Karen woke up late again this morning. Rushing to get ready for work she puts on mismatched socks and grabs her coffee cup spilling the coffee on herself. It is too late to clean up so she grabs a towel as she runs out the door to her car. In her hurry Karen slams her fingers in the car door, with a yowl of pain turns the key in the ignition, and cries out in anguish as she realizes that her car battery is dead for the second time this week. Karen runs inside and calls for a taxi as she runs to her room to change her shirt while she waits.
All eyes turn toward Karen as she runs through the office door, down the hall, and slides into her cubicle just as her boss arrives. Ten minutes later she receives an email from her boss to be in his office as soon as her morning assignments are complete. Full of terror Karen rushes through her memos, submits her progress reports of the clients received through the week, and picks up her copies of the reports from the printer.
As she walks back to her desk she overhears rumors that her employment is soon the be terminated. Her heart starts to hammer and her palms start to sweat. Slowly and deliberately she walks with her head held high all the way down the hall to Mr. Abalm’s office. Karen knocks and enters at the reply, curious as to why Mr. Abalm is sitting in his guest chair instead of his own, she opens her mouth to ask when Mr. Abalm’s Chair slowly turns and her husband sits before her eyes holding a single pink rose. Karen cries as she squeals in surprise and runs into his arms asking when he returned from Iraq. All he says in return is “Happy Valentines Day, Love. I would never let you be alone on our anniversary.”