"William Tenn - The Human Angle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tenn William)

for consulting a physician. "I saw him whenever I needed medical attention."
Fabian grunted. There was something very wrong but tantalizingly elusive about
this whole business. But she was answering his questions. He couldn't deny that: she
was certainly answering.
"Do you expect to see him next October?" he inquired.
And now Wednesday was no longer wary. She was frightened. "Next October?"
she quavered.
Fabian finished the last of his shrimp and wiped his lips. But he didn't take his
eyes off her. "Yes, next October, Miss Gresham. You've applied for a month's leave
of ab-sence, beginning October fifteenth. Five years ago, after you had been working
for Slaughter, Stark and Slingsby for thirteen months, you also applied for a leave of
absence in October."
He was amazed at how scared she looked. He felt triumphantly that he had been
right in looking into this. The feeling he had about her had not been merely curios-ity;
it had been an instinct of good personnel management
"But I'm not getting paid for the time off. I'm not asking to be paid for it, Mr.
Balik. And I didn't get paid theтАФthe other time."
She was clutching her napkin up near her face, and she gave the impression of
being ready to bolt through the back door of the restaurant. Her blushes had
departed with such thoroughness as to leave her skin absolutely white.
"The fact that you're not going to be paid for the time off, Miss GreshamтАФ"
Fabian began, only to be interrupted by the waiter with the entree. By the time the
man had gone, he was annoyed to observe that Wednesday had used the respite to
recover some of her poise. While she was still pale, she had a spot of red in each
cheek and she was leaning back in her chair now instead of using the edge of it.
"The fact that you're not going to be paid is of no consequence," he continued
nonetheless. "It's merely logical. After all, you have two weeks of vacation with pay
every year. Which brings me to the second point. You have every year made two
un-usual requests. First, you've asked for an additional week's leave of absence
without pay, making three weeks in all. And then you've askedтАФ"
"To take it in the early Spring," she finished, her voice entirely under control. "Is
there anything wrong with that, Mr. Balik? That way I don't have any conflict with
the other girls and the firm is sure of a secretary being in the office all through the
summer."
"There's nothing wrong with that per se. By that I mean," he explained carefully,
"that there is nothing wrong with the arrangement as such. But it makes for loose
ends, for organizational confusion. And loose ends, Miss Gresham, loose ends and
organizational confusion have no place in a well-regulated office."
He was pleased to note that she was looking uncomfortable again.
"Does that meanтАФare you trying to tell me thatтАФI might be laid off?"
"It could happen," Fabian agreed, neglecting to add that it was, however, very
un-likely to happen in the case of a secretary who was as generally efficient on the
one hand, and as innocuous on the other, as Wednesday Gresham. He carefully cut
a fork-sized portion of roast beef free of its accompanying strip of orange fat before
going on. "Look at it this way. How would it be if every girl in the office asked for
an additional week's leave of absence every yearтАФeven if it was without pay, as it
would have to be? And then, every few years, wanted an additional month's leave of
absence on top of that? What kind of an office would we have, Miss Gresham? Not
a well-regulated one, certainly."
As he chewed the roast beef with the requisite thoroughness he beamed at the