A steadfast rain dissimulates the carpeted silence of the office, the piddling sounds of breathing, the squeaks of cheap dress shoes and the creaks of rusty swivel chairs. I lean forward to dial a phone number, the shape of my back a pithy assertion of my approaching defeat. The man on the other end has a thick New York accent, and I can hear a baseball game in the background. “If you’d like, sir, I could call you back at a better time?” I ask, still optimistic for the sale. Then there’s a loud cheer and high-fives so frequent it sounds like the Fourth of July.
“What better time than this?” he replies.
—
Justin Alvarez is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and is currently an MFA candidate at Goddard College. He lives in southern Maine with his girlfriend and two pets.
