to come with me. He is skeptical and hasn’t yet forgiven me for that embarrassing episode. But it isn’t fair for me to keep the emotions I’ve felt with the garden to myself. He should have a share of it too. “This had better be worth it,” he says to me as we approach the Agricultural Sciences building. “It will be. Just watch.” And indeed it is worth it. For the entire garden of sprouting vines and a multitude of fruits and vegetables is now wilted, shriveled, and dead. The Dean is there. He holds a girl in his arms, whose face is buried in his chest. Flower. Everyone else is in varying degrees of distress. Gardeners pull at their hair, some are sobbing while their friends try to comfort them. A few venture into the garden, hoping to salvage something, anything. But there is nothing left. I made sure every single corner of that garden was watered yesterday. Epicaricacy elbows me and cackles, “Dang, is this your doing?” I wave my hand in dismissal. “Well, all it took was some herbicides mixed into the water. Nothing special. Didn’t even require much brainpower.” Epicaricacy and I laugh, relishing in the groans and cries of everyone around us. My name is Schadenfreude. Too bad, so sad.
I adore my job I enjoy picking up calls It is so easy
We will take all cars,
All I have to do is to call the customer and pick up their car.
Even ones with bad records or abandon ones X X Winter seems the best, because more cars slip on roads, which is good for us. X X but bad for people.
But their cars don’t work, So I call up the tow truck to go get the car.
Then bring it back here, so we can have it remade and put on auction.
Not like we stole them We got them from customers They were selling them
The cars we pick up are damaged and broken down and sometimes have gore.
It is damaging for them. now their car is gone. X X We don’t want bad things, it is what we do— for work, for the company. X X We hope you drive safe, enjoying your daily life, without crashing one. X X But if you got one, that is good for me to call, and we’ll take the car.
by jorge palacios
WHAT DOES A
RECEPTIONIST WANT?
Dec 2020||The penchant|8
