Kirk Channing wasn't sure if he liked living in Schuyler Square.
Oh, the town looked good with pretty houses, big trees and a quaint downtown that reminded him a little bit of Mayberry but there was something about the people that was completely un-Mayberry like. The ones he'd met so far struck him as odd in a Twilight Zone kind of way, like they were possibly pod people who slept standing up or who traveled to Mars for their vacations. Most of them just didn't seem to be quite all there. But Kirk grew up in Minneapolis so maybe he didn't understand small town ways. He was doing his best to give Schuyler Square a shot and see if maybe he couldn't fit in too. The town had been founded by his great-great grandfather, after all. Like it or not, these people were his people.
Then again, he didn't plan on staying all too long. He was thinking six months tops. Long enough to meet his old man one of these days and long enough to make sure his mom wasn't totally screwing up her life in some strange pre-menopausal action that would render the rest of her life impossible. Kirk had always been protective of his mom but ever since his dad died, he found himself worrying about her a lot more. She was no spring chicken and in many ways he could see how growing up in Schuyler Square had affected her. His mom was quite often other-worldly too. Things were going okay so far. His mother had a job at Schuyler Industries, she found a small house to rent and she seemed to like having come home again. At least, that's what she said.
So Kirk was trying but he still had major doubts. They'd been in Schuyler Square for about a month and he still hadn't met the man who had sired him. What was up with that? Ron Schuyler found his mom a job and Kirk suspected that the house they were renting also belonged to the Schuyler's but he had still yet to meet the great man who had taken advantage of his mother when she was barely out of her teens, impregnated her and then abandoned both of them. He sounded like a wonderful human being.
Kirk had discovered since moving to Schuyler Square that he had brothers too. Half-brothers, Brad and Tyler. Kirk hadn't seen either of them yet but he'd heard about them from their new neighbors and the common sentiment seemed to be that Brad was a jerk but Tyler was nice. Kirk was fairly certain that neither Brad or Tyler knew that he existed. Well, it wasn't the time to think about family ties. He needed to find something to do because one thing he had learned since being in Schuyler Square was that time passed very slowly in small towns.
"May I help you?"
Kirk pulled himself out of the fog he seemed to be living in these days. He was standing in the reception area/classified ads section of the Schuyler Square Times. Since he had writer's block the size of Mt. Rushmore, he decided to go out and find a real job. First stop: the local newspaper.
He smiled at the attractive woman standing in front of him. She had long red hair and was tall and well built. Kirk upped the wattage in his smile by a few notches. "I'm here to apply for a job."
The redhead laughed. "At the newspaper? As what?"
"I have an MFA in writing. I'd like to write for the paper."
He saw a flash of pity streak across the redhead's eyes. "Haven't you heard that newspapers are dying?"
Kirk had heard that but had filed it in his head under Denial, a file that was filled to the brim on a regular basis and was getting fatter every day. Stubbornly, he plowed ahead. "I don't need anything full-time. I'm a novelist but I need a steady income."
The redhead raised an eyebrow. "What have you published?"
"Well, nothing book length yet," Kirk admitted. "Actually, nothing at all but my blog."
"Did you ever work on a paper before?"
"In college."
"Then you're ahead of some of our other reporters but I'm afraid I don't have anything to offer you other than a delivery route."
Now it was Kirk's turn to raise his eyebrows. "You don't have anything to offer me?"
The redhead held out her hand. "Mindy Cooper. I'm the editor."
She didn't look old enough to be an editor. Kirk shook her hand, feeling like a big, fat loser. "Kirk Channing. Big, fat loser."
"Don't say that! Listen, if I were you I'd go up to Schuyler Square College and apply for an adjunct position. They're always hiring ."
Kirk liked this Mindy Cooper. He'd never met a woman before who suggested that he become a college professor right off the bat. Most of the women he met suggested that he stop writing and go get an MBA. "Really? I don't have any experience teaching other than when I was in grad school."
"Doesn't matter up at Schuyler. You have a master's so you're way ahead of the pack. They like to hire adjuncts at Schuyler so they don't have to give them any benefits. I won't lie to you--it's not the greatest job in the world. The kids don't listen to you and the real professors treat you like you've got a communicable disease but the pay is pretty good."
"You sound like someone who knows what they're talking about."
"I do. I've been teaching Journalism 101 up there for three years. If you'd like, I can meet you at the college in about an hour. Are you free?"
Let's see. What was on his To Do list. Go home, stare at his blank computer screen and then surf Internet sites for tips on how to break writer's block. He was free all right. "As a bird," Kirk replied.
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