Jarrod calls me over to his desk. Jarrod writes Game of Thrones fan fiction and since seeing me read Vonnegut in the canteen, has me pegged as his literary friend. He likes me to offer feedback, which I do because no one else talks to him unless the site is down or they’ve forgotten their system password. Jarrod is big on lore and mythic family lineage, not so hot on sentence structure or characterisation, but I keep my observations positive.
‘I enjoyed the exposition this week,’ I say.
‘Forget about that Truman,’ he says. ‘This is important.’
He stands up and grabs my arm, leading me to the Oasis Point.
‘I need to tell you something and I need you take me seriously,’ he says, pouring me a cup of water.
I nod and take the cup.
‘I’ve run the numbers and we’re screwed. In fact, I’ve run the numbers sixteen times, and we’re screwed every time.’
I wonder why he’s dragged me to the Oasis Point to tell me the company is going under. He removes his glasses and rubs his face with both his hands.
‘Not the company,’ he says. ‘Everything.’
‘Oh,’ I say.
‘What should I do?’ he says.
‘Quit your job,’ I say.
So he does and boy do I feel bad, at least until the first brownout.
**
Thought I’d work on some of more backstory from before The Fall. Mitigating Circumstances, a long-term work in progress that is building nicely. Today has been manic with other stuff. In fact, getting new fiction up here every day is becoming a challenge. I suspect it will be like this until the end of April, but this is the 71st straight day I’ve posted up some new work, so I’d love to keep that going for as long as possible. The only caveat to that is I’m not going to throw any old crap up – hopefully – but I guess you’ll be the judge of that!
Anyway, things got a bit crazy on here over the weekend. WordPress featured After The Fall as an editors’ pick and I picked up 200 followers in 48 hours, so a huge hello to everyone. It’s amazing to have people reading and liking. Thanks so much.
Just Punch The Clock 