The Deadline and the Birthday

Magda is a freelance translator, and she works at a small desk by the kitchen window. On Thursday morning, an email arrives from her biggest client. The subject line says "Urgent", and the job is forty pages long.

The deadline is six o'clock that evening. Magda reads the message twice. Her sister's birthday dinner starts at seven, and she promised weeks ago that she would be there.

She does the math. Forty pages in one day is possible, but only if she skips lunch and never stops. If she says yes, she will probably be late for the dinner. She will be too tired to enjoy it. If she says no, the client might never call her again.

Magda walks around the kitchen with a cup of tea going cold in her hand. This client pays more than her other three together. When you work alone, a good reputation matters a lot. But her sister has watched her cancel plans too many times this year.

"You should ask, not guess," she says out loud. Then she sits down and writes a short, polite email.

"Thank you for the project. I would be happy to do it, and I want the quality to be excellent. Could I send the translation by nine tomorrow morning instead? If that is not possible, I understand."

She reads it once more and presses send before she can change her mind. Then she opens the file and starts working anyway, just in case the answer is no.

At noon, the reply arrives. "Nine tomorrow is fine," the client writes. "Thanks for being honest about your time."

Magda laughs and leans back in her chair. She still has a lot of work to do, so she translates until five. Then she closes the laptop. At seven, she is at a table with her sister, her brother-in-law, and a huge chocolate cake.

"You came," her sister says, and hugs her. "I thought you would bring your computer."

"It's at home," Magda says. "It can wait until the morning."

At six the next morning, she is back at the desk with a fresh cup of tea. By half past eight, she has finished the last page. She reads it one more time and sends it. Then she picks up her phone and writes to her sister: "Great cake. Same time next year?"