Melanie and Kaylee

It's been some time since I've contributed any writings, but the long break has provided the motivation and creativity to bring you this story. This is a slow-burn, but your patience will be well worth the wait. I don't intend this to be a multi-chapter story, but I am open to ideas based on your comments. As I always remind my readers, authors rely on feedback not only to improve on their writing but also to gather input about future stories. I am not a professional author, but I welcome your comments, both positive and negative. Should this story continue?

The work was exciting yet tedious. Letting her left hand grope for the switch, she gently pushed it forward to better illuminate the paper laying in front of her. The document was a worn, faded parchment whose only distinguishing feature other than the script handwriting was a missing corner. Her other hand was moving quickly, her fingers wrapped around a writing instrument, the pencil used to jot the words that she was transcribing from the old document. When she reached the end, she picked it up and read what she had written. "Well this makes absolutely no sense," she thought to herself. Shaking her head, she pushed her chair away from the desk and stood up to stretch.

Melanie raised her arms back behind her head and sighed. It had been a long week. Having received a cache of old papers and photos from a recently deceased wealthy donor, the museum was anxious to get the documents transcribed for a pre-colonial exhibit to open in just three months. She had been working ten hour days, six days a week for the past few weeks in order to get the work done. Still, she was only a third of the way through the project.

It had been three years since she was hired as an archivist. Fresh from college and with what many told her was a boring, useless degree, Melanie turned a summer internship between the junior and senior years of college into a full-time gig. She didn't care much what others thought. She had grown up a nerd, devouring whatever books she could lay her hands on, especially those related to history. Her looks belied her geeky persona. At 25 years old, she stood at 5'6" tall with toned extremities resulting from her daily workout routine. Her blonde hair, professionally highlighted and layered, stopped a bit past her shoulders and was accented by her dark green eyes. She was an attractive figure, but no one knew. She had been stuck in a dark, quiet room for the past seven weeks!

Her brief respite was quickly interrupted by her desk phone puncturing the quiet with its shrill ring. It was her supervisor, Shannon.

"Hi Melanie, could you please come to my office when you have a second?"

"Sure, be there in a minute."

She turned off her desk lamp and gently locked the document away in one of the secure drawers in her desk. Opening the steel door, she climbed the three flights to the fifth floor where Shannon's office was located.

"Come in," Shannon instructed as she heard the stairwell door click shut. Melanie walked in, not noticing the other person sitting back and to the left of her.

"Hi Shannon," Melanie greeted. Shannon was a middle-aged veteran of the archival world. She had spent the better part of twenty years developing the collection of pre-colonial era American artifacts that the museum possessed. She had been promoted within the past six months and oversaw a staff of three people. Melanie preferred Shannon to her previous supervisor, Mark, who always wanted to look over her shoulder. Melanie felt uncomfortable around Mark, and his noted harassment of Melanie and some of the other female workers had not gone unnoticed by management.

"Hi Melanie, have a seat. I'm realizing now that this transcription task I've assigned to you is much more work than we had originally anticipated. So, I've got you help! Say hello to Kaylee."

Shannon gestured to Kaylee who was quick to hop up from a rather worn leather couch that adorned the wall behind Melanie.

Kaylee enthusiastically pushed her hand as close to Melanie as possible without shoving her over. "Pleased to meet you Melanie!"

Melanie cautiously smiled and timidly gripped Kaylee's hand. "Nice to meet you too." Melanie was a relatively quiet person, part of the reason that she loved the museum work. She was taken aback at the enthusiasm of the younger woman. Turning to Shannon, Melanie shot a look of disbelief at her supervisor. "Are you sure that I have time to be training an intern while pushing to get the transcription work done?"

Shannon had known Melanie well enough to know that her question was a legitimate query and not a criticism. "Absolutely. Kaylee just graduated, and I'm told she's a fast learner. And she's not an intern. She's a new full-time employee."

"Alright. I'll do my best to get her up to speed with our procedures. Come on Kaylee. Let's get you started on finishing the document that I've been transcribing."

Shannon, satisfied with the assignment, bid them a good day. "I know you two can do it. Let me know if I can help in any additional way."

