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12.24.2002
"Hello?"
"Merry Christmas,
mom!"
"Robert! Oh, thank
you, son! I didn't think you'd have time to call me today."
"No, it's cool. I'm
on my break. Even up here, we get OSHA."
"So you're still
working for that man."
"Yes, mom."
"You haven't thought
about going back to school."
"To get my Asian
Studies degree? Have you got any idea what the job market is
like?"
"You're such a smart
boy, Robert. I know you can do better than manual labor."
"Mom, this is a good
job. It's a union salary. I'm a craftsman, not a ditchdigger.
And besides, we only work, like, three days out of the year,
and we get free housing. I'm saving a ton of money because there's
no place to spend it up here."
"It's not proper
work. What am I supposed to tell my friends you do for a living?"
"There's really not
a lot of job opportunities for elves, mom."
"You're only half-elf."
"Whatever. It's this,
cartoons, or posing for the covers of fantasy novels. And you
don't want to know what that's usually a front for."
"What about your
freind Hermey? He went to dental school."
"Yeah, I want to
leave this sure thing to hope I can get a job doing denture scrubs
for retirees in Boca. No thanks."
"I think you're just
not applying yourself. You shouldn't let the elf thing stand
in your way. You could be like...like the Martin Luther King
of elves."
"Mom. I like
this job. If you didn't want a life like this for me, you should
never have hooked up with an elf in the first place."
"I was young! I think
there was vodka in the hospitality room punch at that con, anyway."
"We've been over
this. Let's just let it go, okay?"
"Has that man made
a pass at you?"
"What?!?"
"Your boss. I don't
trust him. He's one of those people. A gay."
"Are you serious?"
"Well, just look
at his outfits, Robert. Don't be naive."
"Mom, he's married."
"A beard, they call
that. And I don't mean the one on his face."
"He's been married
longer than you've been alive."
"Mmm hmm. But not
children, I see. Not unlike certain other people I could mention."
"Mom, I told you,
it's hard to meet girls up here. I live at the North Pole, you
know. It's not like there's a lot of singles bars."
"What happened to
that one nice girl you were dating, that Rebecca?"
"Well, we're still
sort of seeing each other, but she's only up here part of the
years, for her work. It's tough maintaining a long distance relationship."
"Oh, that's right.
What was she again? A Greenpeace activist?"
"She's an atmospheric
scientist."
"She doesn't make
more money than you, does she?"
"Mom."
"Because..."
"Mom."
"What?"
"I gotta go. Merry
Christmas. I'll see you over the summer break."
"Let me just ask
you one question."
"Okay, what?"
"Does he make you
wear those shoes? Because they're not flattering, I can tell
you that. And they can't be giving you much arch support."
"I love you, mom.
Goodbye."
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