A Happy Bureaucracy, page 15
part #1 of Happy Bureaucracy Series
“Thank you for the promotion sir,” Rabia said. “Does this mean that I get the employee discount?”
Boyd nodded his head. He then drank from the mug in his hand and picked up the new mug with his other, electing to just hold both of them.
There was nothing left to be said. Well, at least not by Boyd. Arthur stayed where he was, relishing the wasted time that expired as he refused to leave.
“Sir?” he said.
“Oh ah, yes, that’s right,” Boyd stumbled, “You were promised a promotion. Ah, well, I am sorry to say that it was filled while you were gone…”
“You gave it to Ralph Siemens,” Arthur said.
“Yes, er, that’s right. How did you know?”
“Dewitt told me.”
Color drained from Boyd’s face. He shuffled in his seat and cleared his throat. He sounded scared. Arthur did not think that Henry S. Boyd was capable of guilt, but fear? Oh yes.
Oh yes indeed.
Before Boyd could say anything, the office door opened once more and a man with a white shirt, black tie and black slacks walked in with another mug of coffee. The same snap decision that the woman made was made by him, and he placed the new mug on Boyd’s desk, leaving him with three mugs to juggle. Rabia and Arthur took this as an opportunity to leave.
The agents angled towards the door, not wanting to be excused. Boyd was too busy dealing with his coffee nightmare and the knowledge that Arthur knew his predecessor’s fate. The book they had delivered put things in motion that even Henry S. Boyd, with all of his new found power was helpless to stop. On paper, it was simple: the IRS was going to audit a business. The reality was far grimmer: the IRS was going to war.
It would be the first one fought since the Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles had their day out in the sun.
What Boyd had said to Arthur when all of this began was true, but in a way that neither man could foresee. A new dawn for the IRS had broken.
Rabia left the room, knowing her, eager for a cigarette, and presumably to check out her new accommodations. Arthur was happy for her. Much of what she had just earned he had taken for granted. She was a strong self-made woman, and he was proud to know her.
Arthur paused at the door, and then turned around.
“Sir?” he said.
The Commissioner’s eyes were still wide, puppy like. His hands were full, not knowing how to solve his dilemma. He looked up at Arthur, and for the first time he looked vulnerable. “Yes?” he said.
“It can be a secret, you know,” Arthur said. “Dewitt asked me to do something, but I would have to go out of my way as it’s not my department. I am still at heart a bureaucrat, so I probably won’t do it, unless you give me a reason.”
The politics had changed. Boyd was unprepared for it.
“Of course, I understand,” he uttered with a nod, frantically looking from one coffee mug to the next.
“When you mobilize our efforts to seize The Colonel’s assets,” Arthur said. “You put me on the front lines.”
Find out what happens next!
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About the Author
M.P. Fitzgerald lives in Seattle and is dedicated to injecting the feverish Gonzo style into fiction. He is an author, illustrator, and an amateur mad scientist. He has authored the Existential Terror and Breakfast series, The Nihilist’s Horoscope (which is free), and is writing the next book in The Happy Bureaucracy series.
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M P Fitzgerald, A Happy Bureaucracy
