Rue des Carrières (Franjo: A Journeyman Story – Mini-sode 145.5)

Side note: You all know the drill, I’ll be posting mini-sodes over the next 2 weeks like the year 6 review, world roundup etc. So in lieu of the usual meta-sode explaining all of this, here’s a mini-sode instead.

Oh, and thanks again for staying patient and keeping reading while I had that really shit 5 weeks. I’ve had a lot of messages of support for both me and the story and it honestly means a hell of a lot!

Start from the start with episode 1

< Episode 145

“You can’t be serious.” I sit dumbfounded, unable to process the last minute or so.

“I am.” He replies curtly through his thick accent. I look up at him expecting a smile or a wink or something, but he just continues to stare directly at me, with not even a hint of a smile on his slim face.

“Why on Earth would you be serious? Why the bloody hell would you ask me? There must be hundreds of…”

“I am asking you because I am stepping down and I have been asked to seek out my own replacement.” He cuts me off calmly, before taking a sip of his tea. “I’ve been watching you for a while and I think that you are the best candidate.”

“But I’m untested!” I protest, unable to help myself from laughing while my own cup of coffee goes cold on the table. “I don’t have the skillset or the experience or…”

“When my greatest opportunity came, I thought the exact same things. So did many others.” He smiles at last. “Just because you have not shown those things, it does not mean that you do not possess them.” He takes another sip of tea. “And it does not mean that you cannot be successful.”

I stare out of the window of Perk de l’Abre Sec at the cars passing by on the Rue des Carrières. Career Street, it translates as. As I come to my own personal crossroads, the irony is not lost on me.

“So.” He begins. As I turn back to face him he carefully places his teacup and saucer back on the gingham tablecloth, before interlocking his fingers and fixing me with that serious look again. “What do you think, Franjo? Do you accept?”

Mini-sode 145.5.5 >