Mrs. Taylor sat before the four panel of judges who were selecting some candidates for the post of a receptionist. Several young ladies applied for the post, Mrs Taylor was quite the oldest. None of the judges were saying nothing for the moment, they were all looking at her profile when it was her turn for the interview. One was actually scoffing as he kept on staring at her profile.
"We are waiting for the boss, when is he coming to join us?" One of the judges said out loud.
Mrs Taylor wiped her sweaty palms on her skirts waiting patiently for what was bound to come. She wanted to hang on to the hope that she would be useful to Elton's company. Afterall, her husband had called her the very best; anything she did, she was dedicated to it.
"Why will the boss be suddenly interested in this anyway? We can decide for ourselves. Haven't we been doing this ourselves in the time past?" a female judge dressed in a royal blue jumpsuit said irritatedly.
"He said we did an awful work the last time in selecting some employees." Another young man reminded the lady in the jumpsuit.
Silence followed after some demeaning stares. The door opened after a while and a middle aged man dressed in well ironed black suit walked in briskly with quick strides, he moved towards the empty seat at the center of where the judges sat and placed himself to seat.
When Mrs Taylor saw him, she was surprised, she must be in the wrong place, she told herself. She looked around for someone to counter his presence but no one said a word. She recognized him, he was the stranger who had picked her from the rain and had driven her home. The good Samaritan.
She watched him as he picked up a file that was placed before him, scanning through the leaflets.
"You're a mother?" His eyes never left the file.
"Yes, sir." Mrs Taylor responded.
"Are you aware of the responsibilities of a receptionist?" He skipped over a page and returned to it.
"I am quite aware of that, sir."
"You are the only mother applying for this post." He scrutinized, gave out a sneer as he stared intently at her passport. Then he looked up for the first time to look at her. He saw a shimmer of light in her eyes and he chortled again as he recognized her. He smiled to himself. He never would have thought that she was a mother.
Mrs Taylor swallowed as she watched him, he was quite tall when he had walked in. Even with his gait, it was obvious how admirable he was as everyone was staring at him. He had his hair combed neatly, his suit shone almost like that of darkness. His wife must be taking good care of him, she admitted sheepishly at the thought.
"So, why are you applying for this post?" The woman in the jumpsuit who sat beside him asked, bringing her back to the present.
"Well, I was once a secretary......" she was rudely interrupted.
"We know about that. It is written here in our files." Mrs Taylor was rudely interrupted by the woman judge who was tiny, smallish, everything about her exhuded a type of superiority.
"You were once a secretary, I believe so. Why did you leave the company anyway? You should have stayed back there." the tiny lady countered.
The man in suit sat back and watched. He was also curious but the sharp mouthed woman beside him was beginning to sound harsh. He threw her a look which signaled that she should be kind with her words.
"Well, I got into the family way and I had to stop working." Mrs Taylor explained.
"You shouldn't be applying for this post. God only knows if you might have been fired at your previous place of work. The place had even shut down due to some unknown circumstances. Looking at your profile, I believe it didn't do much on you." the lady ranted on.
"There was no age bracket specified, Lillian." The man in suit waved a fratic hand at Lillian.
"I don't understand, sir." Lillian turned to look at him.
"Meaning that she has every right to be here as a qualified candidate." He told her.
"But she doesn't look qualified, sir." Lillian protested.
"In what area?" His gaze returned to Mrs Taylor who was gaping also at him.
"Mrs Taylor?" Lillian called.
"Yes, ma'am." Mrs. Taylor broke away from his gaze.
"Were you fired from your former company where you worked as a secretary and also as a director? It also stated here that you did some menial works, what were they?" Lillian threw at her. She was curious to know.
"I believe we will like to know." Another judge put in.
Mrs Taylor looked surprised, was this how an interview should be? Definitely not, she wasn't informed that an interview would be this harsh and demeaning.
"I wasn't fired." Mrs Taylor told them.
"Yes, go on. We have no time." She heard another judge say.
"The company shut down as a result of the manager's death." Mrs. Taylor started explaining.
"Who was the manager?" Lillian probed.
Mrs Taylor gasped, looked around and stopped herself. This was where it should end, no more. How can an interview become some sort of interrogation?
"I'm sorry, is this part of the requirements?" She asked them then turned to stare at Lillian head-on. She didn't like Lillian, there was something about the way Lillian spoke to her. It was as if Lillian owned Elton's company. And if she was indeed the owner of Elton's company, she wouldn't love the idea of applying in her company.