I’m experimenting with writing and using dialogue from movies, songs, and so forth as all the character dialogue. Initially I was going to use phrases from other works for the whole thing, but that seemed infeasible. Here’s the first installment. It’s a little rough, but what do you expect from an experiment? The footnote numbers indicate phrases from other works. Try and guess where they are from.
Dennis was a little nervous. His first day on the job, at his first job. It was a company he hadn’t really heard of, but his dad had gotten him the interview, and now he had the job. Just an internship, but the prospect of something better upon graduation hung over him. He started off on a bad foot, caught texting his girlfriend when his contact, Max, approached, along with someone Dennis hadn’t met during the interview.
“Say goodbye to your family, Dennis,” Max said. “And say ‘Hello’ to Klaus.”[1]
Max gestured to the man next to him.
“Klaus is a moron,” said Max. “Who believes only what he reads in the New York Post.”[2]
Klaus grimaced, and shook his head.
“You are a neo-maxi zoom dweebie,[3]” Klaus replied. He shook Dennis’s hand, and gestured for him to follow him. Max trailed behind until they arrived at what Dennis presumed was his desk.
“No windows, no chairs, no tables. It’s a masterpiece of understatement,” [4]said Max, smiling at Dennis.
“What would you say you do here, exactly?[5]” said Dennis, standing at the computer, looking at it blankly. Max and Klaus looked at each other, then back at Dennis.
“I’m the boss,” said Max. “You work for me.”[6]
Klaus laughed, “I prefer head bastard.”
Dennis laughed uncomfortably, and glanced back at the computer. Max slapped him on the back, and glanced at his watch.
Max took him by the shoulder and the three of them walked to Max’s car. Max threw Dennis the keys, and got in the passenger seat while Klaus crawled in the back. Dennis hesitated, and slid behind the wheel. He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.
“Do you know the way to San Jose?[9]” said Dennis.
Dennis started driving, and the engine stalled out.
“Kill the headlights, and put it in neutral,”[12]Max said.
Dennis did so, and the car began coasting.
“Stab it and steer,”[13]said Max. Dennis started the car again, and was rewarded with the engine purring nicely. He followed Klaus’s directions, and the road ended abruptly.
“Everywhere I look, there’s a dead end waiting,[14]” said Dennis.
Klaus pointed back the way they came, and Dennis turned the car around. Max leaned forward and pushed a button in the dash.
“There’s a tape I want to play.”[15]
Music blared from the stereo.
“I like popular songs[16],” said Dennis.
“Do you like American music?” said Klaus. “I like American music. Don’t you like American music too?”[17]
Dennis nodded, and Max was nodding his head to the beat, paying no attention to Klaus.
“Where do we go from here?” said Dennis.
Max looked around. “Which is the way that’s clear?”[18]
Dennis went the only way they could, and ended back up in the office parking lot. He parked the car, and looked at Klaus and Max.
“That was like English Patient,” he said. “Long, boring, and pointless.”[19]
Max nodded, and got out of the car. As they walked back in, Dennis began to wonder about this job. So far, it hadn’t been anything that he expected. He furrowed his brow, and Max noticed the worried expression on his face.
Eric M. Ralph 