Chapter Four
Heather was appalled by the turn of events. Someone was installing a shower outdoors in the premises of Stevenson without permission from anyone in the company. What nerve, she thought, using company money to build a shower. She moved towards the photopier to make a copy of the report listing all employees of Stevenson and their line of work. She wanted to bring more relevance to her job, to ensure it was safe, and in a time of sales or profit downturn, the best way to do that was to see who in the company was not absolutely necessary. She leaned towards the printing tray of the copier noticing a printout with elliptical shapes that reminded her of a woman's body. She grabbed the page and realized a woman had taken a photo of their bum and what lied in between their bum.
Walking around the office, she began talking about a funny joke someone had pulled on Brock, making a photo of their naked bum, to see if anyone was aware of who did it. She began by asking Martha, who worked in marketing, then, Jonas, in accounting, who led her to Livy, who was a teleoperator working along side Clarity.
"It's so funny, isn't it, I wonder who may have done that, I think they just left that extra copy in the copier inadvertently."
"That's funny," said Livy, "Clarity did something like that, with Taimi, I overheard them, but they sent a copy of their bums to the mayor's son, Atkins Rubens, just to bug him and let him know that Stevenson will remain clothing optional no matter what."
"Wow, yeah, that's funny," said Heather, "good, yeah, I'm all for that, this place should remain clothing optional."
Heather left the teleoperator room, sliding her fingers against the irreverent page showing the bum of Clarity. She knew it was the bum of Clarity which was in the photopier. The place should remain clothing optional as long as she was head of human resources or as long as the place remained profitable. With a definite idea in her mind, Heather made an additional copy of Clarity's bum, prepared an enveloppe, placed the extra photo of Clarity's bum along with a short letter indicating the name of Clarity and an irreverent message. She didn't want to write her name as sender, so she gave a remittance as a 'diligent employee of Stevenson' who did not agree with the clothing optional policy of the company. Then, she shared Livy's story with Brock, just to cover her back. She sat down on her desk, watching Clarity enter the human resources office.
"Hi," said Clarity.
"Hi," said Heather.
Clarity went inside the office of Brock, who had called to see her.
"I know you had something to do with this marketing expense allocated to installing a shower, this thing appeared overnight."
"I think it's a good idea," said Clarity. She didn't want to lie, but she also wanted Brock to know Cynthia was involved with the decision. She thought of Heather, glancing at the half open door of Brock's office, knowing his assistant had probably spoken to him about their presence in Brock's office.
Brock opened one of his desk drawers, and showed her a report from the municipality of Malibu, indicating that showers and washrooms had to be inside the premises of any company carrying out their activity in the city of Malibu. An outdoor shower at Stevenson was not legal. Stevenson legal counsel Lareya Marquez had seen the report from Malibu municipal regulators and she had written a short report backing human resources in their decision to cancel the installation of an outdoor shower at Stevenson.
"We're going to have Packwood on our back," said Brock, "and I'm going to have a problem with Mr. Stevenson justifying this expense, you know he's coming back tomorrow."
"Cynthia was with me, she's also involved, why don't you call her as well?"
"She doesn't work here officially, you do, the money came out of a signing bonus for the new marketing person we're seeking, there's no money now."
"I should be that person, you don't have to look outside, I know the company better, much better than any outsider."
"You don't have authorization to allocate funds at Stevenson." Clarity began fuming. It was not a bad time to confront Brock.
"I'm not the one who did this, not completely. I just want to change some of the rules here at Stevenson, this shower is good for the company, everyone can use it, so this is in line with the flat company structure idea here. Everyone passing by noticing someone is showering will talk of Stevenson and we can use that to get more sales and to build credibility as a clothing optional company."
Brock noticed an uptick onscreen and bought one extra share of google for five hundred twenty seven dollars. He liked to buy shares one at a time, risk was lower. He sighed and grabbed his phone to call the shower installation company. The store owner, Calvin, spoke his mind without listening much to what Brock was saying, some kind of apology for the trouble and the work done.
"We don't take refunds, the installation is nearly finished, you have to pay five thousand three hundred seventy three dollars for the shower, it includes sales tax, it's not a bad deal." Heather opened the office door and stormed inside.
"It's Packwood, Brock, he's on the phone, he wants you and Clarity to testify at city hall in a complaint from the mayor about two photos of a woman's bum, allegedly Clarity's bum, sent to the mayor's son, Atkins, one of them with an irreverent note saying the mayor's son was not worth her bum, and that he should move out of Malibu if he didn't agree with the clothing optional policy of Stevenson."
