She had worked so late, it was now early. There was a heavy deadline, and she was on hour 36 in a row on this final project. Coffee was beginning to make her stomach hurt, and her hands shake, but it was the only thing that pulled her through this last final stage. The shop was a mess, and she knew she had to clean it up a bit before anyone else could do any work.
She put some music on the PA system and set out to sweep the vast expanse of concrete before her. “Baby It’s You” by Smith came on. The concrete no longer belonged to a shop. It transformed into a stage, and the broom became her microphone. Music has that kind of magic to it. She skidded around on the floor, her sneakers squeaking on the newly cleaned surface. Her body moved in the way that only packing 36 hours of work into two days and finally being done can move you. A stretch, a release, a celebration of a hard push finally completed. Oh, did she dance.
Her favourite song had come on and she was leaning into it, dancing, singing. “Don’t want anybody! Nobody….. ’cause baby it’s you!” She sang at the top of her lungs and spun around to accent the move with her broom microphone, and suddenly locked eyes with her boss. Oh my god. Busted. She felt ridiculous.
He was smiling. It was not very often in that light-hearted shop that you could ever catch her being that silly, and he knew she was super embarrassed. “Are you here early or late?” he asked as if absolutely nothing had just happened as she scurried to turn off the music. He was at work two hours early. Why was he there?! Oh goodness.
“Uhhh, late.” The tendons in her neck tightened, pulled her jaw down and exposed her bottom teeth in chagrin.
“Oh my god, you pulled an all-nighter? The project is not *that* important. Go home, we’ll finish up here.” Her boss smiled at her and watched her lean the broom against the wall, put on her coat and head for the door.
“You should sing in here more often,” He winked at her and started the coffee for the rest of the crew.
Eve Di Potenza 
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