Monday, February 17^th, 2020

Playing the System

I called Jack every Monday to compare notes on our writing careers. That Monday’s conversation didn’t go well.

“I’m going to miss my first deadline,” he said. “But, I can get a note from my doctor saying I was too sick to write.”

“Why don’t you just tell the publisher your dog ate your homework?” I asked. “Tell the publisher aliens abducted you, probed you, and now you can’t sit at your desk to write.”

“If I’m sick I can get an extension. It’s in my contract.”

“Jack you and I have been friends for a long time, but I gotta tell you, you’re playing the system. You got a prescription, but you didn’t really need that cough syrup. That’s playing the medical system. If you hadn’t gotten the cough syrup, you wouldn’t need an extension.  Using that extension is playing the contract system. This isn’t going to end well.”

Like a man clinging to a life raft, he clung to his original argument. “It was prescribed. It’s in the contract.”

Today I won’t play the system.

2020 Vision ©2017 by Ken Montrose

2020 Vision is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/