Secrets we keep, p.27
Secrets We Keep, page 27
Yes, obviously, she could make it! Did they think she had anything else to do, other than waiting for this fateful email?
Brimming over with anticipation, she ran into the Polaris offices. Four officials were waiting for her in the meeting room. Without much introduction, they asked Anna to provide all the information she could share with them regarding her case.
“Of course, of course,” Anna mumbled, squirming awkwardly in her seat, as strong emotions boiled over in her chest. “Let-Let me start from the very beginning.” Her pulse beginning to race, Anna explained how she had seen the ad on social media, how much she wanted to work for Polaris, and how she didn’t have the right credentials.
“I regret my decision to lie on the application. I hope I can be reinstated in my job. Please let me know if you have any questions.” After her long, emotional speech Anna cast a hopeful look at the people in front of her. They had to believe her and help to get her job back!
“Thank you for the information.” Every word pronounced by the ethics officials was clipped and precise. They quickly got up and were getting ready to leave the room, talking calmly with each other.
“What will happen to me now?” Anna asked, slowly rising from the table and smiling tightly. Her eyes were gradually filling up with tears. Her voice was so quiet, as if she’d suddenly shrunk to the size of a tiny mouse. “When can I expect the answer?”
“We cannot give you a particular timeline. Just wait for further communications,” the leader of the ethics team answered in a firm, robot-like voice and looked at Anna with a blank stare. Their faces were ice-cold and eyes hard as pebbles, not a single drop of compassion in them. They probably dealt with similar issues all day long and built a strong stamina to handle situations like this.
When Anna got back home from Polaris, Olena suggested, “Why don’t you send a message to Bernard? He’ll probably be able to tell you what’s been happening. These ethics people seem pretty hopeless. They are just collecting information. They are not the decision-makers.”
“Of course. Bernard! Why didn’t I think about it?” Anna exclaimed and opened her laptop with renewed excitement. Bernard had been such a good friend to her, ever since the first day at Polaris. Now that she was temporarily suspended, he would be her eyes and ears within the company. Even if he didn’t know everything, he could give her at least some idea as to what management might be thinking.
Usually Bernard was excellent with emails. He would reply within ten to fifteen minutes. But this time, no reply came—even after an entire day.
Maybe he missed my email by accident?
Normally, he was very thorough, but obviously mistakes could happen to anyone. Even an email machine like Bernard. A follow up was needed. Anna decided to send a text message this time. The message would beep on his phone, and he would respond instantaneously.
Three hours later, Anna was still checking her messages. No response came in. And the app showed that Bernard was active twenty minutes ago.
Crap. He just doesn’t want to reply to my texts.
It was pretty clear that Bernard wanted to step away and avoid possible problems for himself. Now Anna had no insider who could help her. Not a single soul wanted to associate with her.
The only way to find out her fate was to endure more and more waiting. Which meant lying awake at night and staring at the ceiling for hours on end. Sitting in front of the TV in the living room, and looking right through it. Talking to Mom and not hearing what she was saying.
When Anna got a call from Teri again to come to another meeting at Polaris, she was no longer excited. She was emotionally spent. Extremely tired. She just wanted all of this horror to be over.
“Thanks for calling, Teri,” Anna said, her voice bland and even. “Meet tomorrow? Yes, no problem. I’ll be there.”
****
Anna got off the red line train and slowly walked into Polaris. The meeting invite indicated the room on the same floor where Anna used to work, so she took a familiar elevator. Just a short time ago, she was entering the Polaris building triumphantly with her Ukrainian arts and crafts, starting an exciting career. How quickly things had changed…
Anna passed by her lovely, cozy office, the “Anna Levenko” sign still on the door. A source of tremendous pride. On her first day, she took at least ten selfies in this office standing in front of the beautiful Ukrainian flag on the wall and sent them to her friends and family. Anna could not resist the temptation of glancing inside, just to relive the happy memories for a brief second.
Oh no!
All the documents, crafts, and family pictures Anna had left in the office were now packed in a neat box which was standing in the corner of the room. The desk and the bookcase were bare. Anna’s large world map had been taken off the wall and rolled into a tube, as was the Ukrainian flag.
So that’s why she was invited back to Polaris today! To surrender her badge and take any last belongings home. How thoughtful.
There are all my dreams, broken into a million pieces and packed in one box.
For a second, Anna stood in front of her office, remembering her last trip to Africa and the kiss with Jean. It all seemed like a hundred years ago.
“Good bye Polaris, good bye Jean,” whispered Anna and continued walking down the hallway. She passed a few colleagues of hers—former colleagues as of today—who did not say hello and gave her some disapproving glances, like “What are you still doing here? Weren’t you dismissed a month ago?”
