I'm beginning a new job today. A new assignment, rather. I've had the same job for years, we all have. Boss told me this new assignment is real important, though. Says it could make or break us. So I check read over the file he gave me for review........
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Well, okay. It seems simple enough. It's all fairly simple. But we can't hack it, no matter how simple it is. My office is cluttered with blank papers, filled papers, papers with rocket ships on them. I'm going to leave.....
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In the reception room now, no one at the counter. Two others sitting out here, one reading a magazine... maybe those filled papers were blank after all... and the other scanning the walls. The walls aren't very exciting, what's his deal? There's a poster with an upside down space shuttle and some alien language... the whole poster is upside down, someone should fix that. Should I? I do work here. I get up and rotate it ninety degrees so it's only sideways. That's better. It just kind of sticks to the wall like a magnet.
"Can you help me read this, sir? I don't get it." Says the man with the magazine, to me.
"Of course. Here's a pencil, the reader's greatest tool." I hand him the pencil. He takes it, and starts scribbling on the page. "Isn't that better?"
"Much."
"What are you reading anyway?" I ask.
"It's just a bunch of scribbles."
"Well whatever turns you on, my man." This really is a wonderful poster, I don't know how it got on it's side like this. Let me flip it the right way.... much better. Space is great.... I need to get to work on that assignment, probably. I'd better see what the boss is up to, he wants us working together. Beside the reception counter is the hallway, a great hallway indeed. About a hundred yards to the end, the boss's door. Doors on both sides the whole way.....
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I knock on the door and walk in without waiting for a reply.... Wow, my office is a mess, blank papers, filled papers, papers with rocket ships on them... The phone rings. It's the boss.
"Hey, could you come in my office?"
"Sure thing, big man." I step out of my office to go to his. His office is right across from mine in the hallway. There's really only two doors, it's easy to remember. I knock on the door and walk in without waiting for a reply.
"What's up?" I ask.
"What's going on outside, anyway?" He wonders.
"Outside? I don't know, who goes outside? That's asking for trouble. I just fixed the AC."
"Is that what that whirring is?"
"No, that's what it was, but I fixed it."
"Then what is that god awful sound I hear constantly?"
"That's just the sound. What can you do?"
"I need you to go out there, here." He reaches into his desk and pulls out a pair of knit gloves, and tosses them to me.
"Out where?"
"Just walk out the door, and give me a rundown of the area."
"Well, you've got a window right there, sir."
"No I don't."
"Oh, you're right, you don't"
"This is vital to the operation. Get out there."
"Fine." So I put on the gloves and head out down the hallway...
...
"My god, what happened to your face?" I say to the man with the magazine.
"Never had one."
"You crazy bastard, I told you not to read these magazines, we have them out here for the sole purpose of not being read! I mean look at this, it's nothing but scribbles! You don't even have a face! You can't read!"
"I told you I needed help."
"You're losing it, go wash up. If I recall correctly, down the hall, the restroom's the twenty-eigth door on the left." He gets up and makes for the restroom. "Can you believe that guy?" I say to the other man.
"Well I enjoyed it."
"You should turn yourself into a woman and get a job here." I say. "Talk to the boss about it, I hear my position's open."
"You shouldn't go out there." He says.
"It's vital to the operation." He shrugs at me....
...
Gloves on, I open the door and walk out. I walk down the three stairs, and plant my feet on the dirt. You know, I've never been out here. I look back at the door. Just a trailer. It's a lot bigger on the inside. The roof extends out a bit, and lanterns hang off the edge. Light reaches about five inches past my feet before the endless shadow. I start patrolling the trailer, I'll give it a good circumnavigation and tell boss about it. I have a little room to wander, not much. Making sure not to step out of the light. I turn a corner and find boss's window. He's in there talking to a woman. She should get a job here. It's eerie out here, going to head back inside, I figure the other side doesn't have much to see. Back up the stairs, I enter the trailer again. "Whatchya reading there?" I say to a man sitting in a chair to my right upon entering.
"Just a magazine you have out here."
"Well we have to keep everyone entertained while they wait. How long have you been waiting anyway?"
"That poster was rightside up when I got here." He said, pointing to a poster of a space shuttle.
"I like that poster, it gives me hope."
"Hope for what?"
"...Whatever." I walk back into my office, sit down, and dial the boss on the phone. "Hey boss, everything's in order outside."
"You went outside?! You're mad!"
"I was wearing the gloves."
"Gloves?"
"Well you know..."
"Don't touch my gloves."
"I didn't! I've never worn a pair of gloves in my life!"
"How long has your life even been?"
"I got here a few hours ago, and after a couple years it's only been forty minutes."
"You should go home." He says. "Why don't you get out of my office, walk on out, and take a cab home.
"You're in my office! Why don't you get out and you go home!" I slam the phone down, shake hands with the boss, and leave his office....
...
I'm just going to sit here in reception, next to this man. "Are you finished with that?" I ask, pointing to a magazine lying closed in his lap.
"Yes, would you like to read it?" I nod, and he hands it to me. Every odd page is blank, and every even page has the same picture of a space shuttle in black and white.
"Now that's a good one." I say to the man, he agrees. After growing bored of the magazine, I give it back to him. I got to get to work, I think to myself. I'm just going to sit here in reception, next to this man. "Are you finished with that?" I ask, pointing to a magazine lying closed in his lap.
"Not yet."
Something is whirring loudly, it's maddening. Someone needs to fix the AC, if I worked here, I'd do it myself. A woman is sitting behind the counter, looking directly at me. Now she speaks...
...
"Sir, Mr. ____ would like to see you now."
"Who, me?" She nods. "His office is at the end of the hallway, sorry it's so long. I'll call the train service to take you"
"To his office?"
"Oh it's very far."
"Train service?"
"Unless you'd rather walk."
"I'll be fine with that." So I begin down the hall...
...
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..................
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I knock on the door and walk in without waiting for a reply. I do really need to clean this place up. Just blank papers, filled papers, papers with rocket ships on them, everywhere. I sit down in my chair. I read over this file the boss gave me. The letters disassemble themselves into alien squiggles, and scurry around the page....
...
It's been a long day.