A Shift in the Balance of Power

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Follow-up to "A Secretary's Revelation".
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trigudis
trigudis
724 Followers

Note: This is a follow-up to "A Secretary's Revelation" posted in the Non-Erotic section on 1/24/17. It does help to read that one first. Again, no sex here, but the kind of drama some readers here appreciate.

*****

Suddenly, Jennifer Vollmers is seized by a sense of empowerment. Not only did she eclipse Kevin, her college educated fiancé in the Wonderlic IQ test, she also scored higher than her boss and many of the college educated employees at Easton Pharmacy where she works as a secretary. She knows she's smart, had known it all through high school, and the Wonderlic is just another confirmation. Buoyed by a renewed self-confidence, she's no longer willing to accept business as usual. She pulls in fifty grand a year, good money for a CFO's secretary. Even so, she knows she can do better in a higher position, one that will take her out of the secretarial pool and into management. Problem: Easton doesn't promote people into management unless they have a college degree. Once a secretary, always a secretary is a refrain she's heard more than once from other company secretaries. They appear reconciled to that policy. Jennifer once was also. Not anymore. Since she came onboard over three years ago, she always thought it would be cool working in the human resources department—not as a secretary but as part of the screening team, for example. Scott Meredith is the head honcho in that department. Maybe she can get somewhere with him, convince him to convince CEO Jim Milofsky to make an exception and waive company policy.

******

Scott Meredith chews on the end of his black frame glasses, leaning back in his executive desk chair and smiles. "Yes, we all heard about your colossal Wonderlic score," he says. "Very impressive, I must say. It shows great potential."

Jennifer sits on the other side of his desk, her dirty-blond hair pinned up, her knees together, legs uncrossed. As usual, she's dressed for success in a tasteful skirt and blouse combo. A cut above the way most of the other secretaries dress, her wardrobe is more akin to what a female executive might wear than an executive's secretary. Jennifer dresses like this every day, not just today when she decides to plead her case for a promotion with Scott. "It's not that I'm bragging," she says, "it's just that I feel I'm being underutilized at Easton. I can do better, both for me and the company."

Scott tugs at his crimson tie, sits up straight and slips on his glasses. "No doubt, Jen, you could handle the work. And, based on your high marks in your current position, not to mention your strong work ethic, you'd be a valuable asset to our team. But, as you know, you need that sheepskin to get promoted. I don't make the rules, I just follow them."

Scott Meredith is a company man, what the late social critic William H. Whyte would call an "organization man." He's not a bad guy, just one that doesn't stray far from the party line. Jennifer knows this and therefore she isn't surprised when he reiterates what she already knows but is prepared to challenge. "Scott, do you mind telling me your Wonderlic score?"

He chuckles. "Not nearly as high as yours, I'll say that much."

"Okay, and how about the rest of the team in your department? How'd they do?"

"If you're implying that you're smarter than most of my team based solely on IQ, I can't argue. Of course, there's a lot more to work performance—and intelligence for that matter—than simply a number on some test."

"I get that, Scott. But it's more than that. I'm a problem solver. People around here, and not just secretaries, come to me seeking help and advice."

"Yes, I was one of those people," he says, recalling the time he needed Jennifer's help with a new software program.

"Right. So I'd really appreciate if you could at least talk to Jim about promoting me to your team, put in a good word for me."

He nods. "I'll see what I can do. But be aware of the possible fallout if he agrees. Other secretaries around here could get mighty jealous if Jim makes an exception in your case. You know how they can be."

She stands up and reaches across the desk to shake his hand. "It's a small price to pay for doing the kind of stimulating work I know I'm capable of doing."

*******

Kevin Fleming, Jennifer's live-in fiancé, rejected for an interview with Easton because of a low Wonderlic score, returns to his job as a social worker. Meanwhile, Jennifer gets her much sought after promotion to Easton's human resources department and it leaves him with mixed feelings. He's proud of her, proud that she managed to convince Easton's brass to promote her even though she lacks a "sheepskin." But she now makes more than him, about ten grand more, and that eats at his fragile male ego. He's a college graduate, is more well-read, is culturally astute in ways she's not. Yet Jennifer, whose formal education stopped at twelfth grade, is now chief bread winner. Moreover, she's on a management fast track, while he's still a foot soldier, a cog among other cogs in the machine of local government. She's become more assertive, he notices, more independent. Where once she might ask his opinion about something, she now takes the initiative sans his input.

"There's been a shift in the balance of power around here, don't you think?" he says on this warm Sunday morning. He's wearing shorts, T-shirt and track shoes, preparing to run five miles, something he does thrice weekly. Thanks to that discipline, he's managed to drop unwanted pounds and turn his five-foot nine frame into lean muscle.

Still in her nightgown, Jennifer stands barefoot by the kitchen counter, coffee cup in hand. "A change in the balance of power...Sounds like you're talking geopolitics."

