Meet Joe - Part One

A short story about a Moralist named Joe.

Meet Joe - he's a programmer from any-city USA.

Joe had been scorn by love more times than he can remember - he had managed to be scorned quite a lot in his short life, and yet he doesn't lose hope of one day finding the love of his life, the one person who'll finally except him for who he is and return his love in all of it's purity.

 

But there's one more thing you need to know about Joe - he's a Moralist.

"What's a Moralist?", you may ask.

A Moralist is a man who puts his moral values above anything else - any law, anyone and any situation.

When his friends are in need they can rest assure that Joe will be there for them through thick and thin, even if it means "breaking a few eggs" along the way, but as long as he doesn't have to do anything his code won't allow him to do.

 

Now, in Joe's code there's almost nothing above the value of love, as long as this love doesn't hurt other people, and he had even once given up on possibility of love when he thought one of his friends will be hurt.

That's our Joe - loyal to the end.

 

One faithful day, Joe met Jane.

 

"How have they met?", you may ask.

It was a cool Autumn eve, and outside the winds shook the yellow leafs off the avenue trees.

In the gray, tall building, where Joe worked every day from 10am to 8pm, you could find only 2 lights on at that late hour.

The first was at the main hall, where Joe's cubical was stationed, filled with colorful post-it's, which were utterly useless, since Joe never took another look at them once they were posted.

As you may have guessed, Joe was sited at his sit working on an important project that could not have been delayed, and on top of that he had a presentation to do in the morning.

Poor Joe - loyal to the end.

 

He was sipping small sips out of his coffee mug, which stated "World's Greatest Lover" - an office joke at his expense.

But he didn't mind it - the mug was quite useful.

Writing lines upon lines of code into the night, he needed that dark liquid, and in order to consume it he needed a mug.

 

Joe was completely concentrated in his work - he knew he had to focus and be done with it as soon as possible.

He didn't hear the door to the hall opening, nor did he hear the footsteps heading his way.

 

"Excuse me?"

Joe leaped in the air for approximately 2 seconds, and when he finally landed back down he turned his sit around and gazed at the sight before him - a tall, good looking blond, wearing a red dress, of likes he had only seen in old black and white movies, wearing red high healed shoes.

It took him a few more seconds to blur out "Yes?"

The woman smiled.

Her smile smeared with red lipstick taunted him.

"Do you happen to know where I could find Mr. Hammerson's office?", she asked, running her eyes on him from top to bottom.

 

Mr. Hammerson was Joe's boss - an older man, probably in his 50's, who kept his personal life to himself.

In fact, he kept everything to himself.

All Joe really knew about Mr. Hammerson was his name - George Hammerson, the fact that he is his boss, that he must know something about programming, and of course - where his office was.

 

His office used to be on the same floor as the main hall, but it has been transfered to the 44th floor.

His new office had a wide window, from which you could see the entire city.

Ah, what a great view that window had.

 

"It's at the 44th floor, left at the elevator", said Joe, returning the smile.

"Could you take me to him?" asked the women, taunting him again with her smile, making every part of his body melt like butter on a hot summer day (well, almost every part..).

 

What choice did he have?

Joe, like any normal man, got up and walked her to the elevator.

He pressed the button, and for the first time he felt how sweaty his hand is.

When the door opened, he let the mysterious woman in first, like a true gentleman.

Then, he went in himself, and pressed the button for the 44th floor.

He watched the numbers go up, as he released he was being rude not asking for the woman's name.

 

"Tell me", he turned to her, "what is your name?"

 

As soon as he asked, the woman pressed, in a swift movement, the button that stops the elevator in place.

She looked into Joe's eyes, and whispered - "My name is Jane, and I'm about to make love to you".

Author's Note

I wanted to write this one as a one-parter, but I just can't concentrate on it all tonight.
I'm branching out on this one, so tell me what you think.

Reviews

[joshua rainbird]

There is a current trend to lecture writers that show is better than tell. This is not always the case as you have clearly illustrated if the narrator has a strong voice and an intriguing tale to tell, then it can work very well. Some of the best bits of film start with such a device, I'm thinking at this moment of Morgan Freeman's introductory speech of The Shawshank Redemption.

Keep with it but at some point you will have to explain what the narrator's relationship to Joe is.

I like this very much
Josh

[DarkAngelWriter]

Oooo.

Okay, first off, I love it. I love that you're writing a story. And I love that you wanted ME to read it =D

Second, the button (in case you were wondering) is called the emergency stop button. And remember, buildings here in the USA can be high (even 44 floors), but we never have a 13th floor (just in case it ever comes up in the story lol).

Third, when you described the girl, Jane, it made me think of the blond bombshell on the cover of the Sims 2 Prima Official Game Guide... and she's hot lol.

And the ending? Well, all I have to say is there better be a part 2 and I better be the first to get a read request!

This has got to be one of my favorite pieces that I've read this morning. And that's outta like 37, so great job =)