11.29.2015
For a few minutes, Tern stood, arms drawn to torso in order to take up less room, and stared at his shoes. He shook himself out of the thoughts about having missed breakfast, and glanced around the room at his fellow waiters. About half men and half women. Nondescript but for a cute, blonde girl with long hair and a flannel dress. She stood as well and quietly tapped out some beat on her legs while she bobbed her head. No headphones, so she must have just had it in her mind. The group of them appeared to be in their late twenties to early thirties, but for an outlier on either side. The door behind Tern opened into his back as another man tried to enter the room. As he realized how congested the room was, he said, “Sorry. I’ll just wait here.” He closed the door part way, but not completely, so he could hear when the group was summoned from the waiting room. Several more silent minutes passed as the group waited. Tern looked from face to face in the group and wondered who each of them was. Wondered in the bored curiosity way, not in a way of actually wanting to get to know any of them sort of way. He’d just begun his second pass through the group when the door on the opposite side of the room finally budged. It opened slowly, and a woman poked her head in. “Come in, please.” Her head retracted and the door opened a bit wider as the first few people rearranged to be able to open the door wider and exit this waiting room. They filed into a larger room with long, rectangular tables and seats along one side of each of these tables. The room could hold thirty to forth people, but that puzzles Tern, seeing as the waiting room was so small. A few stragglers did file in after he’d taken a seat. A digital clock on the wall at the front of the room told him the meeting was 10 minutes late getting started. Typical government. Make you rush to get somewhere or else face jail time. And then they start late anyway. The lady who led them in shuffled through some notes on the desk in front of her, and looked red in the face. She cleared her throat and addressed them all. “My name is Linda Barclaus, and I’d like to thank you for respecting the summons which brings you here today. The Bureau of Economic Intensification needs your help. For those that don’t know, the BEI is responsible for growing the economic foundation of this country. It is every individual’s duty to help the Bureau toward this end.” She took a pause, and drank water from a plastic cup which sat in front of her. “The Bureau has determined you meet specific criteria which make you uniquely suited to helping us gauge the type and effectiveness of certain changes we are considering implementing by year’s end.” She paused again and took a quick glimpse around the room as she swallowed hard. “The changes are related to the fees and fines associated to low economic inspiration/value/intensity.”