The New Job
17 Nov 2021Today’s prompt: “Recall a recent dialogue between you and a friend.”
“So what’s new?” you ask Jorge as the waiter brings your beer.
“I got a job,” Jorge says.
“That’s great!” you say. Jorge’s been looking for work for a while. “Is it another construction company?”
“No,” Jorge says. “I kind of changed industries.”
“Oh. What are you doing now?”
“Ugh. I really don’t want to get into it,” he says. “It’s like, literally soul-sucking.”
“I think you mean figuratively.”
“Whatever. These guys will take any warm body. Also, the uniform sucks.”
“Not figure-flattering enough for you?” you tease.
“Not at all,” he smiles. He takes a drink of his beer. “I guess the one good thing is job security.”
“Yeah?”
“Business has been booming the last few years. And it’s one of those industries that’s always going to be around.”
Three weeks later, your car gets T-boned by an SUV. Dazed, you start to check yourself for injuries. But you can’t feel anything. Your legs. Your arms. Nothing. You can’t move a muscle. “Holy shit,” you think, “am I paralyzed?” And then in your mind’s eye, you see the truck coming at you. You look at the damage done to the driver’s side of your car. “Shit,” you think. “I’m surprised I survived that.”
And then you realize that the reason you can’t move your arms and legs is that you aren’t in your body.
And then you see Jorge. In a long, black hooded cloak, and carrying a scythe. He looks like he’s cosplaying as the grim reaper.
The cloak is really not working for his body type.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “It’s literally soul-sucking.”