Thank you for reading with your usual thoughtfulness (which is so UN-usual among contemporary readers). "Conservative and boring" was my original comment on the stereotype of accountants. In my last-century youth, accountants were button-down-collar guys with pocket protectors, bald and wearing glasses. Zeldacroft's accountant, Jan, was already stepping outside that mold by organizing a social gathering for coworkers, and telling jokes, laughing, yanking the shy guy onto the dance floor...
I pictured Susan as a woman with a past (most likely a stalker who scared her into self-defense classes), who keeps a conceal-and-carry at all times because stalkers can show up any time, any where, and the police will never get there.
But what can I do in 500 words when I'm no poet and a wordy wordsmith?
Practice with more freewrites and word limits!
Thanks again.