On the First Day

Weekly Pentina Prompt

Photo by Hello I'm Nik 🎞 on Unsplash

‘Colonel Slett!’

‘Yes, sir!’

‘You’re training the draftee.’

‘Yes, sir!’

The sharp eyes of the colonel looked over the frightened lad.

‘Hello,’ he said, almost friendly. ‘I’m Colonel Slett. I’ve trained lots of watchmen during the years — none lasted longer than two weeks.’

That’s a good start, thought the draftee.

It’s not easy to be ‘the new guy’ at work. The above scene happened on my first day at the Hungarian Ambulance Services, where I worked as an Emergency Medical Technician for long years. ‘Colonel Slett’ was pleasantly surprised and, despite his rough manners, was a good teacher.

Thank you J.A. Taylor for this prompt (‘Memories’).