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Poem: "An Elusive, Tantalizing Partner"

This poem is spillover from the April 6, 2021 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from fuzzyred and previous discussions with dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "Life Skills" square in my 4-4-21 "Aspects" card for the Genderplay Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by zianuray.  It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.


"An Elusive, Tantalizing Partner"

[Monday, March 7, 2016]

Buttons was working on
the security schedule when
Boss White tapped on the door.

"Yes, boss?" she said, looking up.

"Do you have time to talk about
whatever has been eating at you for
the last few days?" asked Boss White.

"Oh ... yeah, now's as good a time
as any," Buttons said. "Come on in."

Boss White snagged a spare chair and
sat down by the desk Buttons was using.
"All right, what's up?" he asked her.

Buttons sighed. "You know that I
won't leave you in the lurch, right?"

"That's right," Boss White agreed.
"Are you thinking about moving on?"

"Just thinking," Buttons said quickly.
"It's just, well, I was talking with the Finns --"

"So begins many a tale, some happy,
some fit to make you tear your hair out,"
Boss White said. "But I wouldn't trade 'em."

"It started with a talk about teleporting,
which we've discussed before, but then
I mentioned that Junket and I were
college friends back before I realized
that nobody wanted to hire a black,
superpowered scientist," Buttons said.
"After that, it kind of ... blew up a bit."

"Oh?" Boss White said, leaning forward.

"Dr. G said they were stupid. Tolli
asked if there was anyone left for
him to flatten or if I'd done them all
myself," said Buttons. "Around then,
Simon went into the kitchen and
starting making popcorn."

"What if anything did you
tell Tolli?" asked Boss White.

"I might have ... given him
a few names," Buttons admitted.
"I had no trouble with classmates
or grabasses, but I couldn't do much
about the damn professors, or any
of the people who refused to hire me."

"Did you know that all the Finns,
right down to Edison, have got
the National Hate Crimes Office
on speed-dial?" Boss White said.

"No, but it suits them," said Buttons.
"Oh, and Ethiopian popcorn? Will
take the enamel off your teeth."

Boss White chuckled. "Yeah,
I've been to African restaurants,
and that stuff is hot. Now, how did
you get from hot food to hot feet?"

"Mrs. Dr. G asked me if I wanted
to get back into science ... and I
said yes," Buttons confessed.

"I've known all along that was
your first love. While you have
done a great job here and learned
some new life skills, it was never
meant to be permanent," he said.

"Science is like a love affair with nature;
an elusive, tantalizing partner. It has
all the turbulence, twists and turns
of romantic love, but that’s part
of the game," Buttons said.

"I understand," said Boss White.

"As for the job part, it's kind
of a long story," said Buttons.
"You know the Squeedles scandal?"

Boss White winced. "Yeah, folks
are still steamed about losing
the RosySo, because that was
a lot of people's favorite red drink,
but they're also steamed about
white folks running up black folks'
risk of coming down with cancer."

"Well, that broke in summer of 2014,
after the berettafly incident," said Buttons.
"Stylet turned over his notes, including how
the berettaflies like Jazz syrup. Jazz got
the idea of using emulsified corn syrup
from Squeedles, who knew that it was
carcinogenic. When people found out,
Squeedles got the corporate death penalty."

"All assets sold to cover damages, not that
it's anywhere near enough," Boss White said.

"Other companies scrambled to make up
the gap in soft drinks," Buttons went on.
"Azure Cap spent 2015 building not only
a big new bottling plant in Bluehill, but
also a bunch of worker housing and
a community center around it."

"Sounds nice," said Boss White.
"You got an eye on that housing?"

"No, I looked it up and the apartments
are already booked solid," she said.
"What's left are multiplexes that start
at two bedrooms, out of my budget.
I don't want to max out my paycheck
while I'm still new in town, it's not safe."

"Sensible," said Boss White. "Did you
find anywhere else worth considering?"

"Yeah, there's this great place called
Island Resort Neighborhood," she said.
"It used to be an actual resort that went
bankrupt, and now it's a neighborhood
with cool log cabins that are cheap to rent
or even buy because they weren't meant
as year-round living. They work, though."

"Big enough for you and Jaxon?" he said.

"For now, he's still young enough to sleep
in a trundle bed, so that we could rent
a 1-bedroom cabin," said Buttons. "Later,
we could move to a bigger 2-bedroom one,
or even 3-bedroom and have a guest room
for when Tamicka visits. Apparently folks do
that a lot, because there are so many sizes
of cabins scattered around the neighborhood."

She picked up her tablet computer and
showed him the neighborhood website,
which listed cabins currently available.

"It sounds nice," said Boss White.
"What about the work? You must
like the idea if you've already done
this much research into housing."

"It's science," she said softly.
"Azure Cap has a huge surge in
hiring. They want scientists who are
flexible enough to do both quality control
to ensure all ingredients are really safe,
and help Research and Development
come up with new flavors of pop."

"You mentioned liking lab work
better than computer work,"
Boss White said, smiling.

"I like the rhythm of it,"
Buttons said. "I know that
most folks find it boring,
but I enjoy watching things
foam up or turn colors."

"Well, pop foams," he said.
"Where are you at in
the process so far?"

"I sent in my resume
and already got through
a few rounds of surveys
that they use for screening
long-distance applicants,"
said Buttons. "Next will be
a phone interview, and if
that goes well, an invitation
for a facetime interview."

"I wish you luck, then,"
said Boss White. "You
know I'll miss you, but
I won't hold you back."

Buttons sighed. "I feel bad
about bailing right before
you plan to retire. That'll
be hard on ... Boss Brown."

"Might could be, but then again,
he'll get to pick his own button
instead of just getting mine, and
he might have different taste,"
Boss White said. "So if you get
the job, I'll want him and you
to help find replacements."

Buttons smiled. She had
actually replaced two people.

"Speaking of that, the Finns feel
that they owe you a new button
if their job tip leads to me leaving
here," said Buttons. "They're
willing to help with the search."

"I'll sure take them up on that,"
said Boss White. "You and Brown
make up a job description with
a list of wanted skills and traits."

"Yes, boss," said Buttons,
and made a note to do that.

"I look forward to seeing it,"
Boss White said, feathering
approval over her mind.

She hesitated, then said,
"I'll miss you something fierce."

"I'll miss you too, and Jaxon,
but we know plenty teleporters
so we can keep in touch wherever
we wind up," said Boss White.

"You're still leaning toward
the Maldives, aren't you,"
Buttons said. "That's ... far."

"I am. It's a good place to retire,
and they don't mind supervillains as
long as we don't piss in our own pool,"
said Boss White. "Besides, it's not far
for Junket. That boy brings mas huni
to the Finns and Shiv comes home
with a stack of the leftovers."

"That is good stuff," said Buttons.
"Shiv gave me an extra one time,
and I did it up as a tuna casserole
with a crunchy breadcrumb topping."

"See, you've learned a lot of life skills
working here," said Boss White. Buttons
had arrived with only basic cooking. "I'm
sure you have plenty to offer Azure Cap,
and you'll learn new things there too."

"I hope so, boss," said Buttons.
"I really hope so. I'm just nervous."

"You got this," he said, patting
her on the shoulder. "Science
ain't the only one who makes
an elusive, tantalizing partner."

* * *

Notes:

This poem's notes are long, so they will appear elsewhere.