"Master Iglesias, can you come to my office?" the strong, low voice commanded over the intercom.
Josie instinctively stood up and adjusted his short dress and grabbed the iPad. He walked before the large wooden double door at the office. Josie opened one of the doors and into the office of his boss, Ms. Edan Moon. She was a large woman, her body straining the frame of the armchair behind her desk. In front of her was a large, mahogany coffee table and a laptop.
Josie walked closer to Ms. Moon. "Do you need something?" he asked, already knowing the answer would be yes.
"Yes, my pet," she replied, adjusting herself in the large chair. "Sit here," she added, gesturing to a smaller chair, "and take notes while us women talk." As Josie sat down, Ms. Moon dialed into the call, which was about to start.
"Good afternoon," a caller with a strong Californian accent said as she came over the line. "What's the reason for this meeting?"
"We're gonna talk expansion today," Ms. Moon replied.
"Everybody here?" asked another voice. It had a strong Connecticut upper-class flavor to it.
"No, Alison isn't," a woman with a strong Texas drawl replied. Josie looked down and waited. He suddenly remembered who these people all were. Kristian Wells was the regional director for Republic in Los Angeles. André Paul Smith was the Texan, the head of adult entertainment operations. And the gentlewoman from Connecticut was none other than Kendall Kardashian, a talent scout and member of the Kardashian family which owned a significant stake in the studio.
"I'm here, good evening," Alison said, entering the call for the first time. Alison McCloud was the Vice President of Planning, reporting to the CFO. As the call got going, Josie took notes easily, aided by what seemed to be second nature to him now—being a stenographer. He used the stenographer app on his tablet, quickly making a transcription of the entire conference call.
Some 45 minutes into the call, Josie's concentration was broken when Ms. Moon put a hand on his leg and began to rub it. Josie tried his best to keep taking notes, but Ms. Moon's hand seemed to drift ever closer to his private parts.
Gyuh! Suddenly, he shuddered and snapped back into the situation. What could she do to me?
"Ms. Moon, I... I can't focus," Josie whispered to his boss. "I might miss something," he said, almost begging his boss to take her hand off his leg.
"So let's review everything we said today," Ms. Moon continued, unfazed, still brushing against Josie's leg. "We still don't have the funds to build and staff the new Latin-focused studio in Miami."
"And without any guarantee of success," Kendall Kardashian explained, "neither myself nor my family are going to invest in this venture. So far, our focus is still squarely on Black Damsels and YOLO. And now with YOLO's reality show deal, Republic might profit even more."
"I agree with you. Right now, Miami is for adult entertainment," André Paul jumped in, almost territorial. "Right now, we have something good going with our streaming platform and productions like Havana Boys."
Josie's stomach churned a bit at the mere mention of Havana Boys. It was a softcore porn production that, despite ostensibly existing to promote Cuba as a pleasure destination for Americans, was filmed in South Beach with a Cuban production team. Just so, so wrong... And couldn't they have, you know, filmed it there?
"Well, I consider the meeting inconclusive. I want to see your projects next month," Alison declared before closing the conference call.
Ms. Moon's face clearly showed her disappointment. "You are dismissed, Master Iglesias," she turned and said to her secretary.
