Jenny was quite used to people not seeing her, given that she was below most people's eyeline. Being really small did have some advantages - she was able to worm her way to the front in most crowds by sliding eel-like through the gaps people left for their "personal space", for example. Being bumped into was just one of the things you got used to. Fortunately her coffee was already half empty, or it might have sloshed all over her hand when someone stepped backwards and practically knocked her off her feet. She grimaced and them when she heard the stammered apology float down on the breeze, she turned and looked directly at a decent sized pair of boobs. This was unusual even for Jenny. Normally her eyes were level with people's shoulders or just below. She tilted her head back and back and back. Finally, somewhere up there in the clouds, she caught a distant glimpse of an embarrassed face surrounded by flowing brown locks similar to her own, and two deep brown eyes again like her own.<br/><br/>"Er, yeah, it's okay, don't worry about it." She hoped her voice would carry up all those thousands of miles to the giant's ears.<br/><br/>Okay, so she was exaggerating, but only to herself and only in her own mind. It was a coping mechanism, a way of dealing with the fact that everyone looked down n her, both figuratively<i>and</i>literally. Her voice was sharp, her words curt, and she eased herself away from the tallest woman in the room before anyone noticed them standing side by side and decided to make some wisecrack about it.<br/><br/>"Right, excuse me, could I have your attention<b><i>please</i></b>?" Pat was magically at what one needed to assume was the front of the room, with her back to the wall. The general hubbub bubbled away as everyone turned to face her. "Thank you. Now that everyone is here, there are a few admin things I need to go through. First of all, there is a starter pack for each of you on that table over there, please take yours - and only yours as it has your permanent ID badge which we printed up from the photo you sent in., - on you way out after this meeting. Secondly, you should all have been informed that, because the hotel is fully booked, we have asked you to share rooms. Think of it as a team building thing. We have assigned rooms at random, but obviously kept the guys and the girls separate. If anyone is at all uncomfortable with the person they ended up sharing with, well, we'll see what we can do. But do bare in mind that it<i>is</i>only for a week. Your key cards are in your starter packs too. There are some forms for you to fill out, two for the hotel that need to be handed to reception by nine PM tonight, and the rest you will need to return to me by the end of the week. The hotel has free WiFi and good reception for all the major networks, but I would ask please that you turn your phones off during the course sessions. Our first proper session starts at nine am tomorrow morning. Dinner this evening is at seven, we have tables reserved in the restaurant here. You are allowed two bottles of the house wine per table with your dinner. More that that you need to pay. I will be in the bar most of the evening, if anyone wants to ask me anything. It's now ten to five, I'm sure you're all pretty tired and want to freshen up, so I'll leave you to it. Thank you all for coming and I'll see you at dinner."<br/><br/>A smattering of applause, not universally taken up, greeted the end of the speech. Jenny nodded. She managed to be forth in line at the starter pack table, and having a surname beginning with "A" meant hers was near the top. She picked up the cardboard document wallet and rummaged through it. The keycard for her room was taped to the inside of the flap she noticed. "Hmmph. Room 913. Floor nine, room thirteen. Typical." She wasn't particularly superstitious, but her parents were Caribbean Catholics with that unhealthy blend of Catholic Christianity and Voodoo, that embraced every superstition going.  Jenny dragged her bags out of the pile that had grown considerably since she arrived and headed for the lift.