She was mightily disturbed, wondering how he knew
when she worked late, as it was hardly something publically
announced with an e-mail going round to all and sundry. But he
clearly knew - the man was never there on other days when Emily
used the elevator with her co-workers. She wondered if there was a
hidden camera monitoring the floor or some bugging device that the
man used.
The man!
Strangely enough, that’s all Emily had to term him – ‘the
man’. There was no official name she had to give him. A few subtle
enquiries had been made as to his identity, but nothing was turned
up; and Emily didn’t dare dig any deeper, for that would draw the
attention of Human Resources, and the last thing she wanted was
Tessa Clifford to get wind of Emily taking an interest in a male
member of staff. Especially this one – the man in the
elevator!
But Emily preferred to give labels to the significant others
in her life – Ancient Greek deities being her theme, which she
thought rather clever...
Her father was ‘Uranus’ which might not sound too cerebral – a
bit crude in fact, and not something expected from a woman as
refined as Emily Johnson. She had her reasons though - the old
bugger was certainly an asshole in Emily’s opinion, so the title
fitted well in a vulgar way. But Uranus was also a god who banished
the children that did not please him; and emotional banishment was
the curse that Emily’s cold and aloof father bestowed on his
younger daughter. Emily liked to joke with her smarter set that
this was ‘your anus’ who didn’t give a shit!
Her mother was ‘Chaos’ which was rather unkind. She was
actually quite organised, not chaotic in the slightest. But she was
dominated by her husband and never protected her needy daughter, so
Emily bore a grudge there as well, and had no bones about the
slight which was still pretty apt. In classical terms, Chaos was
the nothingness from which all else sprang – nothingness was the
mother in the marital sense, who did the world a favour by bearing
Emily, who naturally was everything in her self-centred
world.
Her elder sister received many titles, ‘nasty bitch’ and ‘evil
witch’ being the main ones Emily bestowed on big sister Nicola, so
‘Hecate’ the patron of witches might have been a good choice. But
Emily settled on ‘Momus’ the little known god of satire, mockery
and unfair criticism. As you can probably guess – Emily and her
older sister never got on very well - in fact they hated each
other’s guts!
Les she referred to as ‘Hermes’ the god of travel, thievery
and cunning – the god of writing as well which was nearer to the
mark, but that was not the reason Emily bestowed upon Les this
title. As it happens, Hermes was also the god of herds and flocks –
and it was a standing joke amongst the English elite that Welshmen
from the Valleys were forever shagging sheep – another joke she
like to share with her bitchy smarter set.
But what of ‘the man’ who had no other name? In moments of
reflection when she considered this person, and increasingly there
were many, Emily found the term ‘Dark Tormentor’ cropping up, for
that certainly was what he was. So ‘Eris’ might fit well – the
goddess of strife and discord. Yet to the classically educated
Emily Johnson, such a description was too simple. Had she not
learned in Greek mythology that the world must sit in balance and
all arrogance would be punished by vengeful Fate? That was the job
of a particular bitch goddess, and ‘Nemesis’ was her
name.
It took her a while, but Emily eventually got there - seeing
this man as a living embodiment of divine retribution that was
making her pay for her unquestionable arrogant sins. And that was
the name that buzzed through Emily’s brain when she had stood at
the elevator contemplating whether to call for it or not. But as
Fate cannot be avoided, the elevator had to be summoned, and
naturally the man was there.
Her Nemesis!
Despite it