Chapter 9 - Business

Shit, shit, shit, thought Christine as Roger left the office on Saturday night. She asked for help and what does she get in return, some brat of a teenager. Christine caught herself. Roger's decisions usually turned out right in the long run, even the 'bad' ones. Besides, how old was this girl, sixteen. Another six years and she could well have graduated with a uni degree... Hmmm, best not to give her any bad memories.

Christine decided to make the most of the situation. That's why Roger told her on Saturday night, so she would have a whole week for a self rant. Besides, Imogen had been through a lot lately. Better give the kid the benefit of the doubt. If this was to be a success at all she would have to throw Imogen in at the deep end, at least work load wise. For the want of an assistant the office was in a bit of a mess.

“Hello Daniel, how ya going?”. Imogen pushed herself away from the wall as he drew level. This was the first time she had spoken to him outside of the classroom. She had better than average looks, far more elegance and sophistication, he felt inadequate in her presence. “Er, I'm fine, yeah, I'm ok”.

Daniel looked about himself to see who was watching, who would be laughing at him. “Why don't we go to the library and talk about computers, I've heard you're good at them. “

“I was half expecting something about Ed Sheeran or Billie Eilish.”

“If you want me to be like the other girls then you're as stupid with them as your mother is with men. Now what's it to be, pubic humiliation or those amazing databases you've been working on.”

“The databases, which one”.

“Not here, lets choose a quiet spot.

They entered the library and their being together did not go entirely unnoticed. The Bush Telegraph was on a new mission. They found an abandoned desk and Imogen pulled a couple of books off the shelf to look the part.

“I have ambition Daniel. More than you can ever know. To get to where I want to be I need to be able to depend on the right people. I see something in you Daniel that I see in few others. You have loyalty and I value that above all else. You have another great gift, intelligence. Tell me about your database.”

He could hardly believe his luck. Having all this attention and praise by such an enchanting girl. “I can show you on my phone. The browser calls up my server at home, as far as my phone is concerned its just another website. Here we have the main screen. The software keeps track of many people involved in many projects with each user using it like a databased diary. Managers and other users can query this database and quickly find out what is happening within an organisation.”

“That was well said Daniel. How did you get it so responsive?”

“A lot of the data is called up once, like all these pulldown lists. It gets called up when I log in but it is retained. What looks like a new page is only part of a page. This is done using AJAX which stands for Asynchronous Javascript And XML. In fact the code of the whole main menu is retained and that's why it flashes up instantaneously, because a call doesn't have to be made to the server.”

“If you were speaking to an audience you would have alienated most of them”, stated Imogen. “Keep it simple such as 'AJAX is used for speed, the details are beyond the scope of this presentation, see me afterward blah blah blah'. You don't see a car advert talking about the Otto cycle. But since this is me, keep up the detail …”

Mr Hoskins was supervising the library that day. Most of a teachers supervising was looking out for imbalances. A particularly strong boy negotiating with a weak one. A group of students at odds with just one. An unusually charismatic stylish girl chatting to a vulnerable socially awkward boy. Mr Hoskins was one bookshelf away, peering between the gaps. While nothing had been done wrong, experience told him that Daniel was being set up for a let down. Hell she was more classy than his wife.

“... I think the only suggestion I can make Daniel is to re-write the project for PostgreSQL and drop MySQL.”

“But MySQL is the far more popular database with web hosting providers.”

“Where I'm going we won't need to scrounge around for freebies. We will need some massive deployments. You can have your first web server sooner than you think. Can I look forward to the re-write.”

There was no inspiration needed in the re-write. Ninety percent of it was syntax. It was the huge fuck around factor concerning the idiosyncrasies of the databases. He could say no and save himself the trouble, but if he did he would be just a nobody holed up in his bedroom with no relevance at all. He remembered the words of the matrix 'because you have been down there Neo, you know that road, you know exactly where it ends'. He was being asked to be part of something big. He may never get this chance again, his feelings spoke of destiny being fulfilled. “When do you need it by?”

“Oh lets say a month. But I'm sure you're going to fuck yourself over by doing it in time for the weekend.”

Daniel let a smile escape him, knowing the full truth of her words. He headed off home.

Mr Hoskins quietly walked up to Imogen's desk, “Language Miss MacBeth. This is a school library. Innocent ears could be offended.”

Imogen looked up, “My humblest apologies sir. Don't you find it interesting how a collection of arbitrary words are deemed offensive by one class of people and not another.”

“Yes, we studied it as part of our teaching psychology. It's all about how people subconsciously communicate their position within society. Like you say, certain words are arbitrarily deemed offensive by society. Those who have a large stake in society conform to these rules. However the riff raff give themselves away as being at the bottom of the ladder. I am left wondering where a bright young lady like you fits in, Imogen.” That should wipe the smile off her face he thought, for but an instant.

The smile did not leave her face. “Oh you are good to deliver an insult with such eloquence. Always the perfect gentleman. But surely a good history teacher realises that its the riff raff that initiate revolutions, rise up as the heroes of history and become the stuff of legends. As for myself I am not here to declare my stake in the system, subconscious or otherwise. I am here to redefine it.”

“As long as young Daniel doesn't get hurt in the process”, instantly dismissing her claim.

“You've been watching us through understandably prejudiced eyes sir. If you must watch then please watch closely and report back to me in two months. I wouldn't want you filling in the gaps with an erroneous imagination.”