“I’m not sure that’s nice, Mom,” Byron had said. “Seems kind of harsh.”

“Well, she is stealing, bud,” Rob had said cheerfully.

Rob was crazy about her. Always took her side. In everything.

“That doesn’t mean we have to make fun of her,” Byron said.

“We don’t have to,” she said.

“We just like to,” Rob said.

And Byron had slunk off to do his origami.

Odd little duck.

Tim was gazing meditatively out the window. As if deciding what to do. Although, if she knew Tim, he was just pretending to be deciding. So that she’d leave, so he could get back to playing with his toys.

“Tim, she’s stealing,” she said. “She’s a thief. I just thought you should know. Being the boss and all. No offense.”

They both sat there stiffly as she emailed him the video.

Gen, Gen, Tim thought as she left, why not mind your own business for once?

Gen was a tall, willowy, somewhat sexy, if you were into a certain aging-hippie vibe, show-off, always bustling around the office, coffee in hand, asking if everyone was doing great, saying she was stoked, that it felt like they were doing some truly positive things for the world, sometimes singing out, “Big things happening!” in this Ethel Merman voice, or else you’d find her pruning the peace lily near reception.

“Pretty expensive gardener,” he’d said once.

“Don’t worry, Captain Nervous,” she’d replied. “I’m billing Xerox.”

He felt intimidated by Gen, he had to admit it. She was taller than him, for one thing. Sometimes she’d throw one long arm over his shoulders while fondly looking down at him, like she was the guy and he was the girl. It was weird. Interesting. Kind of troubling. Plus, he only had his bachelor’s, in Recreational Facility Design Management, whereas Gen had a master’s in biology and her parents had both been astrophysicists, whereas his mom had been a tollbooth attendant and his dad also a tollbooth attendant, who’d left them when Tim was six and gone to Nevada to be a tollbooth attendant there, while Mom continued to work at the same old tollbooth just outside Schenectady.

Anyway, wow: Brenda was stealing.

Brenda, already on thin ice, was stealing.