“I’m such a Stress Monster,” she told her cat as he stretched and purred, not a care in the world.
“I know you think I’m calling you my precious baby and paying attention to you, but I’m really just trying to get this off my chest. I feel so set up! It’s like everyone else in the world knew what I was getting into but me. And now, here I am, hopelessly dedicated to a job that’s killing me.” The cat rolled over and flipped his tail. He didn’t care what she said, but her tone had gotten harsh and he knew better than to confuse this with baby talk.
She twirled a lock of hair around her finger and kicked her shoes off in disgust. “Panty hose! Puh-lease! Why on earth do I even bother? I sit at my desk and shrink when I hear people screaming at each other, but I scream for joy when all of that good stuff comes. Like today. When the single hit #4 with a bullet, we all danced around the office. They said it’d never break the Top 5! But, within two hours, my head was spinning – and not from all the dancing around.”
By this point, the cat had moved off of the sofa and into the kitchen to inspect his food dish. Rebecca just kept on talking.
“Oh! My aching head! I know the good times balance out the bad – they really do; but I’m afraid I’m not cut out for this corporate world. So what if it’s the entertainment business? When it all comes down to it, I roll around on a plastic pad behind a desk all day and that makes me no difference than my parents. And they worked for 40 years, Simon. Forty years!”
Simon looked up from his Sliced Veal in Gravy, licked his whiskers and went back to munching. He was not interested in Rebecca anymore.
“Oh, pooh!” she finally summed up. And as she flopped across the same bed she’d had in college she wished she could go back there, to that time and that mind. But she knew too much now. She’d always work.
The next feeling she sensed was physical: Simon’s whiskers on her ankle. “That tickles!” she giggled. And for another day, the Stress Monster was gone.