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Thursday, May 7, 2015

Discussion

The pin striped man smokes a fat cigar. Much like in the business meeting we crashed, except this time there is no ventilation. Thick, black cigar smoke surrounds us. My eyes water. I'm doing everything I can not to cough. For the longest time he doesn't say a word to us. He just stares and smokes. " I had a marvelous speech planned out. One that took me an entire afternoon to write, and I was very proud of it." He informs us. "Are you gonna give us the speech?" Olivia asks. The pin striped man shakes his head. "Why not?" I ask. He briefly takes the cigar out of his mouth and leans in. "Because now is the time to break the fourth wall." "Again." I say. "Yes, again. This isn't the first time. It most likely will not be the last time. " The pin striped man shakes my hand. He then hugs Olivia. "Congratulations. An engagement is no small feet." He says. Olivia and I both smile. The pin striped man stares me dead in the eye. "Are you afraid?" He asks. "A little, not as much as I thought I would be. I feel the hard part is over." I tell him. The pin striped man continues smoking. "Not exactly, but I know what you mean." He says. The pin striped man doesn't say anything for a while. He waits for us to talk. "Were you afraid?" I ask. He nods yes. " I once was in your shoes." "What did you do?" I ask, trying to pull words out of his mouth. "It's sink or swim." He replies, simply. "Don't you have more solid advice?" Olivia asks. The pin striped man appears offended. "That is the best advice. That is the only advice you need. Just get past your own bullshit." He sternly informs us. "I feel you put on a facade. No one is that confident." I tell him. "You may be right, but I'll tell you this, the "facade" as you call it, works for me. So, I'll keep it up." There is a brief silence. Olivia decides to change the subject. "What was your speech?" She asks. "It had to do with the recent flooding of the mail room, but it's not important." He says. "Wait, are we going to ignore that plot point?" I demand. "I believe we are." He tells us. "But why?" Olivia asks. The pin striped man shrugs. "I don't feel like talking about it." "So, what do we do know?" I ask. The pin striped man opens his car door. "You'll figure it out. There's a whole wide world out there."

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