It’s day 13 of the #TopsyTurvyTVTour over on Instagram! Yesterday Emily Swift and crew played a serious game of Thanksgiving football. Today they hold an awkward staff meeting at The Office. Here we go…
(This is a derivative work based on the TV program The Office.)
Emily balanced her coffee on a clipboard, a donut clutched between her teeth. A memo from the casting director requested a meeting of all Door to Door characters.
On her way to the conference room, she passed a closed door. The nameplate read: T.L. Brown. Pausing, she tapped on the door with a knuckle. No answer. The auto-lights flashed on when she went inside. A piece of paper stapled to the back of the office chair read: Working from home.
It was dated two years ago.
Abandoning the stale office, Emily hurried off to the conference room.
Tara, Rabbit, Lucie, and Marley were already seated around the table. Rabbit played basketball with crumpled balls of paper and the corner wastebasket while Tara painted her fingernails. A plate of cupcakes, each one covered in dayglo green frosting and capped with a marzipan pumpkin, sat in the center of the table.
“Good grief, Marley,” Lucie chided the young man. “Turn those things off.”
“Do we know what’s up?” Emily set her coffee and clipboard down on the table. She munched on her donut.
“Agenda.” Tara pushed the paper over with a fingertip.
Emily reviewed the bullets. “We’re supposed to discuss who should be in charge –that’s an easy one: me– and also how to make things awkward. And we’re supposed to break the fourth wall with pointed looks and the occasional rant or inside joke.”
“I love it when characters break the fourth wall,” Tara said, looking at the camera. “And inside jokes. Hey, who wants to go out for some Rooster Brew after work?”
Lucie leaned her chair back on two legs. “I’m in. So, what about an awkward scene?”
Emily snickered. “You want awkward? Just hand Templeton a lint brush and a dirty magazine.”
Everyone grew quiet.
“Emily!” Tara coughed into her hand.
Lucie pressed her lips together, suppressing a smile. Rabbit grinned and made one last shot. Marley stuffed a cupcake into his mouth.
From behind, a throat cleared. Emily winced, turning.
Arms crossed, Templeton stood scowling in the doorway, leaning against the frame.
… Tune in tomorrow as we don’t just get a Wednesday, we might also find a Tuesday. (Now posted! Click this link.)
Readers – Not on Instagram?
That’s okay! I’ll be sharing my Instagram posts daily here on my blogsite AND daily on Facebook at Writer Tracy Brown so you can read them there, too. Make sure you check for a new story every day in October!
What I’ll be doing: I’ll be dropping Emily Swift and crew into a story, a scene, a situation, etc. matching the “TV show of the day” prompt from this challenge. In those posts you can read about Door to Door Paranormal Mystery Characters trying to make it through shows like: The X-Files, Scooby Doo, Bewitched, Stranger Things, Friends, The Twilight Zone, The Office, Law and Order, Miami Vice, Game of Thrones, The X-Factor – and many more!
If you ARE on Instagram, make sure you’re following me at https://www.instagram.com/WriterTracyBrown/ to see the posts there! But again, as long as you check out my blog list or my Writer Tracy Brown page every day, you can read all the short stories without Instagram. 🙂
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