The 7th Floor

The Seventh Floor

 

      They say curiosity killed the cat; well it nearly killed me as well.  I never wanted or even dreamed of being a spy.  Honestly, it was the furthest thing from my mind when I applied for my job and yet hear I am.

      But I am getting ahead of myself.

      My name is Jennifer Jordan Abrams and I have my MBA from Chapel Hill.  An Masters of Business Administration, not a Master’s in Espionage.  My life was geared toward endless meetings, paperwork, finances, sales and offices.  Kickboxing, guns and gadgets seemed like something that only existed in the movies and books.

       I suppose a lot of my surprise came from my mother’s no nonsense approach to life and my father’s drive for survival.  Mom was a secretary for man years, but eventually quit to be a full time mom to me and my older sister.  My father had served in the army before becoming a business man.  He never got his MBA, but even so he managed to work his way up the corporate ladder.  Just as I took off for college, he quit his job to start his own business.  He now owns a bookstore in our hometown.  Now that my sister and I are both out of the house, my mother has become the manager at the bookstore Dad owns. 

       I guess the bookstore�"A Novel Idea�"played a huge part in this whole ordeal.  You see I began to take an interest in the occult.  I dabbled in the ideas of reincarnation, extraterrestrial life, ESP and all that is normally labeled New Age.  My father, of course, kept a small section of these books in his store, so I had access to all the latest and greatest titles being published at the time.  I never thought of myself as a New Ager though.  My parents weren’t church goers and never passed down any sort of religion to me.  My grandparents were Methodists on my Mom’s side and my father was of Jewish descent I believe.  However, our immediate family was more likely to discuss Greek Myths and Plato than God.

       My own bookshelf at home was sadly predictable, as it held Business Motivational books.  There was How To Win Friends and Influence People as well as Who Moved My Cheese and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  I also had a well-worn copy of Robert’s Rules of Order as well.  Those were my gospels as follower in the capitalistic tradition.