Taryn checked the clock, 4:20 PM. her boss said that she could leave 30 minutes early for her birthday, so she spent the last 10 minutes checking her email to make sure that she has 0 unanswered messages, checked to see that her todo list was clear, and tidied up her desk. As she opened the first drawer, a curious yellow glow caught her eye. Peering into the back of her drawer, she saw that the light was emitted by the crystal ball her father gave her eighteen years ago. The compass on the crystal ball was pointing south, while the orb vibrated softly. “If you ever see the crystal ball glowing,” her father had said, “you must drop everything and follow the compass. I promise, it will take you to safety.”
Since Taryn was going south of the office to dinner with her friends anyway, she thought she would take the crystal ball with her. Just to be safe, she thought, although I cannot imagine being in any danger going to my favorite restaurant with my friends. It sure seems safer than living with parents who could leave you at any time!
When her mother disappeared eighteen years ago, Taryn’s father had given her the crystal ball with the instructions, promising to come home immediately upon finding her mother. He then dropped Taryn off to live with Grandma, a former military sergeant who was clean, hard-working, and strict. Since both Taryn’s parents were writers who had friends over all hours of the night, it took her a whole year to adapt to Grandma’s punctual, organized, no-nonsense way of life. Every day that year, she would check the crystal ball for a glow, waiting for the call to adventure. Yet never once did any light emit from the sphere, and the compass on it stayed still.
Eventually, she gave up waiting and adapted to her new way of life. Under Grandma’s discipline, Taryn turned from being a lackluster student into someone who got straight A’s in school, played in the orchestra, and was president of one club or another in high school. When Taryn majored in English in college, Grandma made sure that she had an internship every summer, and she received a full-time job offer a year before she graduated. With Grandma’s help, Taryn left the chaotic life of her childhood behind to work a stable job as an executive assistant, receiving employee of the month once a year for the past six years. She was not about to let the crystal ball disrupt her curated life.
When Taryn had driven about a mile away from her office, her phone rang. Yet she almost missed it, because a woman in a white car was screaming at her toddler, who was running around in the busy street. As cars swerved left and right to avoid hitting the little girl, she was making her way toward Taryn’s car, apparently attracted by the giant teddy bear sitting next to Taryn on the front seat. Taryn was about to take out her phone to call the police when she saw that the CTO of one of their largest customers was calling her. She picked up.
“Hello!”
“Hello Taryn? I’m calling because we want to make you an offer. Hello, can you hear me?”
Taryn could not respond, for at that moment a horn blared as a truck nearly slammed into Taryn’s car trying to avoid hitting the child. By now the little girl had reached Taryn’s car, and Taryn knew that she had to get involved. Unlocking her car doors, Taryn clambered to the other side and opened the door to let the child in. Upon entering Taryn’s car, the little girl immediately wrapped her arms around the teddy bear and squealed with delight. Taryn barely managed to close the door and climb back to the driver’s side before the light changed and she had to start driving. After having driven for a few blocks, she finally found a safe spot to pull over and wait for the child’s mother. Soon the mother pulled up, thanked Taryn, and disentangled the child from the teddy bear and got into their car. Watching the mother and child drive away, Taryn felt a sense of longing for her own mother, yearning to hug her once again. Yet she quickly pushed the feeling away.
Only then did Taryn remember the call. As she picked up her phone, she saw an email from HR, sent at 5:00 PM. “Due to recent performance concerns, we have decided to postpone your promotion review.” She had no idea that she was being put up for promotion. Yet, even more upsetting for Taryn was when she saw the three missed calls from the CTO and a voicemail. For 1247 days, as marked on her executive assistant dashboard, Taryn has had no missed calls. Now, she has dropped from being first in the leaderboard for number of days without missed calls to becoming last, settling right behind the new executive assistant Josh who had his first no-missed-call day today. Taryn began to cry.
When Taryn was parking, she felt the crystal ball vibrating violently. “Stop it,” she said to it, annoyed. “Now’s not the time to tell me to leave the restaurant!”
Her friends had all arrived when Taryn walked into the restaurant, flustered. She checked her phone and realized that she was fifteen minutes late!
“Taryn, are you okay?” her sharp-eyed best friend Mina asked, concerned.
“I’m fine,” Taryn said weakly, knowing full well that no one believed her. Because Taryn would be ten minutes early to wherever she went, her friends surprised her by all coming fifteen minutes early, to order Taryn’s favorite dishes and wait for her. Therefore, when Taryn came, the food had all arrived on the table, getting cold.
After dinner, her friends presented Taryn with a photo album. It contained 28 photos, one from each year of her life. When Taryn came to the last page, she was surprised to find not a photo but a sealed envelope.
“Who is this from?” She asked.
“Your grandma,” Mina said. “Did you think it was a secret lover?”
Taryn blushed. Of all her friends, she was the only one who has never dated before, and she had no intention of opening herself up to the ambiguity of a relationship. As she tore the envelope open, she gasped. The handwriting was her mother’s, she could recognize the flowing script anywhere.
Dearest Taryn,
We’re in trouble. The mission went wrong. Your father’s crystal ball will keep you safe if you stay home. But if you want to save us, you’ll have to ignore it and come anyway.
We won’t blame you either way.
Love,
Mom
Taryn stared at the address, they were somewhere in Africa! She thought about how quickly her life had unraveled today, from being the executive assistant most likely to get employee of the month to becoming last in line for a promotion. Yet she has saved a child, and the little girl’s delightful squeal and the mother’s gratitude have to mean more than losing her reputation at work. And oh, how she would give anything to be hugged by her parents again!
“Do you want to take the food home? Save yourself some cooking?” Mina asked, bringing Taryn back to the present.
“No, why don’t you all take the food. I’m getting on a plane tonight,” Taryn replied.