Kaylee was quick to thank Shannon again for the opportunity and followed Melanie out of Shannon's office. She increased the pace of her walk to catch up to Melanie.

"I'm sorry for the over-the-top enthusiasm. I tend to get that way when I'm anxious about new situations."

Melanie looked at the young woman and saw the sincerity of her statement in her facial expression. Kaylee contrasted quite a bit to Melanie. She appeared to not just adhere to the geeky persona that Melanie exhibited, but her appearance matched the stereotype. She had turned 22 years old only two weeks prior. She was slightly shorter than Melanie at 5'5". Her long dark hair was pulled into a ponytail and her average-sized frame was a bit curvier than Melanie. She sometimes wore dark-rimmed glasses that provided a window to her brown eyes. Her cheeks were adorned by dimples, her most prominent feature overall.

Melanie quickly acknowledged Kaylee's apology. "Oh, no big deal. I was a new archivist once too. I've been under a lot of pressure to get ready for the upcoming exhibit so I welcome your help."

Kaylee couldn't help but smile as the two women walked down the stairs to the second floor. Melanie gave her a quick tour of the floor layout and pointed out the most important things such as the location of the coffee station and the restrooms. At last, they reached Melanie's desk which was uncharacteristically in a bit of disarray.

"Sorry about the mess. It's been a busy week. While you've been likely bored in orientation, I've been going batshit crazy trying to get this latest batch of documents transcribed." She paused and grimaced at the swearing. "Ah. Sorry about the cussing. Not a good impression to make on the new employee that I'm supposed to be mentoring."

"No worries at all. At times, some have claimed that I may have been a sailor in a past life." Both ladies giggled. Melanie unlocked her desk drawer and pulled out the document that she had been working on earlier.

"This one has been most frustrating. I let my eyes do the transcribing and each time I finish, the result reads like gibberish. I know it's late on the last day before the weekend, but maybe you could take a shot at analyzing the handwriting and figuring out exactly what this pre-colonial farmer was trying to tell his banker." Melanie paused. "I bet it wasn't a love letter."

Kaylee let out a quick chuckle. "Do you have a place where I can work?"

Melanie thought for a moment. "I'll make sure that I request that the facilities team set a desk up for you in this area. For now, you can sit at my desk. I have to go digging through some boxes. I believe I saw another document from this farmer. Nothing in this collection has been organized well."

"Okay, thank you," Kaylee replied. Melanie noted both the professionalism and gratitude of her new apprentice. They were two qualities that seemed to be lacking in most of the recent college students who had interned for the museum.

"I'll be back in a bit." Melanie turned and walked to the stairwell. After spending a half hour on the third floor, she found what she was looking for amongst the collection. Walking toward her desk, she noticed Kaylee was not sitting there.

"I'm done!" Melanie jumped, not knowing Kaylee was behind her.

"You really need to make more noise! You scared me to death."

"Oh, sorry. I can be quiet at times. Anyhow, here's my transcription. What do you think?"

Melanie took the document from the new employee and read it over. The farmer, Josiah Carr, had informed his banker, Edward Smith, that he was "no way in hell" ever going to sell his property to Wells Fargo and provided numerous reasons as to why. Melanie shook her head approvingly.

"This is great work Kaylee. I'm not sure why I couldn't properly transcribe this one, but nice job. Here's another document from Mr. Carr written to another Wells Fargo agent. Perhaps you could do some quick work on this one too. This is great practice for you."

"Sure, give me some time to look it over. To be fair, you already had a great start on the transcription. It really gave me what I needed to figure out the rest of it."

"Alright, let me go find Mike. He's another archivist who works with antebellum era artifacts. I have a few questions for him on some of these other documents."

After twenty minutes, Melanie returned. "All done?" Kaylee looked like she had aced an exam. Nothing but a bright smile flashed across her face. "This one was more fun! The sailor in Mr. Carr was on full display in this letter."

Melanie read it over and was quite impressed with the young girl's work. "Excellent. I'd say you earned the rest of the day off."

Kaylee looked at her phone realizing it was already 5:30PM. She laughed a bit. "Are you sure that you don't need any more help?"

"No, I couldn't find Mike, and I'm not ready to dig into another box of documents. I'll be heading out of here soon. Have a good weekend Kaylee. And again, great work."

