»
Main Forums
»
Passions in Prose
»
Lindsay: A Brief Encounter with Salam
| Passions in Prose |
|
Lindsay: A Brief Encounter with Salam |
|
|
fractal007 Senior Member
since 2000-06-01
Posts 1958 |
The mobile hut whirred, a sound from nowhere produced everywhere on the street corners in the commercial district of a well-known city. The whir actually felt and sounded like a wind to the passers by, professionals of every race, colour, and creed, and the hut actually looked like a tree standing tall in front of the headquarters of a well-known company. It had always been there – the tree, that is. But oops, it was really part of a twenty-year-old city beautification project. Lindsay decided that the chronological alteration wouldn't be noticed by too many people since there was really only one person who actually cared about this particular tree. He was a peculiar young upstart professional who was practising the ancient Chinese Art of Chi Kung. Thinking the tree would give his Wu Chi an edge, the young man had taken to posing in front of it. That made Lindsay laugh – not because of his reasoning, which was decent enough, but because of his form. He was awful at the art and it was a wonder that his knees didn't buckle. But he was no big concern. Lindsay wandered the streets for a while, looking around at all the interesting people. It was so fascinating to see the blank stares and the fake smiles they all gave one another – as though they didn't know each other when, for example, Lindsay happened to know some very lurid details about the affair that man had had with that women over there while they'd worked together on the Inferno Planet of Ipsos. But now they had taken their places here in the mundane existence which all humans were obliged to serve on one level or another over the course of their lives. “You know,” Lindsay recalled the man now walking toward her saying on one occasion, “It's really too bad that we humans haven't....gotten it yet.” Lindsay had dismissed the pseudo-profundity with her characteristic brief puff of laughter. Howard – that was his name – wouldn't remember a word of what he said to her. In spite of the tears that had been coming to his eyes and in spite of his head having tilted upward as he'd spoken in that forlorn voice, Howard would one day walk toward Lindsay or stand in front of her and give a brief smile out of courtesy and Lindsay would brush it off without making a sound. Without speaking or smiling back, Lindsay let Howard the accountant walk by, his overcoat draped over his shoulder and his belly making itself known along his belt line. Ugh, disgusting. And then, quickly as it had begun, her reverie was over and she arrived at her destination. It was time to trade places a while and swap out two people in this company. Normally this would be an impossible feat, bending the very essence of common sense, but Lindsay had one factor on her side in this arrangement. The two people whom she planned to replace worked two different jobs on two different shifts. One of the two was a young man named Salam, who worked in the inventory management team. He was a humble college graduate with a trimmed haircut and piercing eyes. The other was a young lady named Mariposa, a member of the custodial staff which frequented the office at night. Lindsay saw Salam standing outside the building, waiting for her. As had been arranged, a certain hearse-like vehicle was parked outside the building, waiting to take Salam away. Actually, the car was something else, but I think it would detract from my narrative were I to tell you about the real nature of the ugly vehicle. Salam offered Lindsay a brief smile. “You're late, as usual.” “Uh,” Lindsay said, “Sorry?” “Hey, it's okay. I was enjoying the fresh air. The people on the team are getting to be a drag. Hey try not to mangle my job too much this time. Remember what happened to the last guy you swapped in for? Now he's working as a garbage man when he runs his errands.” “Oh rub it in a little more!” Lindsay protested, “I thought Jeremy needed a bit more of a pick-me-up, so what I did with Mike's juniour executive role was a good thing. And besides, I thought Mike liked the simplicity of his garbage man job.” “Yeah,” Salam said, “But remember how sensitive these people are to...politics.” “Okay, you win.” They both entered the hearse-car. “Give me a second,” the driver said. There was a tingling sensation as Lindsay felt the shift in position and perspective. Her consciousness drifted to the body that was Salam and, over the course of the brief astral journey she thought she felt a slap on the palm of her hand, and then a whisper. “Tag, you're in.” Life's short. Think hard! |
||
| © Copyright 2009 fractal007 - All Rights Reserved | |||
|
rad802 Member
since 2008-04-19
Posts 279KY U.S.A. |
I am not sure where I am in the story but I enjoyed it. A worthy legacy is the irrevocable consequence of dreaming. |
||
|
fractal007 Senior Member
since 2000-06-01
Posts 1958 |
Haha. This story just moved around randomly. |
||
|
|
⇧ top of page ⇧ |
|
| All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format. | ||
