Now I realize why I haven’t posted my old writings in the past. I haven’t gotten around to scanning them just yet. Oh well. I do have some old poems saved. Or at least it was my attempts at poetry. I wasn’t really given a direction so they are essentially short stories but with the body of a poem. But that’s for another time. Here is a short story I wrote a little more recently. Around 2006 when I was trying this writing correspondence course. Enjoy and let me know what you think. I was actually a little pleased with how it came out.
Mario surfs the web, switching between windows of various political forums and news
sites, whistling in merriment. His wife agreed to go self-employed full-time as a speech
pathologist and he can’t wait to write off 33% of his expenses as business related costs. My
future is bright, he thinks to himself, now if I can find a way to get fired and still collect a
paycheck.
“Now Mario,” he remembers Jocelyn saying last night, “When I work full-time and leave
my job at the Board of Ed, we won’t have Medical so you need to enroll for it at your job.”
“Pero, Jocelyn!”
“No buts, Mario. We need Medical.”
Mario curses under his breath and opens up the link to Human Resources. After signing
up for benefits, he closes the window, shuts his eyes and leans his head back.
“I guess I’ll be here a little longer after all” he mutters to himself.
Mario’s phone rings and Alan Milchman’s name pops up on the Caller ID. He wipes the
sweat off his brow and picks up the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Is that the proper greeting, Mario?”
“Uhm no sir.”
“Please make sure to answer with the correct greeting from now on.”
“Yes sir.”
“Now the reason I’m calling is that, according to the system reports, your work flow has
been inconsistent lately. Some days you underwrite 10 files, other days only 5. Do you know
why?”
“Well not all files are the same and I guess I have some off days.”
“Well according to corporate it isn’t inconceivable to do 8 files every day. I’ll be
expecting that from now on, understood?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good. You can go back to work.”
“Ok.”
Mario hangs up the phone and buries his face in his hands. The phone rings and startles
Mario. He picks up the phone in annoyance.
“Thank you for calling our mortgage company. How may I assist you?”
“Well it’s so good to hear you’re going by the script.”
Feeling the humor from the other side of the line, Mario can’t help but smile.
“What’s going on Julio?”
“Oh nothing. Just wondering what’s for lunch today.”
“Well I can’t stay out long. I have to keep my numbers up.”
“I’m buying today. Let’s go to the Bengal Tiger Buffet.”
“But I really—“
“Don’t you always say you want to get fired?”
“Well yeah but—“
“And when has this company fired anyone for not reaching their numbers?”
“Never.”
“Ok then. See you in an hour.”
Mario hangs up the phone, unbuttons the top button from his dress shirt and loosens his
tie. Sighing, he continues to look at the credit report of his file.
————————————-
Mario savours his second serving of mutter paneer and chicken mahkani. He cannot wait
to top it off with some gulab jamun. Julio himself is enjoying his tikka masala and is
continuously dipping his naan into the sauce.
“So what’s the occasion?” Mario asks.
“Can’t I just treat you to lunch?”
“No something is up. You’ve never treated me to lunch before.”
“Ok fine. The reason I’m treating is because this may be our last lunch together.”
“What do you mean?!”
“I’m going to quit.”
“What?!”
“Yeah. I’ve decided to go back to school full-time, finish my BA and move in with the
in-laws to save on rent.”
“But you’re not going to have any privacy.”
“Yeah I know but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make to change my life.”
“How are you going to pay for school?”
“Well Claudia works there so I’ll be going for free and I’m going to keep my part-time
job to help with minor expenses.”
“Wow. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
“We’ve been talking about quitting for years.”
“Yeah we have.”
“So when are you going to do it?”
“Well after I pack up my stuff I’m going to email my resignation letter.”
“You’re leaving today?”
“Well I don’t see any point in staying longer, do you?”
“I would leave too if it weren’t for the medical.”
“Just look for another job during your free time and get out when you can.”
“But I’m already comfortable here.”
“At some point in life Mario, you’re going reach that fork in the road and you’re going
to have to make a change.”
————————————-
Mario stares at his computer absent-mindedly. His collar is uneven, his tie is put away
and he doesn’t notice a food stain on the front of his shirt. He gathers his thoughts and looks at
the screen closely again. He puts in the final conditions for the loan, approves and completes it.
Well I’ve done six so far, so I may hit my goal today, Mario mutters to himself. He gets up
to grab another file from the bin across from him. As he signs his name to the Smith file his
computer makes a ping noise. Mario opens up Lotus Notes and sees an email from Julio.
He actually did it, Mario exclaimed under his breath. Mario reads the email a few more times.
Closing the email He stares at Smith’s credit report and thumbs his pen against the table
mindlessly. After a few repetitious thumpings, Mario gets up and storms over to his manager’s
office.
“Hi, uh Alan sir.”
“Yes Mario, what is it?”
“I’m a little under the weather and I need to go home.”
“I’m sorry but you can’t leave until you hit your numbers.”
“No disrespect sir but I’m going home now and if you want to fire me for feeling sick
then go ahead.”
“Don’t exaggerate Mario. No one is going to fire you. Just go home and get better.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Mario closes the door and lets out a deep breath. On my way home I can get the
classifieds and see what job offers are out there.
JULIO FROM NY 