She stood up suddenly and the chair clattered, balanced and rocked back
upright. "What are you doing?"
"Doing?" the girl said.
"I go to look for work," Mrs. Wladek said. "You make me want to look for
work!"
"That's fine, Mrs. Wladek," the girl said. "That's just fine."
"But I want to look for work!" Mrs. Wladek said, horrified. "What do you
do to me?"
The girl only smiled.
Mrs. Wladek spun and ran for the door, her eyes wide; but she collided
with a desk and backed off, and then managed to find her way. The door
banged behind her.
Gloria sat at her desk smiling, filled with satisfaction. Of course, a
reaction like Mrs. Wladek's was only to be expected, but when it was
over she would be looking for work.
Gloria released the little doll she had held throughout the interview
and let it fall back, out of sight, into her desk drawer. The doll was
shaped into a vague female likeness.
She didn't need it now.
Her work was done.
Mrs. Wladek was going to look for work, and that would adjust her to the
world. She would be a functioning member of society now, and it would do
her a lot of good. Rudi, too--Gloria considered Rudi. There was another
doll in the drawer, a male, and after a few seconds she put her hand in
the drawer and fished around until she had found it.
She turned it slowly, feeling for the son, until at last she had made
contact.
There.
He was talking with some friends; it would not be hard. She
concentrated, and at the same time she heard him talking:
"So look, here's the way I see it. We got the Cobras on our necks, we
got to get rid of them, right?"