Making Lemons

Here's another writing prompt, a rare example of me writing in the present tense.

The prompt: Write some dialogue of two characters arguing about something trivial, but they're really arguing about something unspoken.



First Day

"Ooh, is that candy?" I ask Tessie as I pass her desk.

"No, scorpions," she says shortly, not looking up from her computer.

"May I have some?" I ask.

Tessie nods slightly as she attacks her keyboard.

"Do you always set out candy?" I ask. It's my first day, after all, and a candy dish can say a lot about a company's culture.

I'm having a hard time understanding Marden Inc.'s culture: People seem silent and standoffish, yet there was a Happy Hour every Thursday and an office lunch the third Tuesday of the month. Do they save all their chit-chat for those times?

Apparently so, since Tessie has not yet answered my question about the candy. Should I ask it again? Should I take a piece and slink away? Should I take the smallest piece? As the newest employee maybe I should take the smallest piece. Oh wait, they're all the same size. Okay then. I carefully dip my hand into the bowl (taking care to touch only one — it wouldn't do to look choosy).

"I knew you'd take the lemon one," Tessie says, still tapping away.

 "Why?"

"Because it's the one I wanted."

I hold it out. "You can have it."

A long sigh. "No, apparently I was not meant to have it. You were meant to have it."

"Maybe the others are just as good," I say.

A malevolent look. "We'll never know. I will only accept a lemon one. No that this matters to anyone. I made it perfectly clear to people that I wanted the lemon one and they chose to disregard that and so here I am, stuck with my old blueberry candy, while you get the lemon one." Another malevolent look.

I was confused. Were we talking about candy?