"Thanks Melanie. Enjoy the weekend."

Kaylee picked up her bag and headed toward the stairs. Melanie waved to her as the girl disappeared behind the stairwell door. Though initially unsure of how much the younger girl might hinder her efforts, Melanie was more hopeful that they might be able to get the transcription work done before the exhibit.

Over the next two and a half months, Kaylee worked closely with Melanie to get through the entire document collection. Melanie appreciated the girl's boundless enthusiasm and energy, and Kaylee was thankful to learn from a talented and patient mentor.

On the day of the exhibit's opening, Shannon gathered her team together. In addition to Melanie, there was also Mike, the antebellum era expert, who was a relatively new addition to the staff. He had worked several years at a historical society in New York. In his early 30s, he was more senior than Melanie and had often provided her with an abundance of advice, often driving her to the point of annoyance. No one, including Melanie, could dispute his good looks, notably the desirable combination of dark hair and blue eyes. But he lacked the personality that would keep her interested longer than a quick minute.

The team was rounded out by Lisa, another archivist who had been with the museum since she graduated from college. In her mid-30s, married and with kids, she was similar to Melanie in both her historical interests and personality. They often talked and shared lunch together, but Melanie couldn't relate to her difficulties of raising a family. They also shared workout routines and dieting strategies, though Lisa freely admitted that she had little time for herself. She was friendly, however, and Melanie enjoyed her company. And best of all, she also had no love for their colleague Mike.

"I just want to thank all of you for your efforts to get this fantastic exhibit up and running. You did so ahead of schedule, so naturally, you get a tougher assignment for your next project." Shannon smiled. "Melanie, I believe you had something that you wanted to say."

"Thanks Shannon. To celebrate and to thank all of you for your help, I wanted to invite all of you to my place for some food and drinks next Saturday night. Bring your spouse, significant other, roommate, whomever! It won't be the best party ever, but I promise good food. And you all know where I live."

Everyone laughed. By now they were all aware that Melanie's brother, Steve, was an award-winning chef who ran his own restaurant across town. Melanie asked if he would whip up something for the small get-together, and though he teased her and pretended not to be interested, he did promise to impress her colleagues with a few dishes.

As Saturday night rolled around, Melanie's guests began to arrive one by one. Steve had brought some food earlier - stuffed chicken, seasoned mashed potatoes, and fresh salad - in chafing dishes and set them up on the island in the kitchen. Melanie lived just a mile from the museum in a small 3-bedroom ranch home. She didn't like apartment living and preferred to have a little plot to call her own.

Shannon was the first to arrive and, naturally, couldn't resist bringing a bottle of fine wine with her.

"Seriously, you didn't need to bring anything Shannon." Shannon was old school and never liked to arrive empty-handed.

"That's for later when you have to clean up the mess." The two women laughed.

"Where's Drake tonight?" Drake was Shannon's husband. He worked in the local police department.

"Oh, he had to pull an extra shift down at the station. I'm sorry to say that he won't be joining us tonight. Unless, of course, this party gets out of control!"

Melanie laughed as she looked around. Mike had come alone and was thumbing through some of the old books on the bookshelf. Lisa was off in the corner having some sort of loud argument with her babysitter. Her husband, Chris, was glued to the baseball game on the television. "We may have to open this wine sooner rather than later! I did invite a few others from work but I'm not sure if they are coming."

"Where's Kaylee?"

"Oh, she should be here any minute."

The doorbell rang, startling Shannon. Melanie opened the door behind her. Kaylee stood there with a wide-eyed grin on her face as if this was the first party that she was ever invited to in her life.

"Hey Kaylee! Good to see you."

"Hey, thanks for having me over Melanie! This seems to be a lot more exciting than my normal Saturday night."

"Really?" Shannon couldn't help but interject with a bit of a smirk before walking away.

"I think that you know everyone here. Help yourself to some appetizers and uh, wine, from our boss."

The two women laughed. It was a typical Shannon move to involve alcohol at all social functions.

Melanie walked to the kitchen to ensure that the food was warmed as Kaylee mingled with the other guests.

