Alicia waited until Lleyton left for the warehouse, then swivelled her chair so she faced Dayna.

“Psst,” she hissed. “Have you clocked anything weird about Lleyton this morning?”

“It’s Lleyton,” Dayna replied immediately. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“Well, he’s wearing a giant chicken suit, which he hasn’t acknowledged at all,” said Alicia, ticking her thoughts off on her fingers as she spoke. “Every now and then he starts speaking in another language, and he keeps picking up random stuff and smashing it on his desk,” she said, gesturing at the chaos behind her.

“Huh, when you put it like that…,” said Dayna.

Mitch bounded down the stairs. “Hey, did you guys see that email about -” he stopped mid-sentence, taking in the mess. “What happened here?”

At that moment, Lleyton returned from the warehouse holding a customer order, which he proceeded to empty onto the floor with a vacant stare. Everyone watched in stunned silence as he exited the same way he came in, his comb flopping listlessly in time with his steps.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

“Hey buddy,” said Mitch cheerfully, approaching Lleyton like he would a wounded animal. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, why do you ask?” Lleyton responded simply.

Mitch glanced at the packet of Killer Pythons Lleyton was currently beheading with a tube cutter, one by one. “Oh, you know, just checking in,” Mitch said, trying to keep his voice even. His phone began to ring, Danielle’s contact info briefly appearing on screen before he hastily picked up the call.

“Hey, Danielle! What’s up?” he answered, his voice a full octave higher than it usually was.

“…Are you okay? You sound stressed,” replied Danielle, perceptive as ever.

Mitch looked over his shoulder. Lleyton had jumped onto a workbench and had started an interpretative dance that would have been profoundly moving, under different circumstances.

“Everything is totally fine, we’re all being 100% normal, and I’m not concerned about anyone’s mental or physical wellbeing, haha! Okay, gotta go, bye!”

Across the country, Danielle reclined in her seat, watching Lleyton’s antics play out on the screen in her office. It was divided into 10 segments – two feeds from each branch, obtained through hidden security cameras.

She turned her attention to Adelaide, where Riley was dressed as a cowboy, attempting to lasso parts as he drove past on a picker. Matt stood at the end of the aisle, calmly setting down cones to block his exit.

Troy knocked on the door and stuck his head through the opening. “How’s your experiment going?” he asked.

Danielle shrugged. “It’s called the Chaos Management Assessment. It’s one of the latest developments in leadership psychology.”

She glimpsed at one of the Perth feeds, where Mitch was gesturing placidly to Lleyton. After a minute, he offered his hand to help him clamber off the bench.

“Everyone’s got their own style, but for what it’s worth, they all passed.”