When she came into the office that icy morning, she wasn’t surprised that no one else was there. After all, the roads were slick and dangerous, schools were closed and all but essential travel discouraged. Also, she lived the closest, and had walked to work, a dangerous journey in itself with ice coating the streets and the sidewalks.

But someone was there somewhere, because the front door was unlocked and the lights were on. The aroma of coffee brewing back in the staff room wafted into the front office. The reception desk was unoccupied, odd, she thought, despite the weather, as the receptionist was religiously punctual, lived nearby and when it came to work, was a one of those hell or high water types.

She walked gingerly back to the staff room, and there he was. The boss, of course. The man took his job so seriously he likely would have been there even if a hurricane had leveled the building. Small wonder he was divorced and estranged from his children. He sat a table glaring at her.

“Late again Kelly. How many times have I told you about this?” She started to mention the ice and the fact that she was a mere five minutes late. She was also going to mention the late night the previous evening when even the boss had gone home, but he waved her off. “I don’t want to hear it.” He caressed his conservative tie with one hand and pointed at her with the other: “You’re fired. And I just might have to eat you.”

What? She had heard and half expected the fired part, but did he say something about eating her? She looked up through tears and noticed he had changed. He had always been a big guy, overweight and domineering, but now he looked decidedly like a toad – and he was getting bigger.

She stepped back instinctively and watched as the toad man grew wider and taller. The harsh look she had first witnessed had changed to a malevolent, hungry look. The great toad mouth was moving and began to open.

The look on its face morphed quickly to one of surprise and shock as her giant lizard jaws grabbed his head, chewed once or twice and gulped him down whole. In an instant, she returned to her previous human form and headed back to her desk in the front, a funny little smile on her face.

In the staff room, all was as before, with nary a chair out of place. Only the coffeepot showed any signs that anything had occurred, the coffee at first sloshing wildly back in forth in a black tsunami, slowing to a rocking wave, and finally, settling back to a calm, steaming lake.

Ah, a bit of employee revenge! If you liked this story, you will find it and more in my new book, Short Orders. Thanks for reading!