It was 5pm as Daniel was signing out for the day. The life of a Corporate Resolutions Manager never truly ended at 5pm, especially if someone really wanted to kick up a stink. Besides being asked for money by Leo, and being asked if he had heard from Adam, Daniel spent most of his day dealing with pay disputes for contractors, behind-schedule workflows for corporate pen-pushers and angry citizens complaining about...everything.
Daniel was good at his job, the soothing of ruffled feathers. Better than he'd been in his first job when he joined Calder Energy. He'd had a flashback earlier in the day, when one of the Sales Managers bounced into the office demanding that Daniel sort out the head of the Corporate Quality Assurance team, or he would walk. The memory involved a 17 year old Daniel, encouraged to join the Sales team by Kevin Beechwood, had made an almighty blunder with one of Calder Energy's corporate clients. He remembered the mistake was found by CQA after his call had been flagged as "deficient", followed shortly after by a very angry customer asking why they had been billed for enough energy to fuel a small town for a year. Daniel's manager at the time had done the same thing as the one he spoke with today. He marched onto the CQA floor and demanded evidence of why his salesman was having his pay deducted. He didn't really care that it affected Daniel, the real issue was the fact that anything upheld against his staff would also result in the team managers pay being docked too. That's how Calder Energy kept everyone in check. It's how most of the Corporations kept everyone in check.
This particular team manager would blow up at anything and everything, and because of that, he got his own way almost every time. The client who was billed multiples more than they should have was sent a gift basket and a credit on their account. Who were they going to complain to? All of the old government institutions died out when the war broke out, and never came back after it ended. The government was a husk of its former self, which was already a husk of what it should have been. "Good to see things never change" Daniel muttered to himself at the time.
He closed his laptop, rubbed the persistent knot in his shoulder, and made his way off the floor and toward the elevators. He rode the mirrored box down to the corporate garage under the Calder Energy building, where he had his own reserved parking spot. He smiled every time he walked through the vast underground car park, as he could see his family chariot immediately facing the elevator exit, typically flanked by some very expensive metal. "Like a box o' spanners 'tween two roses" Daniel had commented on more than one occasion, as he recounted the sight at work events and meetings. "Right, just one pitstop, then I better hurry home," he said aloud as his seat belted him in, "Leo mentions the money to Clara, I'm cooked."
He reversed the family van out of the parking space. “CILLA, continue my Rock Music playlist from this morning.”
The onboard AI replied, “Certainly, Daniel.” Daniel always found its voice eerily human yet robotic in its perfection.
“CILLA, I’m heading home but first, can you direct me to the tailor Clara asked me to go to after work? The one she'd got the girls' school logo put on their blazers?"
“Of course, Daniel. The tailor is exactly one-point-six-miles away from your current location. Shall I make them aware you are on your way?”
“Yeah, please, need to be in and out before my brother's loose lips start sinking my ship.” The heads-up display on his windscreen shifted to a luminescent map, highlighting the route.
The tailor had been ready and waiting, both blazers expertly stitched and steam-pressed, ready for them starting the new school year next week. Daniel would complain every year to Clara "I still don't get why they don't just sell the uniform with the logo on already? It's the only school in Alderbourne". Clara would usually tell him to stop being an old man and to go do something productive.
Daniel got back into the van, £150 lighter than before. "Resume playlist, CILLA". He drove the rest of the way home screaming like an asthmatic pug, as Clara would describe his singing. But he didn't care. This was his own space, his downtime between putting away the corporate mask, and putting on the dad mask.
He could barely get out of the van before his two daughters jumped up at him, welcoming him home. Leo stood in the doorway, waving like the giant buffoon his nieces loved him for being. Daniel picked up his youngest, Emily, and held the hand of Poppy as they made their way inside. Clara was in the kitchen preparing dinner.
Daniel put Emily down and told her and Poppy to get the table ready. “Hey wifey. You ok?” he asked playfully, kissing the back of her neck.
