Page 70 of A Light in the Dark
TWENTY-ONE
What’s even going on?
It tookme an hour to sort through the resumes in the parking garage, and understanding we were going to pursue the best ones and needed to act quickly, I did a second pass, plucking out the ones I felt had the most potential. After handing those off to my boss and packing the rest in the back of the SUV to be dropped off in his office, we went to a computer store, where he picked up two different laptops. One was black, one was silver, and I had zero idea why he handed me both.
In addition to the laptops, he picked up two monitors, two keyboards, two mice, three warming pads meant to keep mugs warm, and a fancy office chair that cost so much I gaped at the price tag.
While Mr. Accor handled paying for everything, two of the store’s employees went to work assembling it.
“What’s even going on?” I asked while the cashier handled registering the warranties for everything. As we hadthousands upon thousands of dollars of stuff, the store opted to open another register to keep the other customers from wanting to kill us.
My boss pointed at the black laptop, which had cost three times more than the silver one. “That one is for you to play on. That is your home laptop, and while it will have everything you need to do your work on it, the bosses fully expect you to install games on it. I have a list of games for you to install. We’re providing the licenses. There will be a test. Joel informed me about his plan to partner with you for his little gaming competition. I’m sure you’ll refuse to touch any games until then, but once he’s done with you, you will want that machine. He told me his intent to buy you a gaming computer so you’ll play with him, and I did him a favor; I told him to move forward with a general gaming computer in his home so you can easily go play with him and to let you have your own personal system for single player games. As you need it to handle work at home, you get to play your games on the company’s dime. After one year, the computer is completely yours regardless of what you do in the future. We must do that for tax purposes.”
“And the silver one?”
“That is your new office laptop, for you to use when you’re out of the office, need to escape your desk, or otherwise want some fresh air. It will run all the basic crap we use, but it won’t do games well.”
“So, you’re saying the silver one is practical, and the black one is an epic splurge.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
I pointed at the monitors. “And those?”
“The bigger monitor is for gaming, and the smaller one isfor when you do need to work from home. We do not subject that nice monitor to crappy work.”
While I’d been friendly with my boss, it appeared I’d missed a great deal about his interests outside of work. “I see you have opinions about technology.”
“I really do.”
“And this gaming thing with Joel?”
“The only way you could make him happier is if you helped him win… but before victory is his, you kill off the remaining competition except for one, help that one kill him in the game, and then claim exclusive victory for yourself.” My boss snickered. “Better yet, forge an alliance with one of the other newbies, have them kill Joel, and then you kill your conspirator. Of course, make certain your conspirator is aware you two will be fighting for final victory. If you team up with the conspiring newbie, two newbies will be the winners, and you’ll break the hearts of the other gamers. You’ll crush Joel and make him like it.”
“I am accepting gaming advice,” I informed him.
“As there’s nothing against teaching you the strategy of the game as long as you haven’t played the game before, I will give you some tips and tricks so you can be prepared—and I will give you the phone number of an excellent conspirator.”
“Who?”
“Her name is Coraline. She’s Calden’s wife and new to gaming, too. I know Calden’s father, so I went ahead and got her contact information for you while you were staring at the camera gear. She’s happy to conspire with you, as she now lives to pull pranks on her husband and his father. They have annoyed her for the last time, or so she says.”
The discovery the computer store had camera gear had lured me into checking out the offerings, and like in the camera store, I’d quickly determined I knew nothing about cameras but thought they were pretty. “I am accepting all offers of aid.”
“And as nobody will believe Coraline would throw a victoryever, she’ll make it easy for you to kill her, honestly. Calden’s method of helping her cope with any disappointment or loss is to take her camping, which she loves. And she’s learned she doesn’t have to ham it up much to get her way. Losing a computer game will be more than sufficient to get her a camping trip, and in her words, it has been a while. So, you’ll be helping her secure a camping trip while she helps you secure your victory.”
Not having to work hard to find an accomplice worked for me, but I held doubts about how I might be able to beat skilled players. “Do we have a good chance of surviving in this game?”
“You do, and as I play the game often, I even know the methods a pair of conspirators could use to wait out the experienced players knocking everyone else out. I didn’t join the competition this year because the last time I did this, I bought a gaming rig for my partner, and my wife is still mad at me over that stunt.”
“Why would she be mad over it?”
“I absolutely do expect her to play with me, using the computer I bought for her, just to play in that wretched competition. She’s extra angry because she doesn’t like the apparel choices for the women, so she dresses up as a handsome man and gets mad about it. Mostly, she’s mad I actuallytalked her into it, because she hates admitting I was right. She likes gaming, and I forced her to acknowledge this fact.”
Oh. “Your wife was your partner for that game?”
“Yep. One day, she might even forgive me. We had to convert a room in our house into a gaming area. It used to be her second book nook.”
I gasped. Fortunately for me, I had a room or two I could dedicate to gaming, photography, and my crafts, especially as I had the money to do a complete renovation of my basement into a reader and crafter paradise. “You took away herbook nook?”