Heartbroken, Anna dragged her feet to the meeting room. She weakly knocked on the door and quietly entered the room. To her surprise, there was nobody except for John inside.
“Anna, thanks for coming! Please take a seat.” John seemed much more relaxed than the last time she saw him. He was probably glad that this situation would finally be resolved and he would not have to deal with Anna and her problems.
“How are you doing?” John asked calmly.
What kind of answer could she give, especially after she saw her office had been packed up? Devasted? Heart-broken?
“I’m doing okay,” she finally squeezed out. “Not the best.”
“I know, this must have been incredibly hard on you,” John said, his voice full of compassion. “It took a long time to resolve your case, but now I finally have an answer for you.”
And I already know what it is, Anna thought to herself. At least she was prepared for what she was going to hear.
“All right,” John said. “Let’s get down to business. This was a very difficult decision for all of us. First and foremost, I want to underscore that I cannot abide liars. There is no place for them at Polaris. They would only damage our reputation.”
“I understand,” Anna said sadly. She hated liars as much as John did. And she hated herself the most for what she had done.
“But,” continued John, “I’ve gotten to know you quite well by now. I feel that the lie on the application was an unfortunate mistake on your part. Such conduct is not part of your character. We all make mistakes occasionally. Each person can think of things they are not proud of. In my opinion, you deserve a second chance. And this is what I argued to the ethics committee.”
“You did? Thank you so much, John,” Anna said with tears in her eyes. At least he tried to defend her. He was always such a good guy. Even though they still decided to dismiss her, she would forever remember John as somebody who stood by her till the end.
“You’re welcome. And I was not the only one who argued for you. Teresa Jameson and Bernard Kaye are your other big supporters. I had no idea, but Teresa is a big fan of your work and you as a person. Apparently, she had even known you in your ‘prior’ life as a tennis player. She explained to everyone what you had to go through—the terrible injury which cut your brilliant tennis career short. You are such a fighter! I admire you. I couldn’t do what you had done.”
“Thank you, John,” Anna whispered.
“Teresa is a chief economist, so her vote had a lot of weight,” John continued. “I suspect it might have been the deciding one… You were lucky to have her on your side, arguing so strongly for you. She put forward so many arguments in your favor that the ethics committee finally concluded that, you can return to your job next week.”
“I can what?” Anna jumped up in astonishment. “But how is this possible? I just passed by my office, all the things in it were packed up! I was sure I was being dismissed.”
“Oh, that’s nothing. Our whole department is moving to another floor. If you work here long enough, you will move offices many times. We were not sure how soon you would be able to return, since this process has been dragging on forever, so Teri packed up your things just in case. The movers are coming in a couple of days.”
“Thank you, thank you, John!” Anna exclaimed in delight. “I will be your most honest and devoted employee, forever and ever.”
John nodded in agreement.
“I believe you. That’s why we are giving you a second chance. I also think that your position in the Energy Institute was quite solid. It’s exactly the type of job I would want a Global Associate to hold prior to joining Polaris. Our HR sets too high of a bar for the applicants, and people like you think they need to pretend to be somebody else in order to get in. The HR targets Ivy League schools and expects applicants with flawless credentials. It always makes me wonder, is that even the right approach? Lying on the application is not the way to go under any circumstances. But I believe that we need to re-consider our screening process, so that more folks like you have a chance to get an interview.”
“I hope this will happen one day,” Anna said.
“So, are you going to sign the full-time employment contract?” John asked with a smile as he held out a pen.
“I totally will,” Anna replied proudly, as she signed her name with a flourish.
****
Anna was slowly walking around the Polaris cafeteria, peaking at the food they were offering at all the different stations, in search of something good to eat for lunch. She was in a dire need of a nice meal to cheer herself up.
That morning, she finally saw Olena leave at the Dulles Airport. After everything seemed to have resolved itself with Anna’s job, it was time for Olena to head home and check on the rest of the family.
In the last weeks, Western news channels were talking more and more about the imminent full-scale Russian invasion, and Olena wanted to make sure she got to Kyiv as soon as possible. Both Olena and Anna were hoping nothing major would happen—Ukraine had been living under the threat of a full-blown Russian invasion since 2014—but just in case, they decided to speed up Olena’s departure. They needed to make sure Grandma Maria was in good hands in the remote case that their fears did materialize. The plan was for Anna to visit Kyiv in the next months, once she got her Zanzibar project approved. Definitely in time for Grandma’s birthday.
Anna finally stopped by the Asian station and zeroed in on the Cambodian noodle bowl. This was the best dish she had seen in the whole cafeteria, so she put it on the tray and started walking towards the cashier. Hopefully, someday, the Polaris cafeteria would also serve Ukrainian food.
