The hoops

Her clicking heels joined the breeze rushing by her ears to soundtrack her pithy goodbye to the workplace as she veered towards the Subaru, weighing the tragedy of so many working days cut down in their prime: Good grief, she thought. Evening showed no consideration, coming on so matter-of-factly, so ... inevitably. Pacing down the expressway she checked voicemail for work calls she might have missed, and then turned to contemplating the billboards and the loneliness configured in their loud colors and bold font tales of pain management clinics in need of the suffering, gun shows in need of the gun-needy, and personal injury lawyers in need of the injured. She nodded to them all when she hit the off ramp. Nearing home, she sucked in the meager warmth offered by gas station and fast food restaurant marquees bravely defying the night with their glow, and denying consumer resistance with impossibly good deals. She pulled into a well-lit spot in the lot of the Holiday Inn which was conveniently located just miles from the expressway and numerous local attractions. She tread the lobby's clean ivory carpeting, eying the not-untasteful decor and noting, as she did each night, how easily one could feel nothing here, relaxed being not-threatened by overly exclusive choices in art or furnishings. Now she had work of her own to do and this thought sparked that sticky sense of anticipation she often felt on the elevator, and she readied her room key card. Once in the softly lit suite, she traded in one silk blend navy blue suit for another, freed her laptop from its soft shell case, and lied across the bed, looking smart propped up on her elbows, eyes fixed on the LCD screen. First, a Facebook post about the minor but not unimportant product innovation discussed at work today, then on to the company blog to publish a discussion about how the more refined market segmentation analysis coming out of Marketing would benefit consumers. This, she smiled, could be drafted into a press release: Hello, wire!