As Samira walked to work she remembered the sermon that
was preached at church the day before. The topic was about loving your
neighbour. Even those that didn't love you. She knew one person like that at
work. Sarah Brown. Sarah just didn't like her and the feeling was very mutual.
From her first day at work Samira never got along with her. Maybe Sarah felt
insecure around her because she was younger, she just couldn't tell. "I'll
love my neighbour." Samira said with a long sigh. Just before she entered
her office building she saw something interesting. There was a car having boot
sales not very far away. She looked at her watch. She had enough time to do
some window shopping. She saw a nice necklace. It looked like something Sarah would love. She thought for minute and bought it for her at a very good price.
When Samira got to work Sarah was not at her desk but
she saw her favourite red bag and knew she was around. She picked up a sticky
note from her desk and wrote a little note. She stuck the note to the present
she had just bought, put it on Sarah's desk and walked away. When she got to hers
Elikem walked by with a smile. "Is that a bomb you put on Miss Horror's
desk?" She asked. Samira giggled and shook her head. Elikem always had
names for everyone. Then it hit her that she wasn't the only one who didn't
like Sarah. "Love your neighbour." She whispered to herself as she
turned on her computer.
After a few hours there was a general meeting for everyone.
Samira took a seat at the back of the board room next to Elikem. "Pay
raise time, woop woop." Elikem whispered and did a little dance in her
chair. Samira laughed. "You are such a child." She said to her. The
CEO of the company walked in with some sheets of paper. He said he had bad
news. The company was not doing as good as it used to and they had decided to
do a downsizing exercise. Samira's heart missed a beat as he mentioned the
names of the people who were being laid off. Her heart sunk when she heard
Elikem's name. Fortunately for her that was the last name. She breathed a sigh
of relief and turned to comfort her friend.
When she got back to her desk she saw a red sticky note
and instantly knew who it was from. It said, 'thanks for the necklace. It's so
lovely. Yes you are right we started off on a bad note. So your apologies have
been accepted.' Samira smiled. She turned around and spotted Sarah at the
entrance of the board room. She walked to her but the CEO was quicker. Samira
just stood aside and waited for him to finish talking to her. "Sarah I
thought we decided on 12 people? This list is short of one." He said.
"Sir that's true but I found out recently that she has potential as
compared to the others." Sarah replied and smiled at Samira.
"Alright, I trust your judgement, have a nice day." The CEO said and
walked away......
Love your neighbour!
