Ducking behind a bush, Tandi hoped that her boss hadn’t seen her. She’d called in sick because she wanted to see Offspring and they weren’t doing a sideshow. The Big Day Out was it. But spotting her boss there was going to totally spoil it – she would probably get fired.
After counting to sixty slowly twice, she tentatively raised herself up to look for him. He was standing right in front of her, frowning.
‘Stomach bug?’
She looked despondent, but a ray of hope struck through. If he was here, he wasn’t at work either. Perhaps he wouldn’t fire her.
‘Yeah. But it seemed to have cleared up and my friend had a spare ticket. I’ll make sure I get all my work caught up by the weekend. I promise.’
‘No, don’t worry about it.’
Tandi looked quizzically at him.
‘I’ll have any personal belongings sent home. Clearly, your priorities are not with the company.’
He turned to walk away, but Tandi couldn’t leave it there.
‘What about you? Hypocrite.’
Her boss stopped and slowly turned. Tandi’s stomach dropped. A teenage boy ran up to him.
‘Can I have some extra cash, Dad?’
Shaking his head, her boss looked away from her, handed his son twenty dollars and walked off.