"Ha ha, cle-ver. No, Jen, not geopolitics, more like domestic politics. Don't tell me you haven't noticed that things around here haven't been the same since you took your new position."

She swallows a sip, then says, "What I noticed is that we bring in more income to our household. Not a bad thing, is it?"

"Not a bad thing at all," he says, annoyed at the smug tone of her comment. "It's just that you've been acting kind of uppity lately."

She stares at him, slowly nods her head. "Uppity. Huh huh. You're having a difficult time handling this, aren't you? My success, I mean. First it was my Wonderlic score and now it's what that score has helped me to achieve, a promotion."

He grabs a water bottle from the fridge. "Let's just forgot about it, okay."

"Hey, you brought it up, and maybe it's a good thing you did, because I need to sometimes air my concerns as well."

"Air away, brainy one."

She pauses, struggling to ignore his sarcasm. Then: "For the past couple years, Kevin, I've been living in your shadow. You're the one with the four-year degree, the one who's a walking encyclopedia of knowledge that I can't hope to compete with, Mr. Trivial Pursuit and all that. And up until I got this job, you made more money as well. Not that I cared, not that I'd care if that was still the case. But it no longer is, and I think it's about time you stop brooding and just be happy for me, for us. Think you can do that?"

"See, that's just what I'm talking about," he says indignantly, "your tone, that lecturing, condescending tone of yours."

She rolls her eyes. "You're being ridiculous, Kevin. Not only ridiculous, but paranoid. What are you afraid of?"

He bangs his fist against the fridge. "Not a damn thing! It's just that you've changed in ways that make me uncomfortable is all I'm saying."

She rests her cup on the counter and crosses her arms against her chest. "You're uncomfortable because I gain some much-needed confidence in myself, because I'm more assertive? How pathetic. You could use some much-needed confidence yourself, it seems to me."

"Oh, so now you're my psychologist, are you, telling me what I need to make me feel better. I didn't know you had a degree in psychology, professor Vollmers."

Her fair complexion reddens. Kevin had done this before, thrown her limited education up to her when their arguments got heated. She didn't have much of a comeback before, no buttons to push as a defense. Now she does, and her growing anger is compelling her to push them. "Nobody who can't do any better than 17 on the Wonderlic, whose IQ is in the double digits has room to brag about their so-called higher education." She shakes her head and bangs her fist on the counter. She's as angry at herself for that remark as she is at Kevin for making her angry enough to say it. Wincing from her self-inflicted shame, she buries her face in her hands. "I'm sorry, Kevin, I shouldn't have said that."

He's furious enough to smack her, something he's never done, never until now felt angry enough to do. Struggling to control himself, he takes a couple steps back. He glares at her for a few seconds, then says, "No, that's okay, it only confirms what you've been thinking since this whole thing started, that you feel superior to me and aren't afraid to show it."

She releases an exasperated sigh. "Kevin, I can see I'll never convince you that you're way off base. So why don't you just go do your run. I think we both need time to cool our heels."

*****

Exercise is truly the best balm for anger, Kevin thinks as he pounds the pavement along his five-mile route. The pent-up rage he felt in the kitchen dissipates with every stride. Yes, he's still angry; running just helps to dull the sharp edges, helps to cool his heels per Jennifer's words. Self-examining by nature, sometimes brutally honest with himself, he admits that his insecurities got the better of him. The revelation that Jennifer had this sky-high IQ came as a complete shock. He never thought she was stupid, knew she had done well in high school based on her report cards which she still kept. But close to gifted, in the ninety-fifth percentile? It waylaid him, especially when he took the same IQ test and scored so poorly. Still, he stands by what he said about Jennifer becoming uppity, condescending at times. Insecure he might be, but paranoid? He doesn't think so. Her Wonderlic score and, by extension, her promotion changed her in ways that Jennifer either won't admit or is blind to. What do they say about absolute power corrupting absolutely? Okay, so maybe their dynamic isn't that extreme, not yet, anyway. But it could be in the future. What with Jennifer's ambition to climb the ladder of corporate success and him being stuck in bureaucratic inertia. If she feels superior to him now, he imagines how she'll feel if and when the disparity in their professional positions widen.

They've been engaged close to a year and, just a few weeks ago, they were starting to plan their wedding. Now he's got to wonder if there will even be a wedding, if they'll even stay together. He still loves Jennifer. But it scares him to think he might play a subordinate role in their relationship. He grew up in a "traditional" household. Both his parents worked, but his dad earned a lot more. Dad made the big decisions, decisions involving big money. Kevin supported certain views of the feminist movement, equal pay for equal work, stuff like that. Still, it didn't change his mindset formed by years of social conditioning vis-à-vis the dynamic of his parents' marriage. Men were supposed to wear the pants as Kevin did up until recently. But now, despite Jennifer's claims to the contrary, he feels his pants slipping from him as surely as he feels the hard pavement under his feet.

