Part six: Amathra meandered through the mirrored hallway, wary of tripping over any papers stacked haphazardly in piles on the floor. Four doors stood open to four rooms. The first, on the left, painted navy blue, was empty aside from various whale knick knacks, a wooden rocking chair, and a shaggy orange rug. The first room on the right with fleshy colored walls, housed only a small stuffed toy deer propped on the floor as though it were caught in Amanthra’s headlights. The second door on the right, led to an entirely wooden room with three cactus trees, a hammock, and two sleeping cats.
One room was left.
Unusually distraught by this particularly awkward introduction, Amanthra took a deep breath and entered.
Vast in depth and height, the room was more spacious than the previous three. White walls exhibiting hundreds of 1970s’ musical scores appeared stained from a stale cigarette smoke lingering in the air.
Next to the window, stooped at a large executive’s desk, a young, slim, ferociously mustached Hispanic man, methodically inserted numbers into an adding machine. The tape made an impressive heap on the floor, and for a second Amanthra had an urge to dive into it, headfirst.
Still standing in the doorway, careful not to distract the man, she cleared her throat. “Hello.”
Keeping his eyes and hands focused on his work, he responded.
“You did not trip on any paper did you? I am always tripping on those damned papers. I really need to get them up off of the floor and into the proper file systems. You would not happen to know anyone who does that sort of thing for a living do you? A professional filer, is there such a thing?”
Amanthra scanned her brain for resources. She knew of a few people with office jobs, and inside their offices were filing cabinets that spanned the entire length of a great wall. They must have someone who files papers for them.
“I know some people who I can talk to for you. The have a lot of paperwork in their lives too. Your not alone.”
The man stopped entering numbers into his machine and gazed at Amanthra with peculiar eyes and a lopsided smile.
“I am Douglass.”