The Pursuit of Other Interests: A Novel Read Online Free PDF

we put you in a difficult situation, but things have gotten much, much worse under your leadership. We have no choice. Thank you, and I wish you well. I sincerely do.”
    “Helmut, please, come on!” Charlie’s voice caught and they both looked away, Helmut down at the desk and Charlie out the window.
    Behind him, he heard the rustling of paper. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Julie approaching, a descending angel of death, coming to take him away. He didn’t move, though. He kept staring out the window, into the sunlight and the air and into nothing.
    “Charlie?” Julie said.
     
    After they fired him and after Julie from human resources gave him an envelope with his separation package, and after she asked for his company BlackBerry and cell phone and American Express card and office passkey, and after she asked him where she should ship his telescope and globe and gumball machine, and after he took his little gold clock the old agency had given him when he left them, Charlie took a cab to the nearest zoo.
    When he got there, he walked. He wasn’t exactly sure why he chose to go to the zoo, though it was the one place where he was sure not to run into anyone from the agency. He walked for a long time, passing cages and fountains, the monkey house, and pockets of children clutching snow cones, lunch boxes, and balloons. He thought and felt nothing, other than wondering how long the shock would last and hoping that, with luck, it might last forever. If he were a drinker, he would have been in a bar; if he were a womanizer, he would be in someone’s arms; if he were a fighter, he would be with attorneys; if he were happily married, he would be at home. Instead, he was approaching walrus island.
    He wandered all over the zoo, oblivious to his surroundings, Helmut’s words, “This was all a mistake,” trailing him. He thought of things he should have said to him, made a list of reasons why he deserved more time. Alone, at the Lincoln Park Zoo, he made a passionate case.
    He was making progress. They had new business prospects. The staff would have come around and accepted him as the boss. He was on the verge of hiring a few key people who would shore up their weaknesses. He was only on the job for twelve months. The place was a disaster when he took over.
    His anger was tempered by equal doses of shame and self-reproach. He should have seen this coming. He knew he was failing, knew that while he fiddled with book clubs and “fat” memos, Rome was burning, and brightly. He suspected that he should have stayed at the old agency making Bagel Man commercials with Bob Dole. Maybe, by now, they’d be working with one of the Clintons.
    His mind raced erratically—money, his reputation, his mole—before stopping, exhausted, at his family: Donna and Kyle. How would they react? How would he tell them? What would he tell them? He walked on, one foot before the other.
    He lost track of time but eventually saw long shadows and got the sense it was late. Rather than check his watch, he pulled out his gold clock. It was small and circular and had a cover that slid off to reveal the time. He traced his engraved initials with a finger, then returned the clock to his pocket.
    He finally found himself on a bench near the lion cage. The light was fading and the wind was blowing stronger. Dark clouds formed overhead, moving quickly into each other, thick, gray. He realized that what he had thought was evening was really an approaching storm. He looked around, noticed he was alone, saw the lions slipping into their caves, casually glancing over their shoulders one last time before disappearing. Still, he sat there and waited for the rain, and when it came, he let it wash over him, let it run down the sides of his face and mingle with his tears.

Chapter Four
    The next morning, Donna walked into the kitchen, holding the newspaper in one hand and an empty coffee cup in the other. When she saw Charlie, sitting in an exhausted daze at