The Watch – Part 237:

(Tom’s perspective)

I found myself back in the interview room.

‘I apologise for calling you back after only a short while, but we have come to what we

feel is a reasonable decision towards hearing out and accepting certain compromises

that you would like to put forward. You put forward your end of the bargain and so we

will put forward ours to level any debt that we have between us. In return, we feel it is

reasonable to ask any more questions we may have in the future. Do you accept

that?’

‘I do.’

‘I said before that we have the right to refuse any and all requests if we deem them

inappropriate for any reason. Do you still accept that?’

‘I do.’ I don’t really have a choice in the matter, anyway.’

‘Once we have made a note of your requests, there will be a brief moment when we

will discuss what we can do and what we cannot do. Depending on what you have put

forward does make the time vary. Do you accept that?’

‘I do.’

‘How many requests would you like to put forward?’

‘Um…’ it was at this moment that I never actually thought about what I would like to

request. I probably should have done. I’ll have to make this up on the spot. That may

make things difficult. The first thing I need to come up with is the number. How many

requests would I like to put forward? Well, I don’t want to say too small a number just

in case I want to request more, and I don’t want to say a too big of a number because

that might put them off and I may not have that many requests in the first place. A

good number would have to be, ‘five.’

‘Five requests,’ Dr Amanda repeated for confirmation.

‘Yes,’ I nodded. She made a note of the number in her notebook. Then, with the pen

ready and waiting, she looked up at me and said.

‘May I take your five requests, please?’

And this is where things gets complicated. I have no idea what I want to say. I know I

made a big commotion about compromises, but who wouldn’t, I guess? I never

actually thought she would agree to discuss it, and when she said that we would, I fell

asleep instead of thinking about what I can ask her. I don’t want to say anything, as

that would be a rather very awkward situation. I have to say at least something. OK,

think rationally, what would I like to request that isn’t too big or too small and is

something that is reasonable. How about; but I doubt Amanda would go through with

it.

‘I would like a tour of your organisation,’ I stated, not asked. Dr Amanda wrote down

what I said to the letter. She didn’t say anything, nor reacted in anyway, just wrote it

down and let me carry on. That didn’t sound reasonable enough. I need something a

little bit more rational. Well, if I’m going to be stuck in a cell for an unknown amount

of time, I might as well make it worthwhile being there.

‘I would like a TV. It doesn’t have to be a big TV, just a TV so that I can watch

something.’ I saw that she only wrote down ‘I would like a TV.’ She understood what I 

meant. OK, three requests left. You can ask for a lot with three requests left, but it’s 

easy to waste them very quickly, so use them wisely. Having a TV in my cell is

probably the better of the two, so if I stick to that level, I might be getting somewhere.

What else can I have as well as a TV? A DVD player? That’s wasteful. And so would a

games console… and a computer. Although, a computer might be handy, actually. I

would be able to do a lot of things with a computer. Ah, but you can also do a lot with

a computer. They won’t give me one for risk of me doing anything that would help me

with my plans in anyway. So a computer is completely out of the question. Come on,

think, Dr Amanda is waiting for my last three requests.

‘I would like to be able to choose what I would like to eat each day. Because I’m from

another universe, certain foods may be different and so I would like to know what is

what?’ The first part makes sense, but the second part doesn’t because I already

know what foods there are on this planet. I was making it up on the spot and I found

myself saying that before I could stop myself.

Two more requests remaining. I can do this. They need to count. What can I say? I

wouldn’t mind a set of DVD’s, but it really would be a waste of a request. Well, I do

have two more. Ah, yes, but once this one is used up, I’ll only have one more, and that

will mean I will have to think of something that is worthy of just one more request.

Why don’t I just make two worthy requests?

‘A set of books to read.’ I’m not sure if that is wasteful or not. I’m not a big reader, but

at the same time, being stuck in a cell with only a TV would make me want to read a

book to break away from the screen from time to time. I think that is a worthy one…

ish.

OK, one last request. Make it count.

I do believe that my first request will not be carried out, so I might have to redeem it.

How about.

If I get a little claustrophobic in my cell, I would like to leave and walk about the place.

You get to choose where I go and who guards me, of course. No, I have a feeling that

they would allow me to do that anyway. Keeping anyone in a confined space for a

prolonged amount of time can break anyone. I need to think of something better.

‘I would like to leave this place every once and a while. You get to choose where I can

go and who must go with me, but I would like to get some fresh air, away from this

organisation for a bit.’ It’s the same as getting out of the cell, but much better.

‘OK,’ Dr Amanda said, ‘I have made a note of all of your requests. If you wouldn’t mind

returning to your cell once more, I will call you back to tell you what we have decided.’

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)