Another Monday

Here is the post that I promised for today. It is the beginning of the scene where Lennie has his appointment at the Federal Department of Free Speech.

The sign read: Trust Through Accountability.
"What?" Lennie thought. This was the first thing that came to him, and "Are you serious?" It hung on the wall behind the receptionist's station, next to a framed photo of the President. The woman sitting there raised her head of red hair parted in the middle, and studied him over narrow glasses slung halfway down her nose. She motioned him over and said, "Your name?"
"Lennie Lempert."
She studied a printed page in front of her, placing a yellow marker at the margin of each entry as she went. At last, she arrived at Lennie's name and made a wide line through it. Adjusting her glasses then with freckled fingers, she said, "Please review this page and sign at the bottom." She held out a clipboard, which Lennie took over to a black, contoured chair pushed up against the wall. He scanned the page, signed next to his other signatures and dated it. Lennie must have been talking to himself, because the woman had her eyes on him when he looked up. She wet her thumb on a pendulous lip and began going through a stack of papers. Over her right shoulder was that sign with its strange motto. By having been placed so close to the President's photo, it had the effect of a speech-balloon, like in the old comic pages. The funny thing, though, was that it didn't sound like anything someone would actually say. It sounded actuarial rather than presidential. Lennie didn't reflect on the sign for long, however, for a man soon appeared at the door next to the receptionist's station.
"Mr. Lempert," he said.
Lennie stood. "Yes."
"Please come with me," he said. "I'm Ernie. I'll be doing your review today."
As Lennie walked by the station, the red-haired woman put out her fleshy hand. In a tone as flat as all Nebraska, she said, "I'll take that."

And then the fun begins.

Bob