The party lasted only three hours and passed rather uneventfully. A few other colleagues from the museum showed their faces, but all in all, it had been a low-key event. Melanie preferred it that way but still felt that it was necessary to show her thanks to everyone for their help with the project. They all had complimented her brother's cooking, and she gave each of them some leftover food. Steve always made too much.

Kaylee was the last to leave. As she grabbed her jacket and purse from the closet, she handed Melanie a small gift.

"I didn't want it to seem weird but wanted to get you a small gift to thank you for your help and patience in getting me up to speed on things."

Melanie smiled but did feel a bit awkward. She never cared much for attention or praise but didn't want to ruin her colleague's gesture by saying anything to make her seem ungrateful. She unwrapped the small box and found it to be the latest biography of George Washington, her favorite colonial-era figure.

"Wow. I guess you remembered from our many talks how intrigued I am by Washington! Thank you for the thoughtful gift! I'll be digging into this later."

"Sooo, I'm guessing you'll have it read by work on Monday?" Kaylee chuckled.

"No way." Melanie laughed then said seriously, "I'll be done with this by morning."

Kaylee laughed then turned the doorknob. "Thanks again. It was nice to get out of the apartment tonight."

"You're welcome. And thanks for not just all of your hard work but also for coming by tonight."

Kaylee smiled. "Night Melanie!" Melanie closed the door behind Kaylee.

Kaylee lived only another mile from Melanie's home, well within walking distance. There was a distinct chill in the air, and Kaylee quickened her pace. She thought about the evening, how wonderful it was to spend time with her colleagues.

As she reached the door to her apartment building, she walked inside the foyer, briefly checking for any mail. As she walked up the stairs to the second floor, she passed her neighbor's apartment. It sounded like there was a frat party going on. John was the same age as Kaylee, and every Saturday the sound from his apartment made it seem as though the cops might show up. Kaylee smirked. As she reached her door, she went to pull her keys from her purse. They weren't there.

"Shit." She continued to fumble through her purse but couldn't find them. She knocked on the door several times but her roommate, Jenna, didn't appear to be home. Kaylee quickly dug her phone out of her back pocket and tried to call Jenna. No answer. She left a voicemail asking when Jenna might be home.

John heard Kaylee knocking and poked his head out of his door. "Hey Kaylee, what's with all that racket?" He smirked.

"Oh sure, I'm the one being loud. Go back to your frat party jerk." She smiled. Though similar in age, John was a rugged jock type, the total antithesis of Kaylee. They got along well, however.

"Is Jenna not around?"

"No, and I forgot my keys. And I didn't see Carl in his office when I came in." Carl was the building superintendent. In a pinch, he could open a tenant's door. But that was often accompanied by a litany of swearing from the acerbic 55-year old.

John didn't hesitate. "You're welcome to wait for Jenna in here if you want. But you have to do a keg stand." He laughed.

For a moment, Kaylee considered the offer. That consideration was interrupted when John's friend, Nate, stepped into the hall. While John always playfully bantered with Kaylee, Nate was a different animal. He was loud, boisterous, and routinely made Kaylee feel uncomfortable with his glances toward her.

"Hey Kaylee. What's going on?" Kaylee could feel Nate's eyes scanning her as he greeted her.

She responded curtly. "Not much." Turning her focus back to John, she weakly smiled. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to take a walk and see if Jenna calls in the meantime."

"The offer stands," John replied. "See ya later!"

Kaylee turned and walked toward the stairs. A quick chill wavered over her. She could feel Nate's eyes on her but heard John speak quietly to Nate. "Get in here dude. She's not interested in you." She smiled and felt a sense of relief that John was looking out for her.

As she reached the foyer and exited, she wondered what to do with herself. As she fumbled for her phone, she tried to think about where her keys might be misplaced. She remembered putting them in her purse. The lightbulb flashed in her head. "Oh!" She exclaimed out loud, but no one was around to hear her. She had forgotten that she had dropped her purse when hanging it in the closet at Melanie's home. They must have fallen out onto the floor somewhere.

Undeterred, Kaylee briskly walked the mile to Melanie's house and rapped on it firmly.

Melanie had been busy cleaning up the remnants from her party when she heard the door knock. As she opened the doorknob, she was surprised to see Kaylee standing there.