Gaye was gone when I arrived this morning. She left a note on my computer thanking me for my time and saying she planned to move to California. Charlie and Faren agreed she was too much like Addie, too opinionated and too prone to telling tall tales about herself, some of which she mixed up when telling them to Charlie. I was surprised to learn she claimed to be about thirty. I would have put her around twenty-one. Maybe it was another story. Maybe she was, as Charlie said, just another confused mid-westerner.

Charlie was in a jovial mood. This afternoon he interviewed another job prospect, Bo, whose resume I’d already noticed on his desk. She’s a tall, husky, attractive woman with short punky hair and slightly pointed cheekbones. She seemed intelligent and down to earth when I talked to her. Charlie and Shelly conducted most of the interview. I could see them when I came out, sitting on the porch and talking in the sun.

I stayed a little late to put in People & Publishing and asked Charlie about Bo. He seemed doubtful, not about her qualifications but about her willingness to take the job.

“Addie” was an almost legendary employee who predated me, remembered mainly for the fireworks when she left. I never met her, but I heard about her, and even saw her interviewed briefly on the news once, and yes, judging from that and a few photos I found in the files, Gaye did look a bit like her. I still don’t know whether Addie was extraordinarily competent or just extraordinarily aggressive. Maybe both? I just know that the animus from Charlie after she departed was unshakeable, and whenever he uttered her name I could hear thunder in the background.