It’d gone so well. Jim wondered what went wrong. He’d taken his prototype to Erlangen and they’d all smiled and complimented his demo. Even the thin-lipped pasty-white bureaucrat with the polyester suit had said “well done” that day. Jim had a nasty post-nasal drip from the overseas flight that had worn his throat raw and made talking a chore – all the worse for the biting March winds that swept down the Bavarian plains. Even so, he’d made it all the way through his slides and shown the demo, a 3D animation of a brain scan.
He couldn’t believe his eyes a week after returning to Princeton. Dan sent him a message, saying the polyester tight-lipped manager had contacted him, weren’t happy with the results, and wanted to refocus the project – on color animation, not just black and white. Come to my office right now, Dan said. Must be serious, Jim thought. His boss never used that tone of voice in his e-mails.
Two minutes later Jim walked up to Dan’s office. Why’s Bob sitting in that chair by the door? He peeked in. They were all there, his colleagues in Dan’s group – with a big cake. “Surprise!” Today was April 1st. My birthday had been two days ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment