I was in Harvard, walking around the cancer center and hoping to meet the department head. I wanted a job there. My old building looked a lot different: everything was gleaming white and futuristic, all the walls and all the furniture. But I couldn't seem to catch anyone. I walked instead into the library, which was plain-looking, and tried to pass the time.

Next I knew, I was sitting at dinner with a blonde woman in a red dress, and we were eating Chinese hot pot. I had been undercover for some time in the mob, and the mission was drawing to a close. This woman was the girlfriend of the boss, but she has shown interest in me and here was my chance to get some good information out of her. She went to the bathroom, and suddenly I saw her trying to choke the man at the next table to death! Suddenly she stopped and came right for me... I realized that the steam from the hotpot had obscured the man's face - and that she had meant to be killing me! She tried to act like nothing happened and slipped up behind me, pretending to give me a shoulder rub. As I felt her fingers close around my neck, I acted on instinct and drew and fired my gun. I didn't turn to look. But I knew there was no turning back, so I grabbed my shotgun and fired towards the bar, where I knew the mob boss was. In an instant, he was dead and I ran out of there.

I was a hero! The police force congratulated me. Suddenly, I was back at work in the lab, when James Bradner, the head of cancer research at Harvard, came to the lab on a special visit. We all gathered in the meeting room. I thought he was going to talk about the assassination and I looked forward to being praised. Instead, he talked about research and specifically asked Sharmistha about her work. They talked for a while. Finally, he asked for me by name! I was so excited... then he asked me to lead the group in singing the national anthem. No problem, I'd talk to him afterwards and ask for a job. But as we were singing, hands over our hearts, he abruptly left! I was so disappointed.

Afterward, Sharmistha and Kunal gave me a ride to the next lab meeting with our bosses. We chatted during the ride, but for a long stretch, Kunal turned to talk to me while driving! I kept telling him to keep his eyes on the road, especially during sharp turns, but he kept saying "nah, it's fine, I got this." Surprisingly we made it to the next building in one piece.

As we were sitting there in the meeting, which was in a enormously long, white curving staircase in the Broad Institute, I started to flash back to several things. First, I re-watched the assassination, starting with the woman depicted in cartoon fashion choking the wrong guy, then going after me. Next, I saw the mob boss at the bar, and the narrator who sounded like Morgan Freeman said, "and then the shot came. Everyone there was in their confined space." The film played in slow motion as the boss, who was in a white tuxedo and cowboy hat, recoiled and fell.

Suddenly, I was in a bedroom and talking to a man on the bed. He had wild eyes and tatoos all over. He started stitching body mods into his face, following around in a spiral from his chin, over his eyes, and back around again, leaving a large black track. He followed up this visceral show by inserting small pins throughout his face. Suddenly, I was him, and he became a co-conspirator to the assassination. The pins were now in my left hand, and I started pulling them out. He said "wait, some of those are permanently locked in. Let me get them for you." As he did that, something that felt like a toe bumped into my leg. I looked down and saw a large gap between the mattress and box spring. I suddenly remembered that that's where I had stashed the body. I told my co-conspirator that he needed to get rid of it. He whined until I reminded him that I had done the hard work. He finally agreed to dump it somewhere.

Now I was back in the meeting hall and still pulling pins out of my hand. The meeting concluded without any acknowledgement of me, and I was once again disappointed. As I walked to the bar, a man stopped me and asked what I had to do with the shooting, as he remembered seeing me there. I hesitated, not knowing if I should say anything publicly. A man in a red cap intervened, saying that I had nothing to do with it, and that it had been entirely the work of the supermarket Kroger's. That was now the official story, that it was orchestrated by the CEO. I was disappointed at not being able to get public recognition. But just then, my colleague Mike charged in, claiming he had audio tape of my actions and trying to get my boss to acknowledge it. We listened, which became me reading a transcript, but it was just generic descriptions like "a conversation is heard." I appreciated him trying to help, but it was no use. Really, all I wanted was to get a good job.

posted by Larry at 7:28 AM