The Dilemma

     Just as the antique wall clock struck 7:00 a.m. Kari sat down in her creaky desk chair.  She didn't have to be there before eight but she loved to arrive early while the office was still quiet.  She would fill her huge mug that was shaped like a snowman with black coffee and sip it slowly as she collected her thoughts.   And today her thoughts were racing wildly.  What would she do?  What could she do?  How could she have fallen asleep before the guitar player even started his set?   And that dream...why had she dreamed of Keith.  She hadn't thought about him in years.  She hadn't wanted to ever think about him again after what he did to her.   It must have been because she had been thinking about Jimi Hendrix.  Keith had been obsessed with his music and they used to listen to it together on those moonlit nights by the lake.  She had been so young and naive then but now, 6 years later, she was much wiser and would never open herself up to that kind of pain ever again.

     She saw Devin watching her from his office.  Devin was her boss and she knew he would soon call her into his office to ask how the performance was.   Kari wanted to be taken seriously as a journalist and knew that her integrity and ethical beliefs were her first priority.  She knew what she had to do.   Before Devin had a chance to summon her she made her way through the myriad of desks and piles of papers, not even bothering to knock when she reached his open door.  Refusing his offer to sit, she poured out her story of what had happened the night before, omitting the part about the dream that still haunted her.   Devin listened intently.  It took all the composure he could muster to keep from laughing.  He knew he couldn't let her see his amusement.  He had been studying her face since she had arrived this morning and he knew that she was both exhausted and troubled.    He couldn't be too hard on her because the exhaustion was partly his fault.  He knew he had been sending her to too many late night concerts and performances.  He had been watching her since hiring her a year ago.  He knew she had the talent to go far in this business but he wasn't so sure that she had the edge.  News journalism was a tough business; cut-throat at times.  He just didn't think Kari could stand up to the big guns when things got rough.  But back to the situation at hand...

     Kari had finished her explanation and apologized profusely.  She stood with her head down for what now seemed like an eternity before Devin finally spoke.  "So, Kari, do you have a plan for an alternative column?  You know we can't have dead space in the newspaper." he said, trying not to be too stern.  And suddenly Kari's eyes started to twinkle.  This was her big break, the one she had been waiting for.  "What if instead of a review of his performance I turn it into a story about the man himself...how he got into the business - how he was influenced by Jimi Hendrix and so on.  I could schedule an interview with him this morning and get his real story.  I would still meet the midnight deadline."   How could he say no when she was so excited at the prospect of writing a real story instead of a review.  He gave her the go-ahead as she ran back to her desk to start making phone calls.  The interview was on.