“I am, husband, although I’ve had my hands full with these three kids!” Leo animatedly counted the two children and then exaggerated the third, as he pointed around the room trying to find the missing child. Emily and Poppy both screamed in unison "She means YOU!"
Before Daniel could turn around, Leo was at his back, “hey, bro, did you get—”
Daniel turned and pressed his palm firmly against the giant's chest, “jesus, kid, let me say hello to everyone first.” Daniel nodded to Leo to leave the room. Clara didn't flinch at the exchange, continuing to put everyone's dinner together. "Yeah, I picked up the game as I promised, it's in with the girls blazers," Daniel pointed vaguely out into the hallway of his home, hoping Clara hadn’t been paying attention. He picked up the bag the pressed blazers were hanging in and walked down the hallway to the living room with Leo.
Daniel took out his phone, asked Leo for his bank details, and then nodded at him. Daniel gestured for Leo to put his phone into his pocket, which Leo did. "Listen, I know I came on strong at lunch, I only half meant what I said. That money is our life savings. It's to pay for the girls school fees, holidays, school trips, emergencies...whatever life throws our way. I have enough for the girls schooling with what's left but, not much after that. What I'm saying is, I NEED this back at some point. It's not a gift. It's a brotherly loan. We clear?" Leo nodded and hugged his brother. Leo's phone began to vibrate.
Four Missed Calls: Mum
Just as he swiped away the notifications, it rang again.
Incoming Call - Mum
Leo accepted. He barely lifted the phone to his ear before the barrage hit. “Why haven’t you picked up your phone?! I've called you five times in as many minutes?! I told you I-”
"Yoo, keep your wig on. You do know that if it takes five calls to get through, then I'm probably busy?" Daniel mimed "is that mum?" to Leo, who nodded to confirm. "How did I guess," Daniel said as he left the living room to go back to the kitchen.
"I've gone to Daniel's to see the girls. I told you I'd..." Leo paused, as he looked back through the hallway to make sure it was clear, then he lowered his voice, "get the money by tomorrow. In fact, I have it now. I'll send it in five."
"Thank you darling. Next time, answer your phone." Carol hung up before Leo could respond.
Leo walked back into the kitchen, where Emily, Poppy and Daniel were sat discussing each other's days. "How's work daddy?" Emily said, always the most curious about her dad's work.
"Well, today I fought a dragon, and an ogre. I even saw an ugly giant...OH NO, HE WALKED IN AFTER ME!" Daniel and the two girls laughed, as Emily and Poppy pointed at Leo and shouted "He means YOU!"
"How about your two? Good day both of you?" Daniel asked, softly.
"Yeah, same old same old. Mum made us tidy our room. Bored now, ready to go back to school." Poppy, ever the pre-teen, was always bored.
"I don't wanna go! I want to stay home with you and mum!" Emily declared.
"Well I'd love that, Em, but you'd have to help mummy do chores if you stayed home any longer" Clara declared across the kitchen. Emily grabbed Daniel's sleeve to pull him closer. She whispered "Daddy, can we send Mummy to school on Monday?" Daniel laughed and nodded in agreement.
"Hey Broski, sorry to interrupt but, I'm gonna head off. I'll let you all enjoy your tea in peace and, thanks for picking up that game. Saved me a trip" Leo ducked through doorway of the kitchen, barely fitting through the frame.
"Except, you took a trip from, what, work? Home? To come here instead?" Clara said to Leo, without even turning round. "I'll never understand you boys."
After saying his goodbyes, Leo nodded at Daniel, who had gotten up to let his brother out, and mouthed ‘thank you’. He waved at Clara and the girls, who were all now sitting at the kitchen table tucking into their dinner.
Daniel breathed a sigh of relief as he closed the front door. He turned back through the hallway and into the kitchen, “right, whose belly am I going to eat for tea?!” The girls screamed with playful joy.