7days7authors

Saturday - J & A Inc (Part I) - Jacob

{Stay tuned for a couple more saturdays for the rest of the story!} 

                                                ***

J & A Inc. a private investigation agency, just like in the old days. It was on my way to work, and I passed it every day for over a year and didn’t even notice it —my old job that is, because as of today, J & A Inc. isn’t on my way to work, it’s the destination. There was a small advertisement in last months paper, almost no information was given, very mysterious, as cliche as that sounds.

                                          HELP WANTED
                                                J & A Inc.
                                    Call for more information
                                          LAFayette 5557

The interview was actually two interviews, one with A, and one with J. The latter being considerably more talkative and friendly. “Do you mind if I record this interview?” he asked, and of course I complied, and when the interview was done he sent me into another office where I met A. This room was less of an office and more of a family room, it consisted of a couch and a television which was on, playing a DVD of some long canceled show. She was there sitting on the couch, watching the T.V. intently. For a moment I stood awkwardly in the doorway, wondering whether I should give a knock on the door or just speak up.
      “Uh, excuse me, my name is Linda, I’m here for the interview.” She paused the video and turned to me,
      “Hi, I’m A. Come here and sit down.” She motioned towards the couch, and I followed and took a seat beside her.
      “So I guess the sign is honest,” I said, referring to their names each being only one letter long.
      “It was his idea —real name’s Addison. His name is Jensen. I told him it was a stupid idea but he wouldn’t listen.”
      “You’re a stupid idea!” shouted he from the other room, and that’s when I knew for certain that working here would be infinitely more interesting than my other job. Addison’s interview was strange at best, I couldn’t see it from the doorway but laid out on the coffee table before the couch were the pieces of a puzzle, slowly coming together. She started the video again and for the next hour we watched and finished the puzzle together, although I must admit that it was she that did most of the work and I who handed her the pieces that she pointed to.
      “So is this a normal night — watching TV shows that were cancelled in the 90’s and piecing puzzles together?” I asked
      “It’s a slow night,” she responded, “like most nights. We try to keep ourselves as occupied as possible. Fortunately for the general population there isn’t a mystery every day, unfortunately for us that means we don’t have a job. Woah! did you just see that?” she picked up the remote and froze the television.
      “No I wasn’t watching, what is it?”
      “Look there, at the computer screen,” in the show the characters were looking up information on a person and had pulled up a profile of them on their computer, “See the date there — and the age? Remember it.” Addison took the remote and started rewinding frame by frame until another shot of the computer screen could be seen.
      “Now look at the date and the age, they’re completely different. Changed in 5 seconds.” she exclaimed.
      “Oh yeah, that’s interesting. How many times have you seen this show?” I asked.
      “I’ve never seen this show before, it’s my first time, I just bought these DVDs earlier today,” she motioned to an end table near the entertainment center, where the cellophane had been ripped just enough off of the package to allow removal of the discs.
      “How did you even see that, you were talking to me and putting a puzzle together?”
      “It was so obvious! I don’t know how you missed it.”

 **************************************************

      When I left the building, the reality of what I had just done set in, had I just applied for a job or spent the day with a mentally ill couple? Either way I figured that it was a better use of my time than at home alone. I moved here to go to university and presently it is summer, meaning I have nothing to do but work, and the thought of sitting behind a desk and reading the case files for J & A would be quite a thrill, and allow me sufficient time to dive into the books once school started again.
      It was the fourth day after the interview that I received the phone call, it was J telling me that I had received the job and that I could come to the office as soon as I wanted to start. I left that instant and headed for the office of J & A Incorporated. When I arrived J greeted me at the door and escorted me to the T.V. room, where Addison and young man I hadn’t seen before were standing.
      “Miss Linda, this is Mr Jones, he was also an applicant, he’ll be working with us as well.” said J.
      “Oh, nice to meet you Mr Jones.” I replied, and gave his hand a shake.
      “You can call me Edward, Jones is my last name, our new employer here insists on calling me Mr Jones. He is a strange one isn’t he?” he whispered as I shook his hand. Noting his young appearance I asked him if he also went to the university and he responded in the affirmative,
      “Yes, for mathematics, what are you studying?”
      “Psychology.”
      “Oh nice.”
      “I remember when I was in college,” J interjected grinning, “which is strange, I spent so little time there.”
      “How did you and Addison manage to get into a business such as this?” Edward asked.
      “That is a long and complicated story, and I’m afraid I would keep you both up for nights in my rendition of it, after all it takes place over the course of many years, and it cannot be condensed to a mere child’s tale.” J responded.
      “We met in high school, flunked out of college together, found a loophole in the law or whatever and got a license to start this business.” spoke Addison from the back of the room.
      ” ‘the law or whatever’ ” repeated J in disappointment, “nice work.”
Edward and I gave each other a glance,
      “This is going to be fun.”