“I will. I can’t wait to see it either.”
“I’ll leave you now; otherwise, your breakfast will be cold.”
“I can eat while we chat. What’s going on in ‘Daniel’ land?” I ask, opening the bag.
Daniel and I used to have a very formal working relationship until I lightened up, and now we’re both much more relaxed and friendlier.
“My sister-in-law is due to give birth to twins any day now. I’m pleased our family is growing.”
“It was just you and your brother, right?”
Daniel nods. “Yeah, until Debbie came into Tom’s life. She didn’t have a family either, so we’re all excited that the family is expanding.”
“I’m happy for you all. I expect to see pictures when the babies are born.” I really am happy for Daniel and his family, but it reminds me of the fact that Kean and I are still childless.
“I’ll spam you with pictures when they arrive,” Daniel says, standing up. “Right, I'm off to my desk. See you later.”
“You will,” I watch as Daniel walks out, closing the door behind him.
I slump back in my chair and pick my coffee up. One day, I say to myself.
This meeting is drivingme nuts. I sit back in my chair and watch three of the ministers shout at and over each other. They have been like this for over an hour. I look to the side and see another minister sat there quietly, making notes. He looks up and catches my eye, shrugging and shaking his head.
I rub my head, then raise my hand, flicking it at the shouting ministers, and there is sudden blissful silence.
They stare at me in horror, trying to talk, but nothing comes out.
“Yes, I took your voices. This is stupid and frustrating. These policies should have been amended months ago. I swear the three of you are just shouting at each other for the sake of it. Now, we will get these policies sorted out today, before any of us leave this room. If you have a sensible comment to make, raise your hand and I’ll give you your voice back. If you want to act like children, I’ll treat you like children.”
One of the ministers raised his hands.
I flick my fingers. “You can talk.”
“Have you lost your ever-loving mind?” he shouts.
I flick my fingers at him again.
“No, I’ve not lost my mind. Look, we all have more work than we can deal with at the moment. I refuse to keep having these meetings where literally nothing is achieved, except Reggie and me leaving with a headache.”
“I agree with Titus,” Reggie, the only minister who still had his voice, says. “I’m due to go on paternity leave any day now. I don’t want to come back to more pointless meetings. So, let’s go through these policies one at a time. Raise your hand if you agreewith them. If you have sensible comments or questions, hold your pen up.”
I internally sigh, another soon to be happy family. I pull my mind back, and we get back to work.
“Thanks, Reggie. Alright policy one…,”
Four hours later, we are finally done. All policies are now sorted. Daniel will have the happy task of typing all these changes up and sending them to us for final approval.
I wave my hand and unmute them.
“Thank you, folks,” I say, smiling at them.
“You, Titus Compton, are a bloody arse,” an angry minister spits out before he stomps out, the other two ministers agreeing, then following him.
“So that was the most fun I’ve ever had in a meeting,” Reggie says, laughing, as he collects his things up.
“It had to be done. I was sick of these meetings. But I am liking muting people,” I say, grinning.
Reggie laughs. “Me too.”