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Amy put her desk phone down and looked at the masked woman sitting in her guest chair.

“He can take the case,” she told her client, Patricia, her voice slightly muffled by her own mask. Even though the organization she worked for had re-opened their office in Carlsbad a couple of months ago, following over a year of having their employees work from home, and even though all of the staff, including Amy, was fully vaccinated by now, everyone who entered the building was still required to wear masks.

“And don’t let the fact that he’s a man fool you,” Amy said with a chuckle. “Trust me, he’s one of the good guys.”

Amy had just fixed Patricia up with a lawyer who agreed to take her case pro-bono. Patricia, who worked for an office supply company, had been passed over for promotion several times by her boss, each time in favor of a less-qualified man. She had finally had enough and wanted to sue but couldn’t even dream of affording a lawyer on her salary, especially with three children to support.

Amy printed information about the lawyer and gave it to her client, promising to stay in touch and be available for her if needed. In truth, Amy wanted to keep abreast of this case. She had seen far too many of them during her career so far. What she couldn’t understand was why such things were still happening. How was it possible that there are men out there—in charge of companies, no less—who still had such Mad Men-era concepts of gender roles?

After seeing Patricia out, Amy returned to her office, sat down and sighed. It was Wednesday afternoon and she was ready for the day to be over. She loved her job but on certain days, like this one, it really hit her what a Sisyphean task it is trying to make the world a better place for women. Patricia had only been the last of several appointments she’d had today with all sorts of women who needed her organization’s help.

“Knock-knock.”

Amy was snapped from her reverie by her boss, Makeda, standing just outside her open office door.

“Hey!” Amy said. “Come in.”

Makeda did so, taking a seat in front of Amy’s desk.

Makeda was the director of the North County Women’s Rights Group, a middle-aged African-American woman with a slight southern accent left over from her childhood in Louisiana.

“Guess what?” Makeda asked.

“Um…we’re all living in the Matrix?”

Makeda laughed.

“No. You’re running point on the Edelmann meeting.”

Amy was shocked and she knew her face showed it.

The “Edelmann meeting” referred to the meeting which Makeda and Amy had secured with Christine Edelmann, one of San Diego County’s supervisors. The topic of discussion was about advancing debate on adding an amendment to the county’s constitution guaranteeing equal rights for women.

“Wow! Thank you!” Amy really was appreciative of what a huge gesture of faith and trust this meant Makeda was showing.

“You earned it,” Makeda told her. “I’ll be there too, of course, but I think you’ll do a great job of presenting our case and getting Edelmann on board to work with us on this. And if we can get her on board…”

Amy nodded, not needing Makeda to finish that statement. Supervisor Edelmann had influence, to put it mildly—and if she really did decide to run for mayor of San Diego like the rumors were suggesting…

“I’ll admit that I’m being strategic, as well, with giving you this assignment,” Makeda went on. “I think your youth will be our ace in the hole. Too many politicians think that equal rights amendments are something only women who were around during the seventies care about but we need to start showing them that young women like you are just as passionate about it.”

“Definitely,” Amy agreed, feeling incredibly excited about this. In fact, this conversation was giving her an idea for a podcast episode—one that would somehow tie the struggle for LGBTQ rights with women’s rights in general. As soon as she got home, she resolved to start doing some research and making some notes for it.

“I’ll start preparing for the meeting right away,” she told Makeda. She reminded herself of today’s date, realizing she’d have less than a week to put together a kick-ass presentation for Supervisor Edelmann.

“You do that,” Makeda said, rising and heading for the door. But at the door she stopped. “And once we’re done with that meeting, you’re going on vacation.”

Amy blinked.

“Wait. What?”

Makeda gave her a bemused look.

“You heard me,” she said. “I took a look and you have too much time saved up. Which reminds me…What have you been saving it for? A special trip?”

“No,” Amy replied. Her and Rachel had wanted to take a trip to Italy together in 2020 but of course that plan got shot down by a microscopic virus and so she had ended up only taking a few days off here and there last year, staying local each time. Italy still wasn’t an option because of Europe’s problems with the vaccination roll-out, she considered. But, if she was going to be forced to take a vacation, perhaps she could find somewhere domestic to go. San Francisco came to mind immediately. It was one of her favorite cities and she supposed she could tear herself away from work enough to enjoy visiting the wonderful museums and parks there; hanging out at the wharf and, of course, eating some spectacular seafood.

It might be fun to take that trip with Sally.