101 The Joke's On Me

I nailed it! He had no more questions for me after only 15 minutes. I made him laugh. Made him agree with me. My resumé, he said, was "sterling." And there was only one other candidate when I was called in. How hard was it to beat out only one other guy? And look at him! He looked homeless. Smelled of alcohol. Tertiary smoke exposure stinking up the Place. Shiny clothes that could stand up by themselves.

When I left my interview, I re-sat, wanting to see how long it'd take before the guy was thrown out. Ten minutes went by. Twenty. An hour. I heard the man--the deciding man--laughing uproariously. Was this happening?

I heard chairs shuffling and then the door opened. The "man," the deciding man, had one hand on the doorknob of the door he was opening and the other in a firm handshake with they guy.

"Then, Monday?" the man, the goddamn deciding man, confirmed.

"I'm looking forward to it," the disheveled, stinky, dirty miscreant said. The man returned to his office. Mr. Homeless looked at me.

"Congratulations," I offered tersely and left.

At the bus stop, I sorted out my loser life. Would I ever get a decent job That's when he--the hiree--plopped down on my bench.

"Sorry for your loss," he offered.

"Who died?"

"You, a little bit, don't you think?"

"Great. A philosopher. Harvard?"

"No. School of hard knocks."

"I know that school," I scoffed. "I pledged a fraternity there."

"Need something to lighten the mood?" he asked. A little joke..."

Murder was still illegal, so I just said, "I'm listening."

He pulled out a cracked mirror and held in front of me.

"OK," I said, "that's me."

"That's it. You're the joke. One you'll never get." He paused, then said, "You can start laughing any time."

So why did I laugh? It was funny, that's why. I was a big joke--just had never gotten the punchline.

"Know what? I'm gonna by you a drink." He rose and offered his hand to help me up.

"Why not," I said.

We walked across the street toward the bar.

A homeless guy and an imposter walk into a bar...

***

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AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Dedicated to that uniquely Millennium "Imposter's Syndrome." (Impostorism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome)

Words (not including Notes): 364

For Wednesday, April 10: Day #101 of the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge.

All pictures are AI-generated, but the joke was not!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that April 10 is the 54th anniversary of the breakup of the Beatles.

There are currenly three Vocal creators still participating in the Story-a-Day Challenge:

• Gerard DiLeo (myself)
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• Rachel Deeming

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