Jennifer Ott
Follow on
  • Welcome
  • RESIDENCY
  • Fiction
    • Non Fiction >
      • Love & Handicapping
      • Love and Handicapping Blog
    • MUSE
    • Curious Life of Frieda Leigh
    • Desperate Moon
    • Time of Useful Consciousness
    • Rays of Civilization
    • Searching Civilization
    • A Soul to Shine
    • Edge of Civilization
    • Serendipidus
    • Saying Goodbye Series >
      • Dark Knights >
        • Set You Free
        • The Dancer
        • What to Say?
        • A Long, Long Time
        • What I See in You
        • Lonely Girl
        • Nothing
        • Little Voices
        • Dreamtime
        • Voo-Doo-Doobie-Doo
        • Love's Bloom
        • Purgatory in Paradise
        • Destination of Love
    • The Insurrectionist
    • One with the Wind
    • The Tourist
    • Wild Horses
  • Book Excerpts
  • Paintings
    • Products
  • Articles
  • Blog
  • Photography
    • The World is a Playground
    • Bohemia & Beyond
  • Radio Show
  • About
  • Contact
  • Link Page

The Tourist - Corporate Sponsored Lives

6/11/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Many neighborhoods still showed devastation from the economic downslide—pothole-filled roads, ill-working traffic lights, run-down houses, and unkempt yards. Driving down the unsponsored street was like entering a black-and-white movie. Here in this dull, colorless street was where the “cogs” lived—those whose fate was to turn the corporate wheel.

It wasn’t until the upper-class neighborhood of Kellogg Street where color returned to life and Judy settled into the bucket seat of Jake’s sports car. The dinginess of the uninspired cogs made her uncomfortable. Only those deemed worthy of corporate sponsorship had any chance of a decent life—access to brand-name products and credit. The thought of going through life using generic products and services ran a shudder through Judy’s perfectly postured spine.

Despite her discomfort in the company of cogs, Judy volunteered helping unsponsored women with makeup and hygiene tips. Her slogan: “It doesn’t cost a lot to make a profitable impression.” For one event she made T-shirts and coffee mugs to promote her humanitarian side, which was now a big part of her résumé, and her interview pitch: “Working with the needy looks good.”

 “I think we should buy one of these cute little houses. It would be a starter home, of course. We’d have to start small. It wouldn’t be tasteful for us to buy a mansion as our first house.” She turned toward Jake with a competitive gleam in her cornflower blue eye. “You know, Kathy and Marc’s first baby is going to be sponsored by Gerber. How exciting. I'd like Johnson & Johnson to sponsor our first. I love their lotions.”
She admired her hands. “My hands are as soft as a baby’s bottom.” She placed the back of her hand against Jake’s cheek. “See?”

“Soft, but I’ve never felt a baby’s bottom against my cheek.”

“That’s why I love you—not only upwardly mobile, but funny, too.”

Looking ahead at the clean streets of the corporate-sponsored neighborhood, Jake knew marriage and a family would be a part of his future, but it was never a dream. To him, marriage was a job: find a woman that suited his skills and abilities, negotiate the terms, and then sign the contract. He studied Judy thoughtfully. With her looks and poise, and his ingenuity, surely they would find someone to sponsor their adult lives. He grinned; his future was only a block away.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Jennifer Ott

    Book excerpts.

    Archives

    April 2020
    August 2019
    July 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed