Page 53 of Chaos Theory
‘Maeve, Maeve, Maeve,’ says JP at last. ‘What am I going to do about this?’
I don’t answer. I sense there’s more to come.
‘You might be wondering why I’m sitting like this.’ His tone hardens. ‘It’s because if I even have tolookat either ofyou two—’He gestures dramatically at Shane and Kobi but doesn’t finish his sentence.
I shrink into a chair.What the hell is going on?
‘Maeve – were you in on this?’
My mind is spinning like a plate on a stick. ‘In on what?’
I steal a glance at Shane. He looks distinctly…crestfallen. Mystomach decides to join my mind at the circus with a few acrobatic tumbles.
‘Ask yer man here.’ But JP continues before I can ask Shane anything. ‘I just had a visit from thecuratorof the Science Museum.’ I can tell the word ‘curator’ costs JP dearly.
‘Eighteen years I’ve worked here. Eighteen, Maeve. Do you know how many times I’ve had an impromptu visit from the curator in all that time?’
There’s no point in answering so I just shake my head.
‘That’s right – none! Until today. Today, Padraig effing Hetherington marches in here, demanding to see me. Telling me about a complaint he had to deal with. A school group was traumatised – yes, he used that word – by a robot at the museum today. A teenager suffered an injury. The robot was seen leaving the building accompanied by a man carrying Go Ireland tote bags.’
‘An injury?’Oh no.Not another PHI incident. Just when I thought we were making progress. Kobi shouldn’t have even been in the Science Museum in the first place. How could Shane do this to me? I glare over at him.
He stirs. ‘The kid was fine. I think. It was an accident. All a misunderstanding, really. Things just sort of…got out of hand.’ He turns to me. ‘Sorry, I tried to call you.’
‘I don’t want to hear it!’ JP is worked up. ‘Fine or not, this teenager’s father happens to be a lawyer. Honestly, I don’t know what to do with the pair of you – the three of you! Shane, I could fire you right now, and with good cause. Maeve, you’re responsible for C3PO in the corner there. And you – Kobi – you’re only here because we’re doing RoboTron a favour. You haven’t exactly been a star employee.’
‘He’s doing okay,’ I say defensively. ‘I’ll admit we had a bumpy start, but things have improved.’ I decide to stick my neck out. ‘People are starting to get used to him. Maybe even like him.’
‘Not everyone,’ says JP.
‘Like who?’ I can’t help ask.
He doesn’t look at me. ‘Well, Trish, for one.’
The art social. Kobi’s ‘minor triumph’ is coming back to bite me. It’s not fair. I’ve been doing my best. And this whole thing wasn’t even my idea.
Kobi has been very quiet so far. Which is not like him. He articulates his hands towards JP. ‘Perhaps, if I may, I can provide a detailed explanation of events.’
But JP cuts across him. ‘I said I don’t want to hear it!’ His words ricochet around the room, followed by a silent standoff. I want to ask many questions, but I wait it out, focus on the present. If JP was going to fire any of us, surely Sandra would be here. I cling to this piece of driftwood and hold my breath.
Eventually, JP sighs and rolls open a desk drawer, extracts a tourism brochure and throws it across the desk – more weary than dramatic. The brochure lacks aerodynamism, just flaps up a bit before landing gently at my feet, like a flightless bird. I retrieve it, read the cover aloud: ‘Rediscover the West.’
‘The County Clare Tourism Board have been at me for weeks to send someone down,’ says JP in a more even tone. ‘New tourist trails in the Burren, vegan jam at the farmers’ market, cleanse your aura at a yoga retreat, et cetera. Keep going on that we should have the “lived experience”.’
‘You mean…?’ I say.
‘That’s right, I want all three of you out of here – right now and for the rest of the week. Trish is coming in this afternoon and we’re taking Padraig Hetherington out to dinner, try and sort this thing out before it escalates. And, Maeve, do whatever you have to do to get that walking laptop off the premises.’
THIRTY
Wednesday, 11:20am
We’ve been driving in silence for about an hour, Shane at the wheel, Kobi in the back seat.
Kobi is the one to break the tension. Break it, then build it back again. ‘I know that humans believe there are different types of silence. For example: comfortable, frosty, deafening. This last one in particular is difficult to compute, but I grow accustomed to the many contradictions of humans. Right now, I categorise the silence between you two as “icy”.’
After the meeting with JP, Shane and I had a very heated debate in the corridor, although I tried to rein it in a bit in front of Kobi, who I could tell seemed distressed. It wasn’t much of a debate though – just Shane mumbling apologies while I fired out unanswerable questions like ‘How could you?’ and ‘Are you for real?’
