David settled into his new office, marveling at this stroke of luck. Who would believe that after 7 years, he would suddenly get such a great promotion?
Finally, he started looking at the papers on his desk. On top was a new personnel assignment form for him to fill out for the Human Resources office. Since he was now in a management position, he had profit sharing and other benefits he hadn't had before. Even so, it was annoying having to fill out all the basic information again, especially for his new ID card. Sighing, he filled out all the blanks, cheating a little on his weight. Hey, the company didn't have to know he was 240 instead of 225.
There was a knock on the door and Pete Simpson came barging in. "Dave! Great news on the promo..." He stopped and stared a moment, then burst out laughing. "Damn! You always said management was a collection of clowns. But maybe you should wait a day or two before you start making jokes. Blue hair? That's wild! I hope it's a rinse, though."
"What are you talking about?" Bewildered, Dave frowned and then got up and looked at his reflection in the glass of a hanging picture. Sure enough, his hair was a bright blue! It almost perfectly matched the color of his eyes - or at least, the color his eyes should have been. Leaning closer, he discovered that his eyes were medium brown, the color his hair had been this morning.
"Ummmm, yeah. Just a joke. Ah, just spray stuff, you know, like the kids use. Maybe I'd better wash it out." Heart pounding, Dave forced a smile. "Look, I need to get some stuff done. Can you meet me for lunch? My treat?"
"Sure thing! As long as I don't have to get my ear pierced." Pete started out, then stuck his head back in looking scared. "Oh, damn! Old Man Daniels is coming this way! I'll try to stall him! Get that shit outa your hair! He won't think it's funny!" Then he shut the door.
David scrambled back to his desk. Something had happened while he was filling out forms. His eyes flickered over the ID card form - and he gasped. He had gotten hair and eye color mixed up in the blanks! Picking up the gold pen, his eyes widened. Like the promotion, what he had written with it had come true! But how could he fix things?
He could hear Pete talking to Daniels outside. "Just a minute, sir. He's on a long-distance call, I think. Say, could I show you something on the Walters proposal? It will just take a minute."
Pete was a good friend. The voices faded, giving David a few minutes to think. Pulling the end off the pen, David discovered what looked like a normal white ink eraser. Cautiously, he touched the end to the paper and gasped as the word Blue vanished! He carefully used the pen to print Brown in the Hair color blank, and then got up and looked at his reflection again. His hair was back to its normal color. Relieved, he repeated the action for his eyes just as the door opened and Daniels came in. Dave stood up.
Daniels was a gruff and usually unpleasant man who managed through the use of intimidation. "Off the phone, I see! I hope that it wasn't a long distance personal call - bad way to start your first day as a manager." He frowned a bit. "You losing weight?"
Dave remembered his 'cheat' on the weight line. "Um, yes sir. Working out." These changes had him so scared and bewildered that he was trembling a little.
"Well, I just dropped in to tell you we have a staff meeting at 12:30. I don't like people to be late." Daniels smiled slightly, looking pleased with himself. "But you seem to have the right attitude. I think we'll get along just fine." He turned and left.
Right attitude? Then Dave realized that the man must have thought the trembling was due to him being there. Arrogant prick! Just like him to schedule a meeting in the middle of the normal lunch hour.
Plopping down in his chair, David stared at the gold pen. It couldn't be hallucination, because Pete had seen the hair color, and Daniels had commented on his weight. Pulling out a clean sheet of paper, Dave thought for a moment and then wrote: