They went down the Bay to Staten Island Colony. They assemble down the long
dining table in a quintessential farm house. The year is 1620. Cuddly jumpers and
patterned vests are worn. The table is bountiful. Seating: multigenerational.
Dishes are shared. They are floral painted ceramic. Cutlery and faint big-band
music. Softshade lighting. There is a Christmas tree. The children play away from
the table. It is a traditional Michaelmas dinner: great roast geese stuffed with
apples and walnuts.
Willist Towers Watson, Consultant
Business Analyst (spooning food onto
his plate):
(Passes candied yams down the table.)
Bartle Bogle Gegarty, Project Manager
(hovering hand over the dish with pride):
Bluechain Consulting, Director (on the
subject of shipping and distribution
targets):
Hogarth Worldwide / WWP, Global Lead
Production Engineer (cutting beef or
something):
Bosch Rexroth, HR Business Partner:
Now you’ve got to
be in the market for
more of these
candied yams!
Look at those
marshmallows!
How many did you
do last night?
Last night? 2.9
million.
They go from that
to the new hub up
in Anchorage. It’s a
perfect marriage
between
technology and
Systems
Management.
They sacrifice many different animals, especially horses. The blood from the
sacrificed animals is collected in bowls. Twigs are used to spatter the blood on
altars, walls and cult participants.
Pillafour Capital Limited, Audit
Associate:
Speaking of
marriage, Bosch
Rexroth, HR
Business Partner,
when are you
goanna make an
honest woman out
of Drayton Finch,
Senior Client
Partner?
(Everyone drops their cutlery and whoops. Bosch Rexroth, HR Business
Partner embarrassed, charismatic.)
Drayton Finch, Senior Client Partner:
Bosch Rexroth, HR Business Partner
(playfully checking his watch):
Drayton Finch, Senior Client Partner
(shaking hands with Bosch Rexroth, HR
Business Partner with mirth):
How Long?
14 minutes into the
meal!
You won, I owe
you $5.
The meat is cooked and eaten by all in attendance. It is boiled in cauldrons that
hang over a fire in the middle of the hall. Full cups of beer are carried around
the fire. The magnate blesses the meat and the cups
*
Bartle Bogle Gegarty, Project Manager
(returning to a beloved inside joke):
Drayton Finch, Senior Client Partner
(sarcastic):
(Hogarth Worldwide / WWP, Global
Lead Production Engineer giggles.)
Bosch Rexroth, HR Business Partner
(spooning candied yams onto his plate
with gravitas):
Drayton Finch, Senior Client Partner
(irked, trying to stay composed):
Drayton Finch,
Senior Client
Partner is still
recovering from her
failed relationship
with that parolee!
He was a lawyer.
So, since her failed
marriage to the
parolee […]
Oh my god.
They make toasts. The first is in honour of Odin, ‘to the king and victory.’ Then
the participants empty their cups with a personal pledge to undertake great
exploits, in war, for example.
Bluechain Consulting, Director:
(Everyone screams with delight.)
Pillafour Capital Limited, Audit
Associate:
Drayton Finch,
Senior Client
Partner can’t see
being with a man
who wears a pager
to bed! What’re
you gonna attach
it to?
When you wear it
to bed, I hope you
got one of those
things that go
vibrating!
(Shaking his hands and hips, the chair skids loudly on the floor tiling as he mimes
the innuendo.)
Willist Towers Watson, Consultant
Business Analyst (sitting up and
listening):
Bluechain Consulting, Director:
What’s that?
Sounds like a
cannon, but I didn’t
think those
mouldering relics at
the Fort could
possibly be fired.
(Bartle Bogle Gegarty, Project Manager listening too, vaguely perturbed.)
(The cannon booms again.)
Willist Towers Watson, Consultant
Business Analyst:
Steady Bartle
Bogle Gegarty,
Project Manager.
Steady, old fellow.
Sure the back
door’s bolted?
(Bartle Bogle Gegarty, Project Manager nods.)
(Willist Towers Watson, Consultant Business Analyst pours powder in the flash
pan of his musket, and pulls the hammer back in readiness.)
(Hogarth Worldwide / WWP, Global Lead Production Engineer fishes a fat
sausage from his pocket and munches on it.)
Willist Towers Watson, Consultant
Business Analyst:
Shan’t be a
moment. I expect
it’s only a fox.
Bosch Rexroth, HR Business Partner looks down from his dim white face to the
burning barns and the rye field.
Each time Bosch Rexroth, HR Business Partner thinks to get ahead — in Virginia,
in Greenwich, in Pequot, and now at Staten Island Colony — a Native
insurrection destroys his settlements.
$200,000 of yankee invention reduced to scrap.
Bosch Rexroth, HR Business Partner
(gently):
We can buy again.
(Into his pale blinking eyes comes a mist.)
Connecticut is the richest state in the United States. Into this fortress Bosch
Rexroth, HR Business Partner carried all his riches, all his provisions,
ammunition, and stores.
You’ve lost touch Bosch Rexroth, HR Business Partner started to look for some
food You’re coming apart
The United States is the richest country in the world
Silas Curtis
Silas Curtis is a support worker and poet based in Glasgow. He has published with Prolit, Wet Grain, Ink Sweat and Tears, and Propel Magazine. He is currently studying a part time MLitt in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow.
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