Men

He hurried down the corridor, his breath catching in his throat. He was late. He was so goddamn late. If it wasn’t for his daughter being sick he would have been here on time. But then again, he couldn’t blame her.

Before he opened the door at the end of the corridor he wiped the sweat off his forehead and made sure his suit wasn’t crumbled. Then he took a deep breath and entered the room. Said room was packed with men, all dressed in suits. They stood in groups around various tables, most of them holding a class of champagne in their hands.

He walked straight past them toward the stage where his co-workers were standing. While he passed the groups he overheard some of the things they said.

”Can you believe it? She wanted to work!” The men snickered. ”My wife freaked out yesterday because the housework was ‘too much’. She has no idea how stressful working is.” The man shook his head.

Ignoring his anger, he reached the stage. ”Sorry I’m late! My daughter is sick…” he apologized. His boss raised his brow. ”I’m sure your wife can handle it. Don’t let it happen again. And get to work all of you!”

”Of course, boss.” All of us hurried to get to work. The projector had already been set up so that he only had to connect his laptop. As soon as the presentation was on the screen his boss cleared his throat and addressed the men in the room.

”Welcome gentlemen. I’m very honored that all of you came here today.” Upon hearing his voice the other men fell silent and turned to listen to him. ”Today Till Morello, one of our oldest workers, will present you the new idea he and his team came up with.” He turned to him. ”The stage is yours.”

The men applauded and Till smiled politely. During the next thirty minutes he went through his presentation and explained the new project, knowing that they would never see it for what it actually was.

***

When he came home, he was completely exhausted. He had spent the rest of the day making polite conversation with countless men about the new project. He sighed and stood in front of the mirror. Looking at his face a hysterical laugh bubbled up in his chest. They were so incredibly dumb. Laughing, he shook his head and peeled the mask away from his face, putting it into the suitcase to all the other ones.

She looked back into the mirror, her real face now visible. Everyone wore masks. No one was themselves. She was very aware of that. The difference between all the men and her was simply that she knew how to use them. She grinned. If all these men knew Till Morello, one of their best workers, was not just a mask but a fake identity, a woman, trying to help all the other woman, they would lose their shit.