‘The cage doors are open but the canary won’t fly.’

Jasmine walked briskly through the morning offices. She loved the atmosphere in the morning, the quiet awakening of thought, and the smell of coffee infiltrating every corner of the building as people came to their own awareness of the impending day.

She had, of course, been awake for hours already readying files and preparing for her own personal crusade against the impending deadlines that almost inevitably caused her to lose what precious sleep she might have had. As she walked through the offices people greeted her, for she was well liked around the building. Not specifically for her looks, she was young, barely in her thirties, and though not spectacular she had a mature and comforting look about her, as though she had laughed with life at the best and worst of times and could hold you while you did the same. No, people greeted her simply because she was their friend; a dash of the old days instilled in the sea of youth and delivered to them in a box wrapped with brown paper and string.

She returned each and every one of the greetings, as was her way, and came to the end of her trek through the electronic landscape in the offices of her boss. The boss was a kindly old man, more prone to fits of laughter than fits of anger. His ash hair matched his steely eyes and creases like crow’s feet arched away from them across his slightly leathery skin. She greeted him like her equal; they were more like old friends than boss and worker. They discussed what must be done about various areas of the company; falling revenue in this, reduced production in that. They were minor problems as the company had been doing quite well out of its activities lately and had come into a bit of profit; no doubt in no small part due to our lady Jasmine.

Jasmine loved her place in this company. More than a secretary, less than a high power manager or CEO, she likened herself to a concierge in a hotel making certain everything ran smoothly and efficiently. Like a finely tuned steam engine gliding along the tracks that the rest of the world lay down for it. Her accounting skills were legendary, some in the company even called them miraculous.

Jasmine’s life was not perfect however, oh no never perfect. She had losses like any other person; loves that deserted her, events that saddened her, people that disliked her for all her kindness. But she took these with the good times, and so her life was enjoyable in all its glorious unpredictability and she was happy for a time. To her the world was in itself an inherently good place and the people upon it good people, and the values those people held good values. And this was the truth. However it is ever the case with good people such as Jasmine that they come to have an experience that reveals an equal but opposite truth about the world.

Jasmine’s experience occurred, ironically enough, as a result of her aforementioned skill with which she went about her job. When a person is good at their job in this world of corporate visions, that person tends to get noticed and Jasmine had done just that. A bigger business had come to be suspicious of the smaller company’s success and had employed special people to try and discover their secret.

And so it happened that on a particularly gloomy day the people sent by the bigger business began their investigation of Jasmine’s workplace. They acted as clients and generally fussed about and were very nosy and demanded answers to questions that were like accusations. This made the people at the company angry and spiteful and curses were muttered behind backs wherever the pseudo-clients sought to make their presence felt.

Until Jasmine arrived.

Immediately the atmosphere in the company lifted; dispelling the clouds that the investigators had dragged in. Shoulders lifted and smiles flared their brilliance once again. Of course this was not lost on the investigators and as soon as they could make arrangements for an order to be delivered (Which, by the way, was paltry in comparison to the consternation they had caused in the offices) they left to report to their boss. The boss was pleased with their discovery and made arrangements for a special contract to be drawn up immediately and handed to Jasmine’s boss.

The next day Jasmine walked in to the offices to find a note asking her to pay a visit to her boss’ office as soon as she could. She hurried over there before she started anything important so as to get it out of the way, and found a strange tall man there talking to her boss. As she walked in, they turned to her and greeted her with a mixture of smiles and handshakes. She soon saw that the stranger was in fact the employment officer for her company, Mr Pilot. He had an easy smile and a quick wit and was obviously suited at the job of judging people, as she’d seen when she first applied for her job at the company. Jasmine took a likening to him despite his harsh, angular features that caused his face to have a seriousness at any time he wasn’t smiling or joking. The three made light conversation for a while, talking about the company’s recent profits and what the plans were for the future to maintain this rise in sales. The boss emphasised that it was mainly the way they communicated with the consumer that was getting the sales, and Jasmine found herself nodding her head in agreement. Soon however, the conversation seemed to slow down, and Jasmine found the two men looking at her in silence. Finally, after a few seconds of this silent contemplation, the boss turned to face her properly and mumbled something about moving on to greener pastures. Jasmine was confused, grasping at the straws in her head in an effort to understand. The boss was leaving? The company was moving? The company was expanding? It didn’t make sense. The boss flinched at each of these questions, bowing his head in what looked to be shame. Luckily Mr Pilot was used to these situations of awkwardness, he had been the employment officer for decades after all, and knew how to put feelings behind business. He explained to Jasmine how they had transferred her contract to another company, a business.

Jasmine was stunned. She sat there, hands by her side as those words penetrated her. We are transferring your contract to another company, a business. She was still digesting these words as Mr Pilot told her that the reason for her transfer was that he had received complaints about her from numerous staff. They had become so bad that he had had to consider the possibility of firing her. As a result of this, when the contract came through they had accepted it on her behalf because they thought it in her best interest. At this Jasmine felt betrayed; she thought that most people had liked her, that the smiles she had seen were genuine. How could people fake that? She could not understand what she had done to cause their displeasure. Had she not been kind to everyone, helping each with his or her particular ills?

Yet even as her entire career seemed to come down around her head, she seemed to elevate. Her head lifted and her shoulders straightened and even though she had no right to in the situation, she looked as regal as a queen as she stood up from her chair and faced the two men. She was calm as she told them that although their intentions were pure, she was not going to take the offer. She was calm when she told them that she was not going to fly from this company at the slightest tremble of its branches. She was even calm as she picked up her usual mountain of books and papers and walked out of the office and towards home. There she spent the night thinking and working; yet in the morning she looked as fresh as if she had spent the entire night in a deep slumber. She walked out of her home and towards the offices with her plans in one hand and her courage in the other.

As she walked through the door two men wearing the logo of a security company were heading towards the boss’ office. She collected her things and organised her desk before heading off to the boss’ office herself to discuss and prepare the day’s work. When she got there she started to say hello to the boss but was struck dumb by the look of disappointment and betrayal on his face. It looked as though his face had crumpled in on itself; leaving only his sorrow prominent. She had never noticed it before, but at this moment he looked old. He asked imploring her; Please, do not look at me! Emotions like thorns stang deeply, amplified by her confusion. The two security men turned to her but she was looking past them, towards a man she had seen posing as a client just a few days ago. She understood now, but she was not angry. As the two security guards bustled her out the door she looked towards her boss of all these years. But his eyes had left her and his head was bowed as if at a funeral – he could not help her now.

Jasmine walked out, her bag full of its papers and books across her shoulder. The office was silent as she walked out towards the doors, yet one person had the nerve to speak. We will miss you Jasmine, please forgive us. At this, Jasmine lifted her head once again, her smile flashed its brilliance and she strode out those doors as if towards a new life, towards a new beginning.