The New Job (quickie) By: Lance Holloway The day was going great! Adam had just come from a job interview at the new experimental biological power plant. The boss hired him right after the interview. "Can you start Monday?" the boss asked. "I sure can," Adam responded. "The employees' entrance is on the west side of the plant. The entrance you came in was on the north. You need to go through the employees' entrance. It should be easy to find. When you go through the main doors, the employee office is on your left. You can pick up your work uniform there. They will get you working in no time. Try to be here at 7:00 in the morning." Adam couldn't wait. He always wanted to work in a ground breaking field. The plant used animal waste to generate electricity, and in the process produce fertilizer also. Monday finally rolled around. Adam quickly ran through his morning routine. About 6:30 he was on the road heading for the plant. He didn't want to be late the first day on the job. Unfortunately, the traffic didn't care. Adam ended up in a huge traffic jam. He waited and waited. The traffic was barely creeping along. Finally at about 6:55 the traffic was moving. Adam had plenty of time to make it. He saw the plant in the distance. If he hurried, he could get there before 7:00. He arrived at the plant's gates with one minute to spare. Unfortunately he was on the east side. The entrance was on the west. He started driving around when he saw a sign. It read, "Plant Entrance." He must have been lucky. He turned his car into that entrance and parked in his spot. He ran up to the main doors and arrived at the employee office at 7:01. "Sorry, I'm late," he told the man behind the desk. "I was stuck in traffic." "You must be Adam Jensen. You're only late by one minute," the man said. He got up and went to a back room. He came out with Adam's work uniform. "Here ya go. Try these on in the restroom over there. If they fit then I'll show you the ropes." The man handed Adam the clothes. "Are you feeling ok? You look a little green." "It must because I was worried about being late," Adam answered taking the clothes. He went to the restroom. When he got there he did feel sick. He hoped he didn't come down with anything on his first day. He wanted to go ahead and try to work, so he started changing his clothes. When he took off his pants he thought he must be sick. His legs were green and hairless. He also discovered that they were able to bend in any direction at any place. Like they didn't have any bones in them. As he was examining his legs, he noticed that his arms were the same way. His fingers were now long and skinny with pointed ends without any nails. He felt of his face to see if the changes stopped with his arms and legs. It felt different somehow. He ran to the mirror above one of the sinks. What he saw staring back at him was ugly. His head was no longer human. It looked like two large leaves that fit together like a clam shell. Two eyes were at the ends of two thin stalks extending from the middle of the upper leaf. He examined the rest of his body and saw it was just like his arms and legs. Just like a plant stalk. He feet resembled roots, more than his hands did. "I'm a plant," he said out loud to himself. He was surprised that he could still talk. For that matter he was surprised that he could still think and move. His insides felt like fiber. Just like a plant. The restroom door opened. The man behind the employee desk walked in. "I was wondering what was taking you so long," he said. Then he saw the plant man that Adam had become. "Oh, I didn't know you were going to be working in the fertilizer branch." "I wasn't," Adam replied. "Well, you have to now. You must have come in the east entrance," Adam nodded. "Didn't you read? It said, 'PLANT Entrance'." The man took this like it was an everyday event. "Ok, give me your uniform. I'll bring you your new one." Adam handed the man his uniform, and the man left. He couldn't believe what was happening. He was a plant! "Ok, here it is," the man said. He brought in something that looked like overalls. "It should fit." Adam put it on. It fit perfectly on his new stalky body. "Good, I'll show you where you will be working now." The man lead Adam out of the restroom and through many doors and hallways. Eventually they ended up at a room marked "Fertilizer". "This is where you will be working," the man told Adam. "The fertilizer is so concentrated that it is harmful to humans. That is why you plants work here." "But, I'm not really a plant...." Adam protested. "You are now. Just go in and the others will get you started." The man opened the door. Adam walked in, and the man shut the door behind him. Adam was standing in a room with two doors. One was the one he came in. The other must be leading to the fertilizer department. He opened the door and inside he saw lots of other plants creatures. One came over to Adam. "You must be new," the plant said. "I'll show you what you need to do." Adam enjoyed working at the power plant. He eventually grew accustomed to his new body. He didn't know how he could not have lived before. The job was easy too, all the had to do was dilute the fertilizer. He got two ten-minute watering breaks and an hour for sitting out in the sun. And best of all he got a lot of "green" for his work.