An hour later, Brock showed up at Malibu city courthouse with Clarity and Heather. Officer Packwood was there, with his nephew Avery, who had brand new photos of the new outdoor shower at Stevenson, and also present was the mayor's son, Atkins. The prosecutor called Brock to testify about the complaint. Brock insisted that he could not confirm the plaintiff's complaint, or acknowledge that the photo showed the buttocks of Clarity, because he'd never seen her buttocks.
"Would you like to see them though?" asked Avery. Avery was following the 'Stevenson photo bum' affair closely, after the mayor and his son had called on him and his uncle Clifford. The note sent to the mayor's son said that Brock Cheevers was involved sentimentally with Clarity, and had allowed the inappropriate use of the copier at Stevenson.
"The question of my nephew is pertinent," said Packwood, "there may be an office relationship which is clouding Mr. Cheevers' real opinion on the matter." Brock raised his hand.
"No, there isn't, nothing is clouding what I´m saying, I did not allow this photo to be taken in my office copier."
"Would you like to see her bum, though?" asked Packwood.
"Yeah, I'd like to see her bum, I actually can see her bum on clothing optional days at Stevenson, Clarity likes to work naked on those days." That vindicated Clarity in some ways. At last, Brock had said in public that she liked her, and that she was attracted to her. Not bad, this whole affair was worthwhile.
"But I don't see it when she's naked at work," he rushed to say. The head of human resources could not avow openly that he liked to watch the fannies of women at work on casual fridays.
Avery had a very clear opinion on the affair, in particular, of how to settle it.
"I think there is a rationale for Miss Nice to show her bum, in court, so that we can compare it to the photo of this bum." He pointed to the black and white photo from the copier, which had made its way onto a powerpoint presentation prepared by Packwood's nephew. Clarity was called to testify as well.
"No, I refuse to do that," she said, "my bum is not a public good, it's private."
Packwood grumbled. Clarity usually exercised her individual rights correctly, out of intuition, without any particular knowledge of the legal system. He disliked the somewhat irreverent attitude of Clarity, and he wanted her out of Stevenson. At times, he just ran out of arguments with her. He pressed the remote button of the projector to move to the next slide, showing the new outdoor shower at Stevenson. Possibly, the complaint and the shower were linked, and he ignored how, but he was going to try and link the two.
The new outdoor shower was illegal, but Packwood knew that there might be a way to use that, to get Clarity fired from
the company. If his nephew Avery kept informing him well about the activities carried out at Stevenson, he just might find a way to get the teleoperator fired and thrown out of the Malibu community.
"The community has an option on your bum though," said Avery, "at times your behind is available to the community at Stevenson."
"No, I decide when I like the idea of showing at work naked, the community has nothing to do with that."
She looked at Brock, who was open-jawed, probably thinking the conversation, the complaint, and the whole thing was getting out of hand. His position as head of human resources was not completely safe, and he was edgy in his seat. Heather was seating near him without saying a word, glancing at Atkins a few times. Atkins was not good looking, he was known to be mischievous, and was enjoying the whole event, for he rarely got so much attention in his own family. He was a poor university student and had poor grades, anything having to do with studies did not interest him. The internship at city hall arranged by his father was boring, and this was a lot more entertaining to him than working.
That rascal of Heather, thought Clarity, only someone like her could have sent the mayor's son that letter with her name on it. Taimi and herself had sent an irreverent photo to Atkins, but they simply included a message saying that Stevenson would remain clothing optional, regardless of what city hall said, they did not mention the mayor's son lack of job skills or his lack of ability at work in general, something which had been mentioned in the complaint. She longed for a supporting or nurturing presence, relieving her of all these facts about an innocuous prank she'd carried out with Taimi. Cynthia's step mum Jill was the person who would support her, she was creative like her, and also believed in the clothing optional option to be naked at work. Somehow, she was going to need some of her ingenuity to get rid of the problems posed by that complaint presented by the mayor's office. At times, she felt like taking a more laid-back job like the library job her friend Lanai had. Lanai was working on a library exhibit showing the relationship between the Mayan culture and views, and those of The Egyptian Mysteries. Mrs. Marples, the head of the library, was interested in the topic, but Lanai was working after hours, to complete her investigation, which included searching several libraries for documents rarely requested.