Coincidence

“Coincidence? I think not!” Mary complained to her husband, her voice raised.
“What’s happened now?” He said, resigning himself to hearing another tirade about her workmate Sheila.

“She turned up today wearing the same shoes as my new red ones, and when I mentioned them, she laughed and said she hadn’t noticed mine before. A coincidence my eye.”

“You know what they say,” Gary replied, “imitation is the finest form of flattery.”

“It’s the sincerest form actually,” she replied. “It’s getting weird Gary, first the haircut, then the same shade of lipstick and now the identical shoes! What’s she playing at?”

Ignoring the rhetorical question he said, “Why don’t we get away this weekend, you’re letting Sheila get to you, it’ll do us both good to forget about work for a change?”

Mary groaned, “Oh God, that’d be great, but remember those new clients I told you about?” Gary nodded. “Well, they said they’re expecting to see some ideas for their new product line on Monday morning. I’ll be working all weekend. Sorry hun.” Mary kissed her husband’s cheek, as she went to start dinner.


On Saturday morning Mary made her way into work, she’d dressed in jeans, tee shirt and flat shoes as she wasn’t expecting anyone else to be in the office, but it surprised her to see Sheila’s old car in the carpark when she pulled into her own reserved parking spot.

“Hi Sheila, what are you doing here on a Saturday?” Mary asked as she entered the office. Sheila was making coffee. “
“Hi Mary, I knew you’d be in, thought I’d see if I can make myself useful. Coffee?” She asked, holding the freshly brewed pot in Mary’s direction.

“No, thanks.” She wondered how Sheila had known Mary had planned on coming in today, she hadn’t told her and felt annoyed at the intrusion. She’d been counting on having the place to herself to work on her ideas for the new contract.

Mary had worked at ‘Ideas Creations’ for over three years and had her eye on promotion. If she could get this new client’s business, that might be enough for a directorship and a big pay rise.

“Really Sheila,” she told the young wannabe, “there’s no need for you to stay, there’s no overtime you know.”

“Oh, I didn’t expect payment Mary,” Sheila replied, “No, I just want to help you in any way I can, I’m hoping to be as good as you someday. There must be something I can do?”

Mary decided to ignore her and get on with what she did best, designing the greatest advertising campaign ever.


“You look tired, honey. Glass of wine?” Gary greeted his wife later that day. “How did it go, come up with any ideas?”

Mary flopped down on the white leather sofa and kicked off her shoes, “Yes, I think it will impress the clients,” she smiled at Gary as he handed her a big glass of her favourite red wine. Then the smile left her face as she said, “That bloody Sheila was there when I got into the office this morning, I told her to leave, and that there was no overtime, but she just hung around like a bad smell all day.”

“She must admire you a lot, maybe she just wanted to watch how you work, you should be flattered,” Gary said.

“I just don’t like her Gary, there’s something off about her.”


On Monday morning when Mary pulled into the carpark, she noticed an identical make and colour car parked in the next bay. Mary glanced in through the driver’s side window, and saw the parking permit belonging to Miss Sheila Smith. “Oh my God, she’s only gone and bought the same car as mine!” She gasped. “This is going too far!”

As she stepped into the office, Mary’s blood was boiling, she saw Sheila cozying up to Mike, the principle of the company. “Sheila can I have a word?” She called.

“Be there in a minute Mary,” Sheila gave her a cursory glance and carried on chatting to Mike. She at last placed her hand on Mike’s arm, giving it a little squeeze, before leaving and coming over to Mary’s desk. “What’s up?” She asked.

“New car?” Mary asked.

“Oh yes, bought it last week, do you like it?” She asked.

“Yes, of course I do, it’s the same make, model and colour as mine,” Mary said, “don’t you think this copying me has gone far enough?”

“Oh, is it the same as yours, what a coincidence, I’ve never noticed what you drive, I simply adored that particular shade of green.”

“Well, thanks for trying to be like me, I wouldn’t want to be you either,” Mary said.

“You have such good taste Mary, I love how you look, I’m sorry if I’ve upset you,” Sheila said.

“It’s called originality, you should try it.” Mary said, turning her back.


It was at the next staff meeting where Mary was to present her ideas for the new campaign when she found out just what she was dealing with. Walking into the office, feeling confident she’d was on a winner with her presentation after working all the previous evening fine tuning her ideas, she found Sheila already there chatting to Mike.
“Come in Mary, Sheila’s just giving me her ideas on the new campaign,” Mike said.

“Why?” Mary asked, “It’s my brief isn’t it?”

“It’s okay, as Sheila’s recently joined us, it’s good to encourage her. It can’t hurt to listen to her ideas.” Mike said.

“Thanks Mr. James, I appreciate your encouragement,” Sheila flashed her recently whitened teeth as she opened her laptop. To Mary’s horror she presented an almost identical plan as her own.

“You stole my ideas!” Mary gasped.

“Wow, you came up with a similar idea? What a coincidence!”

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