Appreciation

Between problems with the link to launch the online meeting, issues with sharing her screen, obviously boring everyone with a presentation that repeatedly froze, and a camera that shared a "zombie green" version of her face, Bethany was about to snap like a dry twig. "Nothing is working today," she said (rhetorically) to the group; the ones who remained awake nodded in agreement. Wicks came off of mute (just his name on a black background with no video) and said, "Hey, it's all right; you're doing great. Tough crowd." "Thanks," Bethany answered. "Appreciate you." A couple of the faces looked confused, not quite tracking. "Let's just reschedule this for tomorrow," Wicks continued. "Tell them it's a pants-free day on Zoom and you'll take a poll on who was brave enough to do it." Bethany laughed. "Great idea, Wicks!" Todd Norton came off of mute like a rocket. "Did you just say 'Wicks'?" Bethany nodded. "Okay, weird," he continued. "My audio keeps cutting out. You might want to repeat the announcement in case anyone else is having trouble." "The announcement?" Bethany asked. "Yeah," Norton agreed. "I'm not sure everyone knows that Wicks passed away last night." "Appreciate you," a voice whispered and Wicks' avatar blinked out as he left the meeting.