In Limbo

Chapter 9

Lee was led to a conference room down the hall from the Editor In Chief's office, and asked by the receptionist, Sandy, "Would you care for coffee?"

But Lee, remembering how stale the Agency's coffee was by this time in the afternoon, shook his head, stating politely, "No, thank you."

Sandy, handing him a notepad, answered with a smile, "Okay. Mr. Jenkins will be with you shortly, and asked that you make your piece interesting, but short and to the point...Good luck, Mr. Castle...I'll be right out there if you need anything."

But before Lee could say anything else, the door closed.

Lee sighed muttering, "Great..."

Staring down at the paper, Lee shrugged and began to write...

-SMK-

Twenty minutes later, Lee had just finished when Mark Jenkins entered the room saying, "Time's up, Castle. Let's see what you've got here..."

Lee, handing him the notepad, replied, " It's just a rough piece, something as a kid, I remember experiencing, and-"

Jenkins, taking the notepad from him, put up a hand, responding, "Button it."

Lee smirked, remembering Billy Melrose saying that same phrase once in a while to Francine Desmond and then thought, This may be a good place to work after all, he thought, as he waited for Jenkins to read the piece.

But he was quickly brought down to earth as Jenkins finished reading what Lee had written, and asked bewilderedly, "Wh-What the hell is this?"

Lee surprised, queried, "My piece? Okay, so it's not The New York Times, but I did the best I could without notes to work from-"

Jenkins sighed, and questioned him further, "What school did you graduate from?"

Lee answered with a shrug, "UVA-"

Jenkins groaned querying, "So no writing experience other than regular term papers and such?"

Lee, clearing his throat asked, "Excuse me, Sir, but what are you getting at?"

Jenkins looked Lee up and down, commenting, "Let me guess...You just slid through enough courses hoping to pass and graduate without any real thought as to your future?"

Lee responded, "Well, my major was in Liberal Arts, but I played a lot of football in high school and made it to the Caveliers at UVA, thinking I could make it to one of the NFL teams, but-"

Jenkins shook his head, and opening the door, yelled across the hall, "Murphy! Get in here!"

A man, about Lee's height, medium build with jet black hair, came out of the room across the way, asking, "What's up, Chief?"

Jenkins stated to the man, while gesturing to Lee, "Frank Murphy, Charles Castle...I'm gonna give Castle a trial run here, but I want you to show him the ropes...He's a little wet behind the ears, so you may have to go slow."

Lee asked Jenkins, "What happens if I don't do well with the sports column?"

Jenkins looked at Murphy, and the two chuckled, and then Jenkins answered, "Oh, you misunderstood, Castle...You don't just get to where we're at here...Newbies like you usually do a trial run with the advice column. If that goes well, then I'll let you help Murphy with the area schools sports sections..Your probationary period lasts about 90 days...If you don't hear squawking from me, you're good to go, but otherwise-"

Lee put up a hand replying with a nod, "Yes, Sir...I'll be looking at unemployment."

Jenkins clapped Lee's shoulder answering, "You catch on quick...Now, what do we call you?"

Lee answered, "Chuck is fine, Sir."

Jenkins nodded, and replied as he turned from the two men, "Good luck..."

As Jenkins went down the hall, Frank said to Lee with a motion, "C'mon, Chuck. I'll give you the grand tour, and then get you familiar with the computer...You've dealt with those, right?"

Lee remarked as he followed Frank in the opposite direction of where Jenkins went, "Not on a regular basis, but-"

Frank waved it away, commenting, "No worries...You'll catch up with the rest of us, depending on the kind of software you've used before..."

And as Lee followed Frank, who kept on chatting the rest of the way through the building, he thought, Maybe I bit off more than I can chew here...Whew...

TBC