“It’s time for your interview,” the receptionist chimed in. “Just
go in through there.”
Sanjay slid open the wooden door with one hand while clothing
the paper bag with the ear of corn in it while holding the metal box in the
other. He immediately bumped into a tall man facing away from him and out of
reflex took a step back. The tall man turned around and eyes Sanjay over.
“Hmm. You didn’t look when you opened the door.”
“I had my hands full,” Sanjay said, a little flustered.
“This is the kind of job where you will always have your
hands full.” Sanjay was waved over to a seat.
The tall man waited. Sanjay introduced himself.
“Pierre Kirkorov.” The man waited again. Sanjay, with a
start, remembered the paper bag and the metal box.
“Do you want to start with the corn or the metal box?” After
hearing Sanjay’s question, the tall man’s face was touched by a chilled smile
and a perfunctory nod. He remained silent (some kind of test to see how I act
under pressure?)
“I also have my resume on me.”
“No need,” Pierre waved the paper away. “No experience
necessary, remember? We don’t need references here. We need good character and resumes
and references …” Pierre shook his head, “…Besides, even if they are true to
who you were, that says nothing about the truth of who you will become on the
job. This ain’t a normal one.”
“I’ve gathered,” Sanjay said quickly. “Then let’s start with
the corn.”
“Then start eating it.” Sanjay’s eyes sank at this
unexpected request, before he thought back to how the job had been described as
involving guerrilla marketing. This sort of stuff was the kind of thing he was
getting himself into. Sanjay took out the red ear of corn and guessed that it
had to be safe or he wouldn’t be asked to do this. But in case this was the way
he was being tested, he paused right before his first bite, looking at Pierre’s
impassive face. Then he bit down and prepared to spit the mouthful out at the
sound of bad news. He got none.
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Today's event was from the social science part of The Conversation.
This event is a little different in that it isn't something that relates to a specific news occurrence. Rather, the randomly selected article is more of a general discussion of an issue. Nevertheless, I had included The Conversation as one of my potential sources to increase the breadth of the unexpected things I had to incorporate into my writing.
The specific article for today is from
Like my work the day before, I feel I have a better grasp on the short story now and am started to write some more interesting things. This is all still before it gets refined during the editing process.
Now that he has been introduced, now is also a good time to post the Character Profile I wrote up when planning on December 24th. Most of my planning work that day was thinking of the kind of character that fit the story.
Pierre Kirkorov:
A tall, burly French-Russian man in his 30s. Affable but
distant. Heavily in debt and has to fall back on some shady family connections.
Had a tough upbringing, including more than one instance of physical and sexual
abuse. He has developed a slightly social Darwinist outlook and believes everyone
should make independence and individual strength a top priority.
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