The Takeover

by Shane Pillay

A beautiful baby girl was delivered on a cold late December night. My wife and I were ecstatic. Now there were three. Creation is a wondrous thing.

“The future is ours to command,” said my wife. She was a gorgeous poet.

Several days later in January, I started my new job at EasyBaby. Strange coincidence – it was a startup that made easy-to-fit-and-wear baby clothes. As any parent would know, that’s an idea worth a billion hours. Babies move, babies struggle, babies cry – fitting on a bodysuit or jacket takes more than a fair share of effort. Easy-to-fit-and-wear baby clothes make dressing fun.

“So how is the new job?” asked my wife.

“Great product, great culture,” I remarked, forever a salesman. “But it demands much from you. All startups are like this.”

“So does baby,” said my wife. “If we didn’t take turns waking up when she cries, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“What we will do,” said the CEO, “is give parents and babies more quality time together. We will remove the stress, get rid of the mess and provide you with the best.”

Rhyming words uplift the room when an enthusiastic leader takes the stage.

We worked hard. No, I mean we worked smartly. We gave her everything we could. EasyBaby delivered a successful line which was picked up by department store buyers as well as a few online shops. Word of mouth spread and within six months we had exceeded all expectations with huge profit margins and stock turnover.

“She turns over on her own now,” said my wife.

“Yes,” I replied. “We leave her on the play mat, you turn your head and when you turn your head back, she’s in a completely different direction.”

“Our baby is growing.”

The investors were pleased. The balanced sheets were in the green and the totals had zeros in the correct places. That is, at ends of the numbers.

“We’re going public!” cried the CEO cheerily. “Stock market, here we come!”

“To the kitchen, there she goes!” cried my wife. “She’s always crawling about and opening the cabinets.”

“I can’t even sit at my computer,” I nodded, “She’s curious about everything.”

It got even more curious when the stocks were siphoned to a common fund. Something hostile approached. Before we knew it, there were talks of corporate raiders galloping on the outskirts.

“I found her raiding my closet today,” said my wife. “I don’t know how she did it. She’s got a mind of her own. Who would have guessed that after a year…?”

“They’re taking everything!” shrieked the CEO to the board. “Decisions, the mandate, the power…”

An emergency company meeting was called and the CEO took to the stage.

“Everything we own…,” He said.

“… is no longer ours,” concluded my wife.

 

Shane Pillay lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has been published in many anthologies and magazines. His coordination of cultural projects like animation films and music production involve people from around the world. Visit his website for more details: www.shanepillay.com