ᴊᴜʟʏ 1975
Elizabeth almost throws up the bread she was eating when she heard their telephone ringing. She already has an idea what it's all about. She runs to the living room and pick-up the phone. As soon as her boss ended the call, she took a quick bath and dresses herself up. She looks at the mirror. Perfect! She uttered. She went out and drove her Acura Integra heading towards their office.
She works at a company named MNC, one of the biggest News and Research Company in the Philippines. She looks at her wristwatch and notices that it was already 8:55am. She only has five minutes left. She runs like a madman. She's headed towards the elevator but numerous people are waiting for it as well so she decided to take the stairs.
She was panting when she reach the meeting room. She's sweating all over but she couldn't care less. It's better than being late. She grabs a swivel chair and sat down along with her good friends and colleagues.
"Hey," she called out the person next to her. "Has the meeting started already?"
"Not yet." The woman answers. "You look like a mess Lizzy. Did you run to get here?"
She shook her head. "Beats me, traffic is so damn annoying."
"Same old. Same old." The woman laughed. "Wonder why boss called us and scheduled a meeting this early, did someone mess up?"
"Well, I was thinking the same thing." She replied. "Or there is an urgent call for a project overseas."
"I doubt it."
Elizabeth knew that as of the moment, there is nothing worthy to be reported with how the world is fairing right now. No news worthy, they say. It's the same old monotonous lifestyle and problems that people keeps on dealing with. Philippines, for example is a place where politics and poverty is rampant. Every single day, you will hear news about a politician imprisoned for using the people's money without prior authorization from the higher-ups. Once they're proven guilty, next thing you knew, they've been rushed to the hospital saying they are gravely sick and can't be imprisoned anymore. Some will appear on national tv, sitting on a wheelchair, in order to have the masses sympathy. That's politics for you.
Perks of being rich is that you can buy justice.
She almost jumped from her seat when she heard a loud "bang" from the door. Then suddenly the atmosphere becomes tense. Our boss enter the room holding a bunch of folders.
Without any hesitation, he throws the folders in the middle of the meeting table.
"Oh fuck!" She cursed out in a very low voice.
She knew what those are. Those are the research articles that they submitted last month.
"What the hell are these bunch of garbage?" He says pointing out the folders scattered on the table. "I asked you to submit a decent and informative story but what you've given me are trash stories about politics, religion and god knows what others jokes you included in it."
He stops for a moment.
"Give me something new; something that our citizens will be interested with." He put his hand on his pocket. "You guys are wasting our company's resources writing stories that will no longer intrigue the crowd."
No one dares to speak. He looks at us as if we all committed a crime.
"Talks about politics are getting obsolete now. People are getting annoyed hearing articles about Marcos and Aquino. Also, we are about to celebrate 100th year anniversary so we're planning on releasing a story that will attract everyone's attention. Money is never an issue. Our company will reimburse you as long as your story is worthy. Just provide me with something exquisite."
Elizabeth unconsciously touched her neck. Damn, what a pain in the ass!
"People get your head straight!"
After that, he exits the room. Almost all the people inside the meeting room sigh in resignation.
"Wooh! That was long." I said.
She looked at her colleagues. They seem so depleted. They heard another knock on the door and this time it was the president's secretary.
"Research team Alpha, kindly report to the president's office later."
Shit! That was her team. She cannot do this anymore. As expected, their team is the usual suspect. For the past few months, their team has been in the center of shame because of their low stats. Their entire proposal keeps getting rejected. They say it has no substance. It was a very unfair remark for her. Her team brought many awards for the company in and outside the country and just because of a simple number; the higher-ups turn their backs at them. Total bull!
She closed her eyes for a second and tried to collect her thoughts. What are they going to do now?