Time in Indiana

By Daniel Brothers

For my brother Robby,

“I left a steady plane for worlds of uncertainty

I miss the sureness of my feet, but god…

...what wonders there are to see”

Setting: An office in an office building, an interview

Characters:

Interviewer R

Interviewy Y

Y: Hello! Is this John’s office?

R: Carla? Yes This is he hello!

Y: Good to finally put a face to a name

R: Likewise likewise, please have a seat

Y: Of course, give me a moment to take my coat off

R: No worries! How was your commute?

Y: Not too bad, only an hour or so

R: An hour! That’s quite a ways

Y: Oh I’m used to it

R: Living out in the middle of nowhere?

Y: Little town called Ruthessberg

R: Huh, sort of the South Bend Area?

Y: No down towards Bloomington

R: Huh

Y: The commute isn’t a problem is it?

R: No, no that would be ridiculous. If you’re happy with it. BUt yes, lets get on with the interview

Y: Yes! Would you like a copy of my resume

R: I have one printed out, thank you

Y: Ah, we’re matching

R: ha Yes. Well lets start here then! Worked in New York for a while I see, BNG industries?

Y: Yes! It was a fabrication company for corporate events and shows, I worked in the office there. It was actually out in jersey but a lot of the work was in midtown or Brooklyn.

R: What was the commute like

Y: About an hour most days

R: How far into jersey was it? I thought jersey was a small state

Y: It was in Harrison.

R: Huh

Y: While I was there I learned how to use employee management apps, organizing diverse crews of workers with different skills.

R: BUt in like miles how far was it into Jersey?

Y: I dont know like ten miles

R: An hour long commute to go ten miles?

Y: Yeah it’s not that uncommon. Is that somehow a problem for this job?

R: No no no not at all. So your management experience is largely day laborers?

Y: Yes primarily, although we did have some shop staff and a business side of things that I handled as well

R: Do you have any concern translating that experience to the average Hoosier office worker?

Y: Well I think that they have a lot of similarities.

R: Such as?

Y: Maintaining accountability is important, communicating accurate between different clients with vastly different lingos. I would honestly say managing temp laborers was more difficult than managing office workers

R: So you’re fine driving a whole hour to manage these office workers because you think it will be easier?

Y: Jesus Christ why the fuck do you care so much about my commute!

R: Look if we were talking road trips an hour would bee nothing but for a daily commute? That’s pretty bonkers

Y: It’s not that long a commute! An hour from Brooklyn to New Jersey is good time! What’s so crazy about driving an hour instead?

R: We’re gonna move past the fact that it took you an hour to go what 10 miles, which is like horse and carriage speed. Thinking yourself big city lady

Y: I don’t have to take this from you. I’m not interested in this job anymore

[She gets up and begins to get coat]

R: But an hour in the Midwest! That’s like 60 miles, you could live in ohio for all I know

Y: What is wrong with you?

R: I just am trying to understand you city folk. You’ll commute an hour to work everyday but then a 4 hour road trip seems long to you?

Y: I just don;t understand what this is such a huge thing, this is the third time this has happened.

R: Time just works differently in Indiana

Y: I guess it does

R: Thank you for your interesting in this position!

Y: Fuck you!

[Door slam]

R: Enjoy your hour long ride home!

Lights fade as R sits back at his desk and goes back to work.