ghosts

The air at work is stale and lifeless, seared through the heaters or frost-burned through the air-conditioning. For weeks my boss insisted that opening the windows would let in clouds of exhaust, dust and car horns, but I’ve finally peeled off those excuses to her real answer: evil spirits. I had never noticed half dozen wards wrapped in thin white cloth and scotch-taped along the walls before that, they sat unobtrusively among the world maps and alphabet posters.