'A Simple Request' by Sravanthi Challapalli

 It was her turn to blush as she realised how her request had come through. As relief unknotted the

frowns on their faces, they sent for someone to get her a pen and a notebook to write in. She wasn’t

asking for a freebie or a goody bag! She had joined her palms, opened them flat, then put her thumb

and forefinger together to mime scribbling. “A ‘notebook’?” a young, slim man from the reception

team had asked her, with a slight emphasis, the “what do you mean?” struggling to stay unspoken.

His expression serious, compounded by embarrassment and confusion blooming into high colour, he

had conferred with his colleagues in hushed Taiwanese. She couldn’t be asking for a laptop, could

she? She had forgotten her notebook, so she requested the hosts for one to take notes at the

conference to be held later in the day. She was a journalist visiting one of the world’s biggest

computer firms at their invitation.