As in:
Reneé, of course, had come from the gym that morning with the freshened purpose of collecting Beatrix, to either gather her resignation or exquisitely lay the ground for her “at will” termination by the board of Spokane Skates On. Ramon’s subtle signal that he wasn’t on board with the purge complicated things.
But so what? This wasn’t really about any of the work at hand. This was about notching a post in the stupidly vain but utterly important game that Reneé and her friends loved, for which they did not have a name, because the name would be crass, and it would be, “Who Runs the Town?”
It was such a blast. Almost like making a movie, but without all the overhead. And, you know, it just wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without the dark spirit at its core that encouraged the lionesses to play with the yearling springboks before crushing their throats. Frankly, the game would really suck if someone lost their nerve.
And that wouldn’t be Reneé. She was a pro at this and, of course, she had given some thought on the exercise bike that morning about the possibility that Ramon wouldn’t be on board. It was up to him. She could go either way, it’s just that not having him with her meant that she’d have to amp things up a bit for the SSO board meeting.
But that’s okay. She prepped for these exercises the way a good trial lawyer would. You never ask a question you don’t know the answer to. You never put someone like Ramon in a position to choose without being committed to either of his possible answers.
“Okay then,” she said abruptly, making it sound as though she’d just balanced her checkbook. “I think were done for now.”
With that she got up and left. Nobody at the table said goodbye.
