justwrite 13 november

Time passes. Aileen edits, the hot chocolate arrives and is slowly consumed. The inevitable drop of chocolate waits until page 64 to fall. There, it lands spectacularly in the midst of a commentary on sustainability authored by a leading authority in the area of international agriculture: Malcolm Holmes. ‘A farmer out standing in his field,’ her father would have quipped.

Quick action with a tissue, a wet wipe, and some thin-lipped blowing of cool air leave only a light brown blot on the record. What does it look like? Chocolate? Coffee? Coffee seems like a more acceptable substance to have spilled, for some reason. Luckily only Oksana Dimitryvna will probably be looking at this. Still, there are many possibilities.

1. Oksana is a reasonable person, and she will understand that editing does not happen in a vacuum.

2. Oksana is prone to occasional fits of irrationality, especially since she’s been pregnant, and may take this spot as a personal affront.

3. Oksana will use this opportunity to suggest to her father, Dmitry Mikhailovych, that proofs on paper are a foolishly wasteful idea, when the whole editing and review process can be completed on the computer. She has, in fact, made this suggestion repeatedly in the time since Aileen has worked for LionPrint. Her father, perhaps overly old fashioned on some occasions and perhaps overly fond of paper on all occasions, is still the boss, and the policy has not changed. This chocolate stain, however, may provide fresh ammunition in this ongoing debate, and Dmitry Mikhailovych could come to see Aileen as a potential upstart who planted this spot on purpose—a spot plot hatched by co-consiprators against an old man hiding in his own fortified bunker constructed of paper, cartons and cartons of A4 and more. Dependent on employment for a visa, and dependent on Dmitry Mikhailovych for this visa, Aileen can ill-afford to even hypothetically bombard such a fort.

4. Aileen can white-out the spot and no one will notice the difference.

5. No one will notice the spot anyway.

Aileen waves the paper gently, still blowing on the spot, ready to assess the dry-stage damage. As if in response to this cue, a tall lanky guy with red hair appears from The Back and clears away her nearly empty cup. To be clear, most people would view this cup as empty, but Aileen sees A Great Deal of Potential in the lickable edges. She has a long tongue, and would never have waved a white flag of surrender to this unexpected arrival, this Thief Of Opportunity.