Finding the Yellow Brick Road
This is post 2 of Section V. To begin at the beginning, go here. Section II begins here. Section III begins here. Section IV begins here, and Section V begins here.
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Thanks for the encouragement, Daddy. Seriously, it’s about empowering you to go after the job that’s right for you, in the way that’s right for you.”
“(Follow the yellow brick road),” muttered Bennett, recalling Scarecrow Man.
“I never thought I’d say this,” Gwen said, “but Chloe, maybe you should try not reading for a while, dear. At least, nothing recent.”
There was a lull in the conversation while Chloe counted to ten, breathing deeply, a technique she recalled from Good People, Bad Feelings. After all, like it or not, she would have to depend on her parents for a while.
“You could make an exception for The Chronicle of Higher Education,” her father said. “Your mother and I will support you if you want to go back to graduate school.”
Tension gripped Chloe at the very suggestion, undoing most of the good of the breathing exercise. A vivid memory of her boss at North Central, smiling as he encouraged her to substitute authentic, hands-on projects for dry writing assignments, finished the job. Still under the impression that he actually meant to be friendly and helpful, and intending to point out the weakness of such notions if taken too far, Chloe had jokingly suggested that she be allowed to decorate cupcakes with the major characters of The Faerie Queen in lieu of submitting a dissertation. Now, of course, she realized she might have gotten off on the wrong foot with him in that conversation.
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Chloe rolled her eyes. “Thanks for the encouragement, Daddy. Seriously, it’s about empowering you to go after the job that’s right for you, in the way that’s right for you.”
“(Follow the yellow brick road),” muttered Bennett, recalling Scarecrow Man.
“I never thought I’d say this,” Gwen said, “but Chloe, maybe you should try not reading for a while, dear. At least, nothing recent.”
There was a lull in the conversation while Chloe counted to ten, breathing deeply, a technique she recalled from Good People, Bad Feelings. After all, like it or not, she would have to depend on her parents for a while.
“You could make an exception for The Chronicle of Higher Education,” her father said. “Your mother and I will support you if you want to go back to graduate school.”
Tension gripped Chloe at the very suggestion, undoing most of the good of the breathing exercise. A vivid memory of her boss at North Central, smiling as he encouraged her to substitute authentic, hands-on projects for dry writing assignments, finished the job. Still under the impression that he actually meant to be friendly and helpful, and intending to point out the weakness of such notions if taken too far, Chloe had jokingly suggested that she be allowed to decorate cupcakes with the major characters of The Faerie Queen in lieu of submitting a dissertation. Now, of course, she realized she might have gotten off on the wrong foot with him in that conversation.
Continue
posted by Hobbes at 5:50 PM
6 Comments:
When I read that, I thought maybe she could get a job for a publishing company proof reading, like that. Then I thought of a movie but can't remember it, where a guy or girl got a job as a proof reader but kept changing the text athetically instead of grammically, whatever. Then the person became a famous writer, I think. It was a really old movie. I hate forgetting things.
nice post
T&I: Copy editing pays little.
DD: Thanks again. Does the Koran say anything about spam?
Weirsdo, may Allah who is just and merciful grant you a special place in heaven.
I've said this before, I think but it's just stunning how real your characters are. "At least, nothing recent" is a hilarious line.
Thanks Doug. Can my virgins be experienced?
I'm glad you find stuff funny and yet real.
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