An answered prayer.

Twenty-one days after graduating from college with a bachelor of business administration, her phone rang. She paused a documentary she was watching on youtube to answer the call, “Hello, yeah..this is her” a man at the other end of the line continued, “Yes, this is Dave speaking from the recruitment team at ‘The Green Hands Foundation’ regarding your application for the position of ‘project assistant’” She answered with excitement, “It’s great to hear from you, Dave.” He responded, “Fantastic, Freya. I am calling to see if you are available on Friday for the first interview at 10:15 AM in our main office.” Freya replied, “Yes sure, this Friday?” he answered, “Yes, Friday the 16th, do you still confirm your availability?” She answered, “Yes, I am available, who am I interviewing with?” He asked her to wait on the line for a minute and came back to her saying, “Caroline O’Brian, one of our project managers and myself.” She thanked him and reconfirmed the details and hung up the phone. She stormed out of her room and headed to the front yard where her mother was doing some gardening work. She yelled “Ma! guess what?” Her mother walked towards her as she took her gloves off, “What is it, honey?” She told her about the interview and her mother got excited for her and said, “I’m sure you’ll kick ass this Friday, go get changed — I am taking you shopping for a business outfit and I know just the place”.

Twenty minutes later they were on their way to the mall. They walked in and found the perfect outfit for Freya, it was a black dress skirt with a matching blazer and a blue button-up shirt. Her mother paid for it and drove back to their home, while in the car, her mother said, “I will start a special prayer for you today and you will see that prayers do work.” Freya chuckled and said sarcastically, “I’m sure they do.”

Freya spent the few days before her interview on preparing herself for the interview, she read the ‘about us’ page repeatedly and memorized the whole history, mission, vision, even the names of the board members of the organization. She also researched relevant topics such as global warming, carbon footprints, deforestation, energy efficiency, sustainability…etc and was ready to go.

She woke up at six-thirty on Friday morning, brushed her teeth, showered, and ate her usual breakfast. She tried to open the website of the company for one final look before the interview but for some reason, she was not able to access it. She took a few deep breaths and tried again several times but the website wouldn’t open. In an attempt to distract herself from a major panic episode, she repeated the important sections that she had memorized in her head. She felt in control again. She ordered an uber for 9:15 AM and put on her killer business outfit and her cone shoes. She waited outside for the uber but the car didn’t show up. She waited ten more minutes, still, no car showed up. With less than thirty-five minutes to her interview, she yelled for her mom, “Ma, stupid uber didn’t show up, can I have your car keys?” Her mom came out with the keys and said, “Don’t worry honey, I will drive you there and back.” Freya got in the car with her mother and they reached the building by 10:13 AM. She got out of the car and walked over to the reception desk. “Good morning, my name is Freya Horn and I have an interview with Dave from the recruitment team”. The assistant responded, “I am sorry but Dave is no longer with us, did he mentioned who else will be part of the interview?” She answered, “He mentioned a Caroline, one of your project managers”. The assistant replied, “Oh Caroline O’Brian, I will call her now, please have a seat over there and someone will call you in a little bit.”

She waited for a few minutes and looked around her to get a sense of the work environment and realized that she was way too overdressed. She felt awkward and painted an exaggerated smile on her face. A woman from the recruitment team came up to her and asked her to go inside the second meeting room to the right. She walked in the tiny meeting room with only a small glass roundtable and a few chairs. She sat down picking her fingers under the table waiting. The recruitment lady walked in and sat across the table from her. “Hi Freya, we’re sorry but seems that one of the earlier candidates got the job you’re interviewing for and I don’t know what to tell you — please keep checking our vacancies on Linkedin and if you see something you like you can email me, here’s my business card”. Freya felt so relieved, she thanked the recruitment lady and left the building. As soon as she stepped outside, she saw her mother praying in the car so she got in and her mother asked, “So how did it go, baby?”. She answered, “Oh, I killed it — I am sure I got it!”. Her mother responded confidently, “Told ya — prayers work!”

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