The coffee tasted better than usual. It usually was bitter and left a disquieting sensation in her stomach.

Today it warmed her cold hands and helped her cling to the task at hand.

The sugary donuts didn’t hurt either.

“Please, remind me again why we’re going through interviewing all of these college students instead of just grabbing a resume` of some professional off the Internet and calling it good?”

“Well, given my high turnaround rates,

I’ve begun to develop a bit of a reputation-”

“Well deserved, I’m sure,” the man quipped.

“-among the professional crowd,” continued Serra,

“Besides, college students happen to be a cheap, renewable resource.”

“Nah, you just like younger men.”

Eyes narrowed and shaking her fist, “One of these days Gabe…”

“As tempting as that sounds I’ll have to take a rain check on it today Serra,

I’ve got a lunch meeting that I simply can’t miss,” Gabe, the Human resources director said.

“So I don’t get any help on the interviews?” pouted Serra.

“I’d love to, but this time you’re on your own,”

Gabe said walking towards the door, “I’m sure even you can manage. Cradle robber.”

The door slammed shut as Serra’s donut impacted were his shoulder blades had been.

 

When he accepted Coach Robby’s offer to look into the internship Dane hadn’t realized a few things.

First off was the fact that he’d be needing a ride.

Dane had his driver’s license but had chosen to leave his car with his parents so he wouldn’t have to deal with gas money and insurance while at college.

Normally this wouldn’t be much of a problem,

but this was the weekend after finals week.

Parties were raging and most all of his friends wouldn’t have the time to give him a ride,

let alone be able to.

The second thing was that he should have been hesitant when Coach Robby offered him a ride to the interview.

“Are you sure about giving me a ride to the interview?”

“Sure, I’m meeting a friend nearby anyway,” said the Coach,

“Come to think of it, he’s the one who told me about it in the first place.”

“Cool. Could you put in a good word for me?”

“Okay, if it comes up I will.”

“Thanks.”

The Coach had hit his mid-life crisis a while back and still had
the prerequisite red sports car.

After getting into the RX-8 Dane checked himself in the mirror.

His gray suit was left-over from the welcoming dance that occurred every fall and it still looked rather sharp on him.

He ran his fingers through his hair a few times trying to straighten it and settled back to enjoy the ride.

What should have taken three hours ended up taking slightly less than two as Coach Robby sped between cars and worked his way up the traffic column at rapid speeds.

Aside from the stale trail mix in his back seat and a few screams the trip was uneventful.

Staring upward towards the tall, gray spire that was the JESU Corporation building Dane couldn’t help but feel a little small.

The imposing building’s face was dotted with stone busts of angels and demons and looked like a piece out of Greco-Roman Monthly.

“Looks like this is the place,” he commented to nobody in particular.

Coach Robby dropped him off an hour or so early and told him that they’d meet up in a nearby park after the interview.

Dane sighed, checked himself over, then walked into the building.

The lobby was pretty typical of big businesses.

The walls and furniture were done in neutral colors,

browns,

tans,

and blacks everywhere,

with the same two security personnel and the same receptionist with the overly-long nails and hair only slightly larger than her pet dog.