an office in the new wing, soon.” Her smile crooked, and her eyes glimmered. “Unless, of course, there’s something else you’d rather have me do?” she offered, “Like, a special project or whatever…”

“Oh, uh…” I stammered, watching her body shift suggestively, ever-so-slightly towards me, “I’ll, uh, talk to Melli-“

“I have lots of experience, have managed teams of people,” she added, continuing to talk right over me, “And, yeah, huh? It is pretty crowded out there. So many new girls, and they're all anxious to meet you. You’re not going to come out and meet everyone?”

“Oh, uh, m-maybe later,” I answered, suddenly acutely aware of the article I still had up on my terminal. My eyes glanced over to it, my hand shot to my mouse, and I closed the window.

Angie smiled again. “Well, I guess I’m lucky I’m the first,” she said, biting her lower lip and looking me over again, “but you should come out. There’s going to be a big lunch set up in the break room later…”

To that I said something, something non-commital, and after a few more niceties, was able to tell Angie I was pretty busy.

“Ok, well, I hope I’ll see you later,” she said over her shoulder as she turned to leave, head towards to door, “and that we get to work together soon.”

I watched her big ass sway, and put my head in my hands.

”Byyyyyye..!”

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Biiiiiiig apologies for the pseudo-science lol. To anyone who actually knows about this stuff, I’m sure it’s pretty rough. Happy for any consults from a pro!