Written for a site as a backstory to their plot. READ IT KIDDIES AND ENJOY.
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“Doctor Hessler! Doctor Hessler, wait!” cried the out-of-breath assistant. She had learned on the first day of her job to wear sneakers or other comfortable shoes at work—chasing around her superior became a routine part of her job. As much as she cried out, day after day, for Doctor Gordon Jeremy Hessler to wait for her after she had gotten stuck behind a stampede of reporters, absentmindedly kept her eye off of him, or nearly ran over another staff member, the man would not comply. “Doctor Hessler! Where are you going?” Quickly, the young assistant nearly leaped over a stack of mail and used the momentum to carry herself closer to the man. For being well in his forties, he moved like an Olympic runner.
“I need to see the President,” said the doctor, not even pausing to turn his head to the woman, “Get me his secretary. Tell her I can’t hold, this can’t wait for another time.” With that, he sharply turned into a hallway, and the assistant turned with him.
“The President?” she asked, eyes growing wide. What is going on? she thought, and made a note on her clipboard. “If she asks the occasion, what do I tell her?”
“Tell her,” Dr. Hessler growled, “That it involves the fate of the human race.”
The assistant slowed her steps. Has he finally gone senile? she questioned, then sped up to meet shoulder-to-shoulder with him. “Excuse me? The fate of the human race—what?”
The Doctor sighed and finally stopped in his tracks, startling the assistant nearly running to keep up with his long stride. She took a couple paces back to meet with him face to face. He rubbed his temples before finally telling her, “I know, I sound crazy, but it’s really urgent. Just… please, do it. Of all the crazy shit I make you put up with, please do this for me Krystle.”
Stunned, Krystle gaped and stared at his back as he walked away. He finally said please! What now, were pigs going to grow wings and fly off? Was the dispute between Coke and Pepsi over? She shook these ridiculous thoughts from her mind and made the long trek to her office.
“I need to see the President,” said the doctor, not even pausing to turn his head to the woman, “Get me his secretary. Tell her I can’t hold, this can’t wait for another time.” With that, he sharply turned into a hallway, and the assistant turned with him.
“The President?” she asked, eyes growing wide. What is going on? she thought, and made a note on her clipboard. “If she asks the occasion, what do I tell her?”
“Tell her,” Dr. Hessler growled, “That it involves the fate of the human race.”
The assistant slowed her steps. Has he finally gone senile? she questioned, then sped up to meet shoulder-to-shoulder with him. “Excuse me? The fate of the human race—what?”
The Doctor sighed and finally stopped in his tracks, startling the assistant nearly running to keep up with his long stride. She took a couple paces back to meet with him face to face. He rubbed his temples before finally telling her, “I know, I sound crazy, but it’s really urgent. Just… please, do it. Of all the crazy shit I make you put up with, please do this for me Krystle.”
Stunned, Krystle gaped and stared at his back as he walked away. He finally said please! What now, were pigs going to grow wings and fly off? Was the dispute between Coke and Pepsi over? She shook these ridiculous thoughts from her mind and made the long trek to her office.
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Krystle paused, one hand on the receiver, other twirling the phone cord around her finger. “That’s what I said!” she exclaimed. Another pause, shorter. “No! Nononono! Please, don’t hang up! I’m serious, please! Just, please, can you tell him that it’s very urgent, and… look, Dr. Hessler is an intelligent man. He doesn’t fool around like this. I know him best—I bend over backwards for the man. He even said please! He never says please! Just please, please, tell him it’s urgent, and we’ll be over there right away.” Krystle gripped the receiver tighter, hoping, wishing, praying. After a moment, she smiled and balled her hand in the cords into a fist, shooting the fist high into the air. Trying her best not to sound too excited, she replied, “Thank you so much. You have no idea how grateful I am, really.” Another pause. “Okay. Thank you. Goodbye.” She pushed the receiver into its place and untangled her hand in the cord. She had to tell Gordon.
As usual, he was in his office, staring blankly into his multiple computer screens. “I just called the secretary’s office. She said she would tell the President, but…”
Dr. Hessler looked up, his expression gruff as his eyes bored into Krystle. “But what? What?! Tell me, for God’s sake, don’t hide it.”
“It’s his son’s birthday today. He won’t miss it for the world.”
Groaning, Dr. Hessler looked back to his screens. “Oh well. We’ll crash the party and show him these scans. Of course, he’s no rocket scientist, so we’ll have to explain what they mean.”
Krystle raised a brow. “We?”
Unmoving, Gordon looked up at her. “Yes, Miss Krystle Frost, we, are going to convince the President that the human race will be wiped out unless we act now.” He looked back to the screen, clicked harshly on the mouse, and stood. “Come on. I’ve booked a flight for us.” He turned to his printer to pull out sheets of paper, hot and fresh with ink.
“Now? But… That’s in D.C.! We can’t just go to D.C.! I have a dog! She needs to be fed and taken care of and—“
“Then ask your roommate or mom or whoever to take care of her. We have to go.” He turned to Krystle, connecting gazes with her. “Frankly, the human race is more important than Fido.”
Krystle’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t just leave her dog behind! But then again, he was right—humans had a priority over animals. Slowly, sadly, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed her brother’s number.
The doctor reminded me of Gregory House (from the show House), mixed with Tony Stark (Iron Man).
ReplyDeleteI really liked the line "Was the dispute between Coke and Pepsi over?"
I also thought that "humans had a priority over animals" was sad, and that, if you were to have submitted the story to De Arcos, she would have put an unhappy face next to that, and said that animals are worth something, too.
Strangely enough, the story also reminded me of Cory in the House mixed with Obama, also, how it talked about dogs and children and importance and all.
The story also reminded me of Nick Sagan's "Idlewild," how it was about doctor's and "the fate of the human race." (Although, I was a bit confused---I wasn't sure if "fate of the human race" was just a hyperbole for importance or if, really, he was bent on saving the race, ha!)
In all, no offense to your writing skillz, but I just didn't get this story. I think the plot was over my head---I'm not used to reading about doctors, all fast-paced and the president and the fate of the world. I'm like, "My brain hurts. Sparknotes plz?"
Yeah, it was supposed to be written for a site that had a plot that went something along the lines of "the world is devoid of humans because they saw impending doom and took off in their starships and headed for Mars, leaving all but two of every kind of animal behind." It was a dog rp site, so this city was ruled by dogs and wolves and such. xD
ReplyDeleteThat actually sounds kind of interesting---a dog RP site, that puts humans on Mars, with the dogs on Earth. It almost seems like a Goosebumps story, or something out of The Twilight Zone :3
ReplyDeleteReally? There are a ton of Dog RP sites out there and I didn't think that any of their plots were any different--granted, they all pretty much had the same plot--no humans anywhere, something took them all out, etc.etc.
ReplyDeleteNao I roleplay human(oid)s and it's hard to transition from an animal who is willing to jump into a story for no reason to a humanoid being who's a bitter young woman who wants nothing to do with anyone yet IS WILLING to interact if it means she can get her way..
I don't think I've role-played since I was a sophomore D:
ReplyDelete