#WritingWonders 3.26 —Interview question 26
After all the crying, proving I was actually human after all, they'd given me a copy of the interview questions. I tapped a finger on the print.
Cliftown said, "I thought you wanted to skip—"
I shook my head, one time. I knew the Director of Home had written these, and I'd ask her evil self what the deal was later, but I figured I could use this one to demonstrate my brain didn't function like most people's.
The interviewer swallowed visibly, having to ask this to the new second director of Home. "If you and the people you work with were on a deserted island, which one would resort to cannibalism first?"
I answered, "I wasn't going to answer this question, but I was walking in the city earlier today. I passed an alley where an old woman stood watching her daughter quarreling physically with a man I later realized she loved. I thought, maybe I should intervene but didn't in the end. The ancient woman had her reasons to watch with her arms crossed, and the two...
"The first time I met the man I'm promising to, we ended up each with a bloody nose and I got my torn ear.
"What was I walking into, if I intervened? I couldn't guess.
"There are no deserted places where nobody can rescue you. People live everywhere. On a disabled airship or a steamship gone off course, you'd die first. I realized long ago, hypotheticals are just that. Hypotheticals. While I suspect I could name a name, I won't, because until you are actually in a situation, you don't know how you will act. Nobody really does.
"I got trained to fight in the arena, to prepare for when someone tried to bloody me or knock me out. Yet, my trainer immediately made me spar with the man that lost the previous year championship by points. Neither opponent could land an affective punch on the other. I was supposed to be hurt, to see my own blood, and to go running home, crying."
After a moment of silence, Cliftown asked, "What happened?"
"I knocked Punch Drunk out."
"The guy that won the championship last year?"
"Yeah, it was me who handed him his championship belt. Neither of us knew what would happen until we fought.
"So, who would decide to resort to cannibalism on a deserted island? Until you land in such an unlikely situation, who knows?" I gave Cliftown my most feral grin, and the lens as a result. "You perhaps?"
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