Veltex

She was beautiful in a government sanctioned, sanitary sort of way.

Her pearlescent smile shined like a prison spotlight and blinded the students as they tried to take a seat in the old auditorium.

The speaker, Ruth Langston, had come from Veltex Chemicals to give a presentation about exciting career opportunities for those who weren’t interested in college.

Of course she didn’t say college— she said university with an exaggerated dismissal. As if lauded halls of learning couldn’t compare to the  mandatory petroleum funded safety courses that Veltex employees were subject to completing yearly.

“The salary is competitive, the housing is subsidized, and on fridays we offer blue lobster in the dining hall. Yes, the one in two million blue lobster. Veltex has that and so much more to offer!” She said with a magician’s hand flourish. The auditorium stayed silent as she stared out into the crowd like a stiff smile that broke as soon as the first sounds of applause started.

Her hand strayed from an ominous red button under the podium and the hidden corporate muscle stayed in position. She had done it again, Langston with another home run, she thought to herself as the students filtered out of the auditorium, stopping to sign the email sheet and take a flyer and five dollar fried chicken coupon from a local Veltex subsidiary, Frankie’s Freaky Fast Fried (F)Chicken.

Only a decade earlier, Ruth had been one of the mindless drones before her today as she spoke. An equally charismatic & beautiful woman told her of a brighter world. Of endless opportunity and blue lobster. Of Veltex and the quest for industrial triumph.

It hadn’t been easy scaling the corporate ladder— the skeletons in her closet alone could frighten a novice necromancer. But Ruth Langston hadn’t been taught to quit, nor, had she been taught any particularly strong morals. After her promotion into educational marketing, Ruth found herself on the fast track to an executive suite and casual alcoholism. Her decanter overfloweth with fifty year old Glenfiddich and political favors. The favors being the easier of the two to obtain.