May 2002 by Dell Magazines

Author:Dell Magazines
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-03-19T03:51:52+00:00

* * *

The Job Interview by Mike Moscoe

People take jobs to gain something, but there's always a price. The key question is: is it worth it?

[Back to Table of Contents]

* * *

In the deep shadows of the casino bar, Casi collapsed into the offered chair; it wasn't her arthritis that made her knees go to jelly. Digging madly through the dustbin that was her brain of late, she struggled to find some of the courage that had gotten her through so much of her eighty-five years. She kept her eyes down, and didn't allow herself to stare at the stranger settling into the chair across from her. Either Casi was going crazy, or the guy was an alien ... and not as in “illegal” from south of the border—more like “impossible” from south of the Milky Way.

The young barmaid immediately showed up to take their order; the hostess took in the stranger in the blue three-piece suit without even a blink. Didn't she see the line where the nose had been glued on? How many four-foot-tall men walked in here with the fluid dexterity of something with no knees, probably no bones?

“A, ah, tonic water,” Casi stuttered.

“Same for me,” came from across the table. The stranger's lips moved, but Casi swore the sound came from somewhere behind the nose.

“Coming right up,” the waitress said and left without a backward glance. Well, the casino bar was dimly lit and the light over the table was off. Its breaker must have been thrown as part of the construction work that wrapped the smell of dust and plywood around Casi and drove the other customers to cluster closer to the door. Still, in the minutes since the stranger had tugged politely at Casi's sleeve, said “Since you are wearing the red feather boa, you must be the woman I have come to talk with,” and steered her toward the bar, there was no denying the obvious. This stranger did not belong to the Earth Casi had spent the last eight and a half decades on.

But aliens only exist in movies or TV, the rational part of her brain insisted. Casi liked that reasonable part of her; it was always good for a laugh.

Right, and never date a pilot and the North Koreans will never come south, she reminded her smart self of only a few of the rules that had not worked in her life. Face it, gal, that makeup isn't covering this guy's skin all that well. Look at the play of colors sweeping over him.

Maybe it's just the reflection of the neon lights from the beer signs behind the bar, her rational self offered lamely.

Give it a rest, Casi told her conservative voice. She'd always been one for second thoughts, just never one to pay them any mind. She'd come here to talk about a job; she should have known no one on Earth had any use for a worn-out relic like her.

The stranger seemed satisfied with the silence so it stretched while they waited for their drinks.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.