“Bonjour, Anna,” she suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind her.
Anna turned around and saw Jean walking up to her, a kind smile on his face. She had a feeling of déjà vu.
Just a year ago, they were having their first lunch in this very cafeteria and she had been looking forward to their first date. But everything had fallen off the rails. Anna rushed to rescue Katie’s frog, then Emily stole Jean, then David came into her life, and finally she was almost fired. Now they were back in the same cafeteria. But could they start all over again? Was Jean still interested in her?
“What a surprise,” Anna said, unable to hide her astonishment.
“I hope a pleasant one?” Jean asked carefully.
“Very.”
“It’s been quite a while since our trip to Zanzibar,” Jean observed. “I was hoping to hear from you after a week or two. But I figured you were not ready yet.”
“A lot of things happened—I have so much to tell you. Most importantly, I broke up with David. I am free to see who I want now.”
“Glad to hear that. How about we start afresh today?” Jean asked simply. “I’m searching for a companion to travel to the magnificent Africa with. To watch the serene sunrises and golden sunsets, hang out on the glorious beaches, stroll along the bustling streets, admire the might of the spectacular waterfalls, sail on the enchanted dhow boats in the clear emerald waters, with an occasional safari thrown in, that kind of thing… Just in case you might be interested.”
“Anytime,” Anna said. “I’d love to explore Africa with you.”
Glossary
Bandura—the national musical instrument of Ukraine. It’s a stringed instrument with an oval wooden body. Bandura dates back hundreds of centuries and used to be played by blind musicians who travelled from one village to another and performed various folk songs for their audience.
Bud’mo—“cheers” in Ukrainian. One can expect to hear this toast many times during Ukrainian parties.
Chervona Ruta—a mythological flower. A ruta flower normally has yellow blossoms. But according to a Ukrainian legend, on the summer solstice, it turns red (“chervona”) for a brief period of time. If a person finds this red flower, he or she might receive tremendous luck, wealth, and ability to understand the animal speech. However, the flower is guarded by evil spirits.
Chudo—the Ukrainian word for miracle.
Cossacks—military men who initially protected steppe settlers against Tatar raids in the sixteenth century, but later also played a critical role in building an autonomous Ukrainian state. Ukrainian Cossacks are famous for their patriotism, courage, strength, and love of freedom. Many Ukrainian writers and poets have praised Cossacks in their works.
Dacha—a country house, usually surrounded by a nice garden with flowers, fruit trees, and bushes. Many Ukrainians own a country house, in addition to their regular apartment in the city. Ukrainian families spend their weekends and sometimes even vacations at their dachas.
Hata—the Ukrainian word for house or hut.
Hopak—a Ukrainian folk dance. The choreography includes astonishing jumps, spins, kicks, and turns.
Horilka—a popular Ukrainian alcoholic beverage. If you attend a Ukrainian party, most likely there will be a bottle of horilka on the table. This drink, which can be both commercial and home-made, is often distilled from grain (wheat or rye) and also can have fruit infusion.
Kopijka—currency unit (1/100 of hryvnia, the Ukrainian currency).
Lapa—the Ukrainian word for paw.
Panove—the Ukrainian word for ladies and gentlemen.
Pushcha Vodytsia—an area in the outskirts of Kyiv. With its lovely forests and lakes, this neighborhood has always been known for a number of sanatoriums, hotels, and state cottages for government officials and the like. In July and August, large crowds gather at the sandy beach as the water warms up sufficiently for a comfortable swim. For those who cannot afford a vacation outside of Kyiv, Pushcha Vodytsia is an excellent vacation option.
Vyshyvanka—a beautifully embroidered Ukrainian shirt. The pattern of vyshyvanka differs depending on the region where the shirt was made. Each element bears a lot of symbolism. Vyshyvankas are a source of national pride. These shirts are also world famous. For example, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands wore a Ukrainian vyshyvanka shirt designed by Vita Kin to the Rio Olympic Games.
Zdoroven’ki buly! Zdrastujte! Dobrogo vechora!—common Ukrainian greetings.
Zirka—the Ukrainian word for star.
A word about the author…
Valeriya Goffe was born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine and spent most of her adult life in the United States. She currently resides in Washington DC together with her husband and young daughter. Valeriya works for a large international development organization, leading financial sector development projects in various countries. She holds a PhD degree from the Kyiv National University of Economics in Ukraine and an MBA degree from the Kogod School of Business, American University in Washington DC. She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder. Valeriya is trilingual in English, Russian, Ukrainian and also speaks French and Spanish.
www.valeriyagoffe.com
Or follow her at:
Twitter: @GoffeValeria
Instagram: valgoffe_author
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Valeriya Goffe, Secrets We Keep
