And from that moment on, we didn’t hire people just for what they could do.
We hired people for who they are. We hired empathy and kindness. Courage and compassion.
Now I remember who this woman is. “Mila,” I say to the young woman who isn’t my daughter.
She beams. “Yes, Ms. Jayne. It’s me.”
Something tickles the back of my mind. A faint memory begins to unfold.
“They’re gone,” I tell Mila, even though I’m sure she already knows. “My entire family. They’re dead.”
The brightness on her face fades. Mila nods to confirm what I now remember. She adjusts a fleece jacket draped across my shoulders, and I remember the feeling of a warm blanket not too long ago. That’s what the fleece jacket feels like. A warm blanket.
I think my family died in a mass shooting. Or a car accident. Or maybe it was an earthquake. Possibly, a mudslide.
It’s still fuzzy, although I suspect that memory will snap into focus sometime soon.
Here’s what I do remember.
On the day I came back to work after my family died, Mila bore a new tattoo. At first, the sight of it unnerved me. Mila isn’t blood kin. She isn’t related to me by marriage, like Molly Brown. I decided to ignore it, despite noticing more and more of my employees becoming freshly inked with my family tattoo. One day, I overhead Mila explaining to a new hire that getting the tattoo was nothing to be taken lightly. Only those with a genuine and deep commitment to the work were allowed to be tattooed.
I squeeze Mila’s hand and say, “I recall some things but not all of it. I know where I am now. I recognize the company, and I know my family is gone.” I hesitate, trying to force a memory that remains fleeting. “But I don’t know why I’m here or what is happening to me.”
Resa Nelson is a member of Science Fiction Writers of America. She is also a graduate of the Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop. She has sold more than 20 short stories to magazines and anthologies, including Clarkesworld, Science Fiction Age, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword & Sorceress XXIII, Women of Darkness II, Future Boston, and 2041. She was the TV/Movie columnist for Realms of Fantasy magazine for 13 years and also wrote articles for SCI FI magazine. She has published 24 novels. Visit her website at resanelson.com.
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