The New Assignment

Damn rain, thought Jim, looking grimly at the sky and opening his grey umbrella. The

road was starting to turn into a marshland and getting to his office wasn’t a

pleasant experience even when the sun was shining: too many dangerous corners...

He inhaled deeply and he set on a fast pace, ignoring the stench of excrement that

was coming from somewhere at his right side.

He knew he was nervous and overly irritable but it was the day of his first big

assignment: a new life was in front of him and, if one part of him was happy for his

success, he was also panicking at the idea that he was going to leave his house, his

wife and his two sons (one of 2 and the other of almost 1) for months in a row until

his job was done...and nobody ever knew how long that was going to take.

Lost in this train of thoughts he didn’t realize that his friend Bee was right beside

him, staring at him.

For her, moving in the rain was even more dangerous than it was for him...how could

she be so calm?

Bee was an old colleague of Jim since the very first week of his career, when they

were assigned to the Department of Human Resources, and lately had become his closest

confidant and counsellor: the “emotional buffer-system”, as she called herself.

Jim always thought that if he hadn’t met his wife Cree, he would have fallen for Bee.

He dismissed that thought and turned with a faint smile to his friend.

“Good morning Bee”

“Good morning to you Jim, you look crankier than usual today” she replied with a

smile and a peppy attitude.

She was wearing a sun-yellow dress, with a hint of black here and there, as she

always did.

“Well...it’s the big day, you know...I didn’t sleep at all last night and I couldn’t

go out thanks to those bloody farmers stinking up the air with their bloody

pesticides...” he said with a deep frown.

Bee chuckled for a moment than turned serious: she did that a lot and was one of the

reasons Jim liked her. She was as honest as her face, as he liked to say.

“I’m sure you will be all right, Jim. You will have the most boring assignment and

you will have time to go visit your family every weekend and...” she was starting to

wave around, getting more and more animated.

“Ok ok, I get the picture Bee. Thanks for your support,” he said with a smile.

“Hey, don’t mention it. Remember, though, that I’m expecting the same from you when

my turn comes” Bee replied, finger pointed at Jim’s chest.

“I got your back pal...I must hurry to the secretary office now, I don’t want to get

there late...” he said, checking his pocket-watch.

“All right, break a leg buster!...and remember: the best way to deal with an

assignment is to be everything but themselves!” the last part they said it together,

quoting from the manual that every potential field agent had to study to pass the

exam.

She waved at him, smiling her best smile of good luck and disappearing around a

corner, leaving Jim all alone.

He walked down the long corridor and finally reached his destination: he sat down in

the orange waiting room for the Activation Office, where he would take The Oath,

officially becoming a Monitor.

He still had time to refuse and he was really tempted to do so, especially after

looking at the pictures of his family that he kept in his wallet.

He was almost rising to his feet to leave the room, declining the job, when a female

nasal voice disturbed the silence.

“Jiminy Cricket, you are next. Jiminy Cricket”

In that moment, with a gut decision, Jiminy decided to trust Bee on her word that it

would be the most boring and easy job ever and so he entered the office with a

confident smile to start his new assignment.

That decision cost him his marriage, a perforating ulcer and a fortune in alimony...
The only consolation he has now is that, without him, Pinocchio turned into a crack-head teenager and Honest John and Gideon are serving twenty five to life in Oz...