The Decision

The six of us had dinner last night. Renee and Rayman had to be brought up to speed about Franny, and there was an enormous amount of discussion that ensued concerning her.

Julianne, Luka and I were convinced she should be brought into the group, but Jordan was dragging his heels on the issue. We needed to hash this out, and dinner got very lively.

I proposed in no uncertain terms that she was one of us, and Jordan was insisting on a reason.

"Because there is NO WAY she would choose to work at the WME voluntarily," I said, signaling for another round of Corona's.

"How can you be so sure?" Jordan demanded. He was getting exasperated with my certainty.

"Jordan, Peter's right," Julianne cut in. "No one would go from such a prestigious, glamorous position to the testing area of the WME. ESPECIALLY not from the DHHG. Even interns at the DHHG would not transfer over here."

"But that's what I am saying, it makes no sense, plus, we don't even know if she was transferred! She may have requested it, we don't know, no one has asked her, you guys are just assuming and if you are wrong..." Jordan spread out his hands, as if nothing more needed to be said.

Rayman spoke up. "I have to agree with these guys, Jordan. When I was on the outside, I was briefed on many forms of governmental transfers, and this one would be unprecedented. I think she must have said or done something a little willful, or perhaps knows too much, and they brought her down here to start doing heavy testing on her, zombie her out, neutralize the issue, you know, like...." he trailed off, morosely running his finger across the glass beer bottle.

We knew. No one wanted to mention Anna and Sam these days. We were getting nowhere with them, and were starting to resign ourselves to their fate. Jordan kept saying that he had hope, that he was getting closer, but the lines of defeat around his eyes told a different story.

Renee put her hands over her face. "It can't happen," she groaned. "Franny G. is the lone voice of good taste in this hideous world. If she gets zapped, I cannot imagine what will happen inside department stores, furniture stores, Home Depots, Pier Ones, I just can't..." her voice caught in her throat, and she quickly looked down. Julianne patted her hand.

"Don't worry, Renee, that's what this meeting is about, we are going to get to the bottom of it."

"I haven't even met her yet," she wailed.

"The next strap down test isn't until April twenty-first," Luka passed Renee a tissue. "We have time."

Jordan looked at Rayman. "Are you certain? I have to listen to you because these four," he waved at us, "are operating from irrational emotion, and I have to hear a reasonable voice above the fashion fray."

"It's DECORATING!" I shouted. "Rayman, I gotta warn you, you are trying to talk sense into a man who only lights a candle if there is a power outage."


"Well, Rayman answered slowly, "I see Jordan's point, but to be fair, if it were not for reading Franny's tips about Holiday decor, my house would not only have looked horribly tacky, but I would have been in violation of governmental code, and had to pay a fine. So, I may be a bit biased, but I am trying to leave my feelings out of the equation."

Jordan sighed, draining his beer. "I think I am going to lose this one, so I am folding with as much dignity as possible. Let's move on to issue number two. Which one of us is going to talk to her?"

The table went silent.