*****

Jennifer sits at the kitchen table, lingering over her coffee. She can't help but admit that she hasn't been entirely honest with Kevin. He's right; she now does feel superior when it comes to the kind of intelligence IQ tests are supposed to measure. She didn't think that changed the way she treated him; but perhaps he's right about that, too. She can't deny the sense of empowerment she's gained since getting her promotion. Has she let it go to her head? She hopes not. It pains her watching Kevin, the man she once looked up to, once her image of self-assurance and strength, flail away like some hapless beached whale. It hurts her to see that, yet it also gives her a sense of triumph, not unlike the feeling she gets with the knowledge that her IQ eclipses many of Easton's bigwigs, those hotshot CFOs with their Brooks Brothers suits and fancy college degrees. Perhaps she'll get a degree of her own some day, return to school part time, at night. That would really set Kevin off, she imagines. They should be married by then; that is, if they go through with their plans. At this point she isn't sure. Maybe they're not as compatible as she once thought. She wants a man of strength, not one who feels threatened by her success. She's okay with earning more than her lifetime partner; she's not okay with said partner resenting her for it as Kevin seems to do. He can deny it all he wants, she knows the truth.

*****

By the time he arrives home, she's dressed in another nightgown, blue, short and revealing. She's combed her straight, shoulder-length hair neatly in the middle, brushed the front so that one side hangs over her left eye, peek-a-boo style. She greets him at the front door with apprehension. His gray T-shirt is drenched in sweat, sweat that drips from his nose and off his short black hair. "How was your run?"

He nods. "Running's great. It helps me to think," he says.

Seconds pass as they stare at each other in tense silence. Then she says, "And what have you been thinking about?"

"That I still love you, that I hope we can proceed with our plans."

She smiles. "To get married, I presume."

"Well, yeah," he says, starting to grin. "That's the general idea." His eyes hang on her body: her boobs, small, firm, bullet-shaped; and her thighs, full, white and luscious. Fucking sexy, he thinks, even sexier now that he knows how bright she is. Her high IQ turns him on as much as it intimidates him.

She steps closer, leans over and kisses him. "I still love you too, Kevin. But you need to let me move forward professionally without resenting me, without thinking I'm being uppity—your word—or acting superior. Can that work for you, for us?"

He takes a deep breath. "I'll do my best to accept the fact that I no longer wear the pants around here. That the balance of power has shifted."

She laughs, then holds his face in her hands. "Kevin, you're so silly sometimes, silly but cute. And maybe that's why I can't stop loving you. Speaking of pants, why don't you take yours off and shower. Meanwhile, I'll slip off my thong panties. Then we'll hop in bed and fuck like crazy. And if its balance of power you're so concerned about, we can do missionary, with you on top."

He reaches out and fondles her boobs. "Actually, I've always enjoyed it more with you on top."

"Okay, you got it, topside for me it is. Now hop in that shower, mister. We horny, high IQ gals don't like to be kept waiting."

As she watches Kevin take the stairs to the bathroom, she can't help but think that his preference for the bottom position is already becoming a metaphor for the life she hopes to share with him.

trigudis
trigudis
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AnonymousAnonymous3 months ago

Story is ok, but just ok. It could use and be so much more. This is like the intro to the rest of their life. Where is it?????

chytownchytownover 1 year ago

The power is about to switch. BAM!!!!!! she's pregnant.🤭🤰

AnonymousAnonymousabout 4 years ago
What do any of these

tests have to do with real life interpersonal relations necessary to joint problem solving? I can say this as one of those high per-centers. Different people approach things in different ways and in the end it is the results they get that count. I've seen so many high test score people was out because they really had no work ethic or couldn't work with other people. An a few of my best hires had little or no college. This in a very high tech field. The smartest two I think I ever worked with were a high school senior and a graduate of an engineering school no one here has ever heard of.

mordbrandmordbrandabout 4 years ago
He should simply go take an IQ test

I scored 143 on an IQ test in middle school. My teacher had recommended it to see if I belonged in what used to be called 'talented and gifted' classes. Conversely, the highest I have scored on a 'test' Wonderlic was 24.

Which was more accurate? Who can say? The problem here is these two people really don't seem meant to be together.

AnonymousAnonymousover 4 years ago
Just because Jenifer got 34 on this test, it doesn’t show actual knowledge.

Jenifer needs the college degree to have the knowledge to complete the actual work. Many high IQ people must complete their schooling to again this knowledge. Where they excel is in the application of their knowledge. In my work I had many employees who had higher IQ than I did but they couldn’t understand the material sufficiently to apply it to abstract conditions. I refer to this as a lack of “Lateral Thinking”. They couldn’t think out of the box. I believe that Kevin had this ability but Jenifer didn’t.

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