Corking Out the Cocktail

        She worked her magic in the LBD. Her freshly done mane was shifted to one side of her head and lay undisturbed on her shoulder. For the finishing touches, she picked out simple jewels that exuded an air of sophistication and a light touch of natural-looking makeup. Then she took one last look into the mirror. A deep breath, “I got this…It’s never that serious!” Oh, didn’t she love to use that phrase? Then she slipped her feet into a pair of silver sandals and strutted out into an emancipated evening. 

            “Thank you, sir”, she uttered as she handed the cab driver his due with an extra tip that might just spell some luck for the happenings of the night. It felt like attending a ball in the castle with the prince who every girl would kill to have a dance with, sway to some piped waltz and live to tell the tale over and over again. However, there was no prince here or majestic gates to swing open into an extensive abode with an array of servants at her service. It was going to be one of the redefining moments of her life. She took the few ruffles off her dress and confidently walked up the stairs to join the rest.

            As she approached the small group of officials, she began to get a few juts of nervousness. They seemed engrossed in a moment of laughter and the nearer she drew, the more her pulse sped up. Another deep breath and with courtesy curled at the tip of her lips, she went ahead to meet the personnel manager, some of the panellists that she met the previous week and a short sturdy man who was unfamiliar to her. “Call me Jill,” he said. “Jasmine, pleasure.” The atmosphere was good-natured and her tense interior began to relax.

            The assortment of colours in the spacious opening was amazing. She felt she should have studded her closet with a little brighter hue for the night but she still had to be cautious and professional. Drinks flowed freely and talk emancipated easily. The service was unparallelled, the glasses always filled with a variety of liquor; wine, brandy, whisky, rum, gin, light cocktails and ciders. She was offered sherry wine which she slickly swirled, sniffed and sipped. Hadn’t she been schooled well? Indeed so!

Then she paced around looking out for her kind of company and getting acquitted with some of the strangers. A few friendly faces bothered to greet her and soon enough she was sharing a humorous moment with a number of them. It was not so hard after all! Those new friends got to introduce her to a few more dignitaries who familiarised her with their fellow contemporaries and continued to exchange pleasantries. Time seemed to while away slowly. It was barely 9.00 o’clock and she decided to get some air outside. 

She secured a bench in the well-manicured lawn and a stream of questions began whirling in her mind. Would she land herself that position? What if she did and what if she didn’t? Had she behaved herself well enough to please the corporate perks? How many more cocktails, lunches and dinners did she have to attend to finally get a job? A solitary mosquito buzzing in her ear disrupted her and she thought it time to go back indoors. 

As she wound through the small mass of people, silence was called upon and the short man she had met earlier in the evening was tapping on the microphone gingerly attempting to make an announcement. He adjusted his spectacles and held a piece of paper in his hand. She began getting apprehensive about what the paper held. He wasn’t planning to read the names of the new employees nor could he be more immodest to do that! Suddenly, the lights went out and the air lurched into an uncomfortable silence. Whispers and murmurs could be heard sounding from different corners of the room. She held to her purse more tightly and sighed heavily.

The same brown envelope and the same sunny days. Morning was here and she was still enclosed in the parentheses of the unemployed. The same hope in the morning but the same disappointment in the evening. She rubbed her eyes, lurching herself from a long night, stretched her neck and turned to the side table adjacent to the bed’s dashboard. She picked the holy book bound with a leather casing, flipped it open and her eyes swept on to the verse... ‘Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving; present your requests to God’. 

 Check. Sorted.