The shock of it all – How much can a Koala bear?

In the last episode, the truth about the “not so secret discretionary account 60743” was coming to light during the internal investigation. Ben was feeling very depressed and exposed by the whole situation. He felt the end was near as Doug Selfrighteous and the investigators zoomed in on the entries.

His only saving grace was that Tina had contacted him out of the blue, and they were going to meet. Ben was excited but nervous. He had not seen Tina in over a year. He also had the ‘Bring Your Pet to Work’ day to contend with.

******

The interrogation continued….

“Ben, we really have a problem with the way that this account has been handled,” concluded Doug. “I am not sure whether to believe you or not. You seem innocent. A guy who has been used as a part of some deeper plot of skulduggery and fraud. A scapegoat."

"You submitted expenses that we now agree aren’t legitimate. Also, these expenses are in your account, right? So, are you saying they have nothing to do with you?"

Ben was almost at the point where he was ready to ‘dob on' Mr T and Glenny Bakersun. After all, they had not been supportive of him and, in many ways, had made his life miserable. He was not going to take the rap for them; in his mind, he had not done anything wrong except follow his boss's direction. If the company didn’t see it that way, he was off to the DOJ to blow the whistle. (Yes, he finally learned the difference between blowing the trumpet and the whistle!)

Ben felt anxious about the day's events. Today was ‘Bring Your Pets to Work’ day. He had organised it with Penny Promo as part of his HR improvement plan. It was meant to be a "bonding exercise," but things went south when he declined Penny’s invite to the "Private Room." The thought of bonding with Penny in the Private Room was too much for Ben to handle.

“Ben, we want you back here at 5:00 pm this afternoon to discuss how we are going to deal with this, OK?” asked Doug.

“Sure,” replied Ben. 5:00 pm.

"Doug continued, 'We might have another investigator joining us. She has a lot of overseas experience. We think she'll be helpful for this. You'll get to meet her then. Until then, however, not a word on this to anyone, understand?”

“Sure,” said Ben, feeling quite pleased to be part of the inner circle. He made a mental note to let Tina know he might be held up because he had an important meeting at 5 pm. He hoped this would impress her.

Back at the 'Bring Your Pets to Work' day....

Ben left the meeting room and headed to the open area. It was almost time to launch the ‘Bring Your Pets to Work’ day. He hoped that there would be a good selection of adorable pets and that he would win back ‘brownie points’** with HR and Penny.

“Welcome to the first ‘Bring Your Pets to Work’ day! Let’s start by introducing our furry little friends - who wants to go first?” asked Ben.

“I will,” said Penny.

"Great! I want to thank Penny for all her help in organising this day," Ben said, eager to score points.

Penny reached inside the cage and pulled out a beautiful-looking lilac-point Siamese. “This is my cat. Her name is Pusscat,” Penny said proudly, cradling Pusscat, who started to purr loudly. “She is my best friend.”

Yeah, that figures, thought Ben; no one else would be your friend. He reconsidered, though, as he made a terrible realisation.  Ever since Ernie and Tina had disappeared, he didn’t have any friends either!

Next was Joe Slackoe, who worked in Legal. He brought his dog, "Killer." Killer was a chunky boxer who could stand to shed a few pounds—just like his owner.

“This is Killer,” said Joe. "He is perfectly harmless and loves to be patted. You hang on to your pussy, Penny, and I will let him off the lead so that everyone can pat him.”

“I’m not sure that is a good idea,” Ben quickly added.

Too late! Killer was already off the lead and circulating, propelled by the perpetual motion of his wagging tail and the wobbling of his oversized belly.

“I’ll go next,” interjected Mr T in his usual dominating manner. “Wait till you see what I’ve got - you are going to love this," he said as he put his hand into a sack.

Ben did not have a good feeling about this, but was trying to be nice.

“What you got there, Mr T?”

“This is my pet snake called T-Snake,” said Mr T very proudly.

Everyone moved away from Mr T as he lifted the four-foot monster out of the bag and slung it around his neck. “He is very placid and wouldn’t hurt a fly,” said Mr T, trying to reassure everyone.

No one was buying it.

“Oh, come on,” he said, taking a step towards Penny. “You keep that thing away from me,” she screamed.

“Best you stay over there, Mr T, since you are scaring everyone with your snake; whatever you call it.”

“Our lucky last pet belongs to Mary-Jo - what have you got?” said Ben, trying to re-focus the group.

Last was Mary-Jo Kizme, the gorgeous-looking admin employed by Corporate. She had a small cage, and Ben was puzzled. She sat down, put her hand in, and pulled out two white mice that sat quietly on the palm of her hand.

“This is Huey and Dewey," she said in her usual very quiet voice. “They are my daughter’s pet mice, and I promised her I would bring them in. They sit on her shoulder, one on each side, when she watches TV.”

“Ahhh!!!! M--mice!” "Penny screamed as she jumped onto her chair. Poor old Pusscat fell to the floor, much to Killer's delight. He was already making his way toward Pusscat. 

Mary-Jo disliked cats, just like her mice. She jumped up, causing Huey and Dewey into a spin. They ran off in different directions.

Mr T’s T-Snake got excited by the commotion. It instinctively tightened its grip around Mr T’s neck. He focused his eyes on Pusscat as she darted across the floor in front of him.

“Everyone, stay calm,” yelled Ben. “Penny, put your cat in its cage; Joe, get hold of your damn dog; and Mary-Jo, where did your mice go?"

He wanted to tell Mr T to put his snake away. But then he felt the snake's tight grip around his neck. It wasn't going anywhere. “I can't –‘t br---eath---e,” whimpered Mr T.

Ben had to admit he was looking a bit green around the gills.

Joe got Killer back on his lead. Penny pulled Pusscat down from the bookcase, even with Dewey tightly clamped in her mouth. She returned a somewhat terrified Dewey to Mary-Jo, now in tears and trying to coax Huey out from under a chair.

Mr T was still a sickly green-grey. His beloved Trouser Snake finally calmed down and relaxed its grip. Mr T stuffed it back in his bag and wobbled off somewhat woozy.

“Nice job, moron!” quipped Penny as she limped past, having sprained her ankle jumping off the chair.

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t my fault - it was that damn Trouser Snake!" replied Ben.

Another failure. He was trying so hard, but nothing seemed to go his way. That’s it, he thought, I am going to blow the whistle. I hate this company, I hate Mr T, and I hate that everything is my fault. I am not a bad person. Good job, I am seeing Tina tonight; at least this day will have a good ending, or will it?

[ A/n:*** Brownie points:  Australian slang for getting recognition.]

 Next Episode – Episode 18: “Ben Moves On – But to What?”

Till next time,

Calvin