Serve Cool Read Online Free PDF Page B

hunger and headed for the muffins.
    ‘My office, Miss Summer,’ boomed the voice. ‘Two minutes, and bring the documents.’
    Peregrine Bottomley-Glisset stormed past my desk, sending papers flying in all directions as his portly rear tried to squeeze into the relatively small space. As a result of his unmistakable presence, secretaries, trainees and less-senior solicitors rushed around frantically trying to look busy. Personal calls instantly metamorphosed into serious business matters and all idle banter drew to a hasty conclusion.
    ‘Sure thing, Perry,’ I said dreamily into thin air, lolling back in my seat and slapping my feet on the desk in front of me. I began to gaze at my computer monitor.
    ‘Wow, that screen saver’s cool,’ I said after a while.
    I stared at the monitor and was transfixed by the computer-generated images of fish that swam around the screen. The blue angel fish wiggled in and out of focus while the orange piranha’s repetitive movements made me feel slightly seasick. I slowly came out of the daze and shouted to Matt across the corridor partition.
    ‘Matt, hey, yo!’
    ‘Yes Jen,’ he replied hurriedly, looking up from behind a huge mound of work.
    ‘These fish are really cool!’ I shouted.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Fish. I said fish. Aren’t they cool? They just swim about all day with not a care in the world. What a life, eh? Don’t you reckon, Matt? Matt?’
    ‘Um, yeah. Yeah, sure, Jenny hon, whatever.’
    He looked over at me and shrugged his shoulders then returned to his work.
    After a pause I shouted, ‘Great colours. Really vibrant. I love bright colours, don’t you, Matt?’
    No reply.
    ‘Oh well, suit yerself.’
    My mind was racing and I had a bursting urge to talk and laugh. I still felt slightly sick but was also experiencing a strange calmness. I returned my gaze to the monitor and tried to focus on the images. Wowza, the colours were brilliant.
    Suddenly, a large red fish swam to the front of the picture and wiggled his fins. I say ‘his’ because, as he did so, he winked at me provocatively. As I stared dumbfounded at the screen, the fish’s lips appeared to move and I heard a muffled voice say, ‘Hello, Miss Summer.’ I jumped backwards, knocking the documents off my desk with my feet. They scattered across the floor, surrounding my desk with a papery moat.
    ‘Wow!’ I shouted. ‘It spoke to me. I heard it speak.’
    ‘Miss Summer!’ I heard again, this time a little louder.
    I stared open-mouthed at the screen and tried to focus. Ifelt like I was losing track of reality. This was all just too bizarre.
    ‘MISS SUMMER!’
    The voice boomed in my ear, only this time, I could feel the hot breath that went with it sliding down the back of my neck. I spun around in my chair to see the burning red face of Peregrine Bottomley-Glisset dangerously close to mine.
    ‘TRAINEE!’ he yelled. ‘What the blazes are you doing?’
    I couldn’t think clearly. I didn’t know what to say.
    ‘I called you into my office twenty minutes ago. Twenty! I do not expect to be kept waiting! Are you stupid or just completely mad?’
    I shrugged my shoulders.
    ‘Where are the DOCUMENTS?’
    He was perilously close to boiling point. I pointed to the papers underneath his feet.
    ‘Good God woman!’ he shouted. ‘This is not good enough.’
    He brought his face closer to mine. I could feel the heat radiating from him and could see the veins popping out of his thick neck. I could almost count each pulse as it hit the surface. I held his gaze as we faced each other in silence and I brought my feet slowly to the floor. It struck me how comical he looked, a huge mass of bubbling anger. I opened my mouth to speak but suddenly felt an irrepressible urge to laugh. I tried to suppress it but it seemed to come from nowhere. I started to giggle, then to laugh. I wanted to stop but I was out of control. My boss’s face took on a look of astonishment. He straightened up to leave but I whacked him