SotA Anthology 2019-20 | Page 46

ENGL275 Creativity : Socially Engaged Writing Practice
a reflexive snarl . Then he caught himself . There was no device on the man ’ s arm .
“ Very sorry , sir . Have a good day now .”
The man grunted and went on his way , aiming one last “ prick ,” over his shoulder .
“ Ooooooh , the insurance guy . Yeah , cool . I ’ ll take you to see Mr Watkins . By God but it ’ s awful .”
She led Prentiss through the main entrance , through the noisy factory floor , and upstairs to management . Unfortunately for the Investigator , she talked the whole way .
Prentiss watched him go , feeling the headache in his skull slowly pound just that little bit more .
You ’ re lucky I ’ m in a rush you fucking uppity cunt
Prentiss stamped his foot on the pavement a couple of times before continuing on .
He reached the Toys4U TM factory about an hour later , sweating and out of breath .
That fucking car that fucking piece of shit I swear to God
It was sunny here , and the now rundown Detective was greeted at the gate by a young woman in her twenties whose smile looked even brighter and faker than the weather . Prentiss felt an insane urge to take a hammer to it .
“ Hi , can I help you ?”
“ Prentiss . Insurafirm . Here about the vandalism .”
SOTA Anthology 19 / 20
“ Yeah , so like , Insurafirm . My dad said it used to be all different insurance companies before it got monopolised . That must have been confusing back then , right ?”
“ It was certainly a different time , miss .”
“ I love your new jingle thing on the tv . What is it again ? Insurafirm . We ’ ll make someone pay , so you don ’ t have to ?”
Some people with an alwaysWATCHing TM liked to talk as much as possible , so that hopefully the powers that be would ignore their ceaseless chatter . Prentiss wasn ’ t one of those people . He was old fashioned like that . They reached the manager ’ s office after crossing the factory floor . The Girl promptly announced him before returning to her duties , and the Detective slowly walked in . Seated at a large desk was a shrivelled man of about Prentiss ’ s age , with thinning grey hair and a hooked ,