She only flitted through my life. She was hired as a temp worker here to answer phones. And suddenly coming to work each day was something to look forward to. The receptionist area had a glow, a magnet that forced the single men (and some of the married ones) to have an inquenchable thirst for black paperclips, or checking on faxes or asking "how's the weather?" inanely.

Penelope was really pretty in a curly haired innocent cherub kind of faerie glittering in the night, ethereal and not quite real way.

We were all smitten. She was pretty quiet, but it'd be our daily goal to make her smile. If she spontaneously showed her little straight line of teeth, it was a good day. If she didn't, the day droned on endlessly.

She had a boyfriend. We all knew it. None of us cared. Nobody bothered her other than the innocent flirtation and no one dared ask her out (she.was.taken.duh).

But just knowing that she'd be there and that we could watch her made the day seem more interesting.

And then one day she was gone. HR didn't say anything, just replaced her with someone else. Someone dark and brooding and suddenly that little corner become menacing - a place to avoid. No one knows where she went or what she's doing. She never gave us much personal information about herself.

Penelope - if you ever read this, thanks for making our work days brighter for the few months you were among us.