Tags
alchemist, beaver, bluegrass, Brad, caterwauler, drink me, eat me, fish, Fred, frog, Henry, Irishman, Joyce, Lewis Carroll, Lola, moose, Myrtle, Orwell, Pfeffer, Prima, Rand, Secunda, Tertia
Episode 35: Part 2 of “The Imposter’s Koan Drill“
The hour and the day of meeting arrived and Alex
found himself in front of the meeting room.
Everyone was there except for Brad
and the fish. Pfeffer greeted
everyone as they arrived.
After a few minutes she/it
restated the purpose
of the meeting,
“Corporate Culture.”
The Moose and the Beaver were looking quite
militant while attempting to reflect
their new roles in the
Radical Flea Party.
The prevailing thought was that they
had previously been skinned
and hung out to dry.
Alex and Myrtle
glanced at each
other and grinned;
not about poor
Brad and fish
but at knowing
that this would
be another
useless
meeting.
Pfeffer had hardly started when Brad walked in the door
with the fish bowl pressed up against his right eye.
He had the eye wide open and the fishbowl
magnified its size by a power of four.
“Brad” demanded Pfeffer tersely,
“what the hell are you doing?”
“Scaring the fish” answered Brad, quite truthfully.
And indeed he was; for the fish was backed up
against the opposite side of the bowl
with his pectoral fins
almost covering
his eyes.
“Put the fish on the table and sit down”
commanded Pfeffer.
Then under
its breath
it added,
“Idiot!”
“Yes Maam, – – – er – – – -,
Sir, – – -er – – –
Excellency”
stumbled
Brad.
Pfeffer continued “Now that we are all here I will
continue on with the subject of the meeting.
Our goal today is to ask questions
that make no sense, and then,
not answer them.
Is that clear?”
“I know, I know, I know” said the fish excitedly
as he leaped in and out of the water.
“What do you know?” asked Pfeffer.
The fish said proudly “I know what you meant.”
“I meant what I said” explained Pfeffer.
The fish responded with “Now that we are all here”
and was about to repeat every
last word that Pfeffer
had uttered.
Pfeffer grabbed her notebook and
placed it over the fish’s bowl.
The fish sank dejectedly
to the bottom and
slowly moved
his fins over
the gravel
bottom.
“Ain’t nuttin’ clear”
came the confident
voice of Myrtle.
Pfeffer went on to explain. “Our engineers do all
their work with logic and refer to their
textbooks for formulas and algorithms.
That method does not work for
defining a corporate culture.
We must find our own way
to enlightenment.
We wil do a
Koan drill.”
“I would prefer an example” stated the beaver.
Was the formatting a way of pacing the reader?
No. I just thought that since Alex was Fred’s alter ego then their styles should remain the same. See
https://waldotomosky.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/a-devine-tragedy-1-introduction/