Keith is back, and these are his words. “Using this photo (below) as inspiration, write a short story, flash fiction, scene, poem; anything, really; even just a caption for the photograph. Either put it (or a link to it) in a comment or email it to me at keithchanning@gmail.com before 6pm on Sunday (if you aren’t sure what the time is where I live, this link will tell you). If you post it on your own blog or site, a link to this page would be appreciated, but please do also mention it in a comment here.
Go on. You know you want to. Let your creativity and imagination soar. I shall display the entries next time.”
The photo.
The Consultant by John W. Howell © 2021
“So it looks like you are off to a good start.”
“Well, thank you, but I need your advice.”
“I assumed you hired me for a reason.”
“Yes, and at three hundred an hour, we should get to it.”
“Right. What seems to be the problem.”
“That wall over there.”
“Yes.”
“I want to go two stories high but am not sure if the foundation will support that weight.”
“What kind of foundation did you pour?”
“Concrete.”
“I’m sure that will support the wall.”
“Shouldn’t we take a look at it?”
“Is that what you want?”
“It seems logical to me.”
“Well, then we should.”
“Excuse me, but you seem to agree with everything I say.”
“What you say has great merit.”
“What if I’m wrong?”
“You will know that too.”
“I hired you to give me feedback on this project.”
“How do you think it is going?”
“Okay, but I need confirmation.”
“I think it is okay too. By the way, do you have the time?”
“Eleven o’clock.”
“That sounds right. Are we finished?”
“Why do I get this feeling your feedback is what you think I want to hear?”
“Consulting is giving the client what the client wants. You don’t have another cup of that coffee, do you?
Fiction Favorites 
I see you’ve worked with consultants, too John. I shall make nothing of the fact that my job title, prior to retiring, was Systems Consultant!
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Most IT titles had the word consultant in them. Designed to keep the end user calm when things went off the rails. 😁 I was an independent consultant for five years. Find, mind, grind,
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I see your find, mind, grind and I raise you spy, decry and lie (or defy, if you prefer).
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Hahahaha. Love it.
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Sounds like a couple politicians talking!
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That too. Thanks, Jill.
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I’ve dealt with that consultant before. It never goes well. Great stuff, John.
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Hardly ever. Thanks, Staci.
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This time, I knew exacty what ending was coming! The consultant agrees with the person in the company (or institution) who signs the paycheck.
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Yup and tells him the time using the client’s watch.
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🙂
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Maybe I should become a consultant.
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Nice life for sure.
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Aw, that isn’t like any consultant I ever used – he didn’t try to sell me something his brother-in-law’s start-up business. (Here in FL, contractors come and go with the wind!).
I thought, looking at the picture – “Well, it looked good on paper.”
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Hahaha. I like yours, GP. I think contractors come and go with the wind everywhere.
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Thanks, John!
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During the Hurricane Harvy clean up some folks paid contractors up front and lost every dime.
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Oh jeez – paying up front is the surest sign of a fly-by-nighter!!
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Yes, but people were desperate since there was so much work to be done.
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I understand.
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Guess there’s lots of money in being a Yes Man.
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So long as one continues to say yes.
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Isn’t this supposed to be fiction? Excellent take, John. It feels way too real!
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Sometimes fiction has a reality base. Thanks, Dale.
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You are talking to one who doesn’t know how to write fiction NOT based on reality 😉 Which is why I tease you this morning.
Have a fabulous day, John!
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Hahaha. Have a great day as well
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Thank you. I’m trying 😉
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Sounds like it is a struggle.
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It is. I am not particularly happy here.
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Work you mean? Not on Earth I hope.
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Oh hell naw! I am not done living for many, many years. This office, however? I could do without.
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Well let’s hope it gets better. Right now you have your feet up and am enjoying a glass of wine.
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I’m sure it will! No wine today but I will come Friday 😉
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😁
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I hope.
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🙂
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True professional. 🙂
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😊
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You have a wonderful way of capturing LIFE through a fictional story, John. Readers can nod to the truths and then laugh about it all. Enjoy the day, my friend. 😊
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Thank you, Gwen. Enjoy your day as well. 😁
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Oh yes, those expensive consultants! It’s great to see Keith back and you did a great job with the prompt, John!
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Thank you, Jan.
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Ack! My guy was a consultant with his own business for almost ten years after working for larger firms. He would love your story, but also assure you, “all consultants are not alike.” 🙂
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I was a consultant for five years till one client made me an employee.
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Maybe he thought you’d be less expensive that way..? (Just kidding) 🙂
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The project was super secret and needed an employee. (Legal opinion) Of course, I was the only one who had all the information so……..15 years later I retired from there. Was involved in all the super secret stuff. Fun times.
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That IS fun. And if you didn’t sign a disclaimer, maybe the “secrets’ might come out in one of your next novels. ;-0 🙂
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My Non-Disclosure agreement was thirty pages long and the last line said it all. “Talk and we’ll kill you.”
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Oh. Well, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive!!
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😁
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Now that’s a job I could do, simply agrre with everything….lol
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hahaha
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What a gig! Getting paid big money to tell somebody what they want to hear.
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How can you beat that?
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Lol, sounds as though he earned his wages 🙂
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😁
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Consultants are a lot like rabbis, they provide you comfort, even when the foundation is on shaky ground.
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Feel good is the motto.
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There ya go
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😁
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Good one, John! Feel good is the motto is right! 😀
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Hahaha.
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😀
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Fortunately I’ve followed you long enough John, to know that while you can write a fictitious consultant who is a caricature, you are no cynic and of course believe that all consultants do a mighty fine job and deserve their modest remuneration.
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My left hand is on a bible and right is raised. Since I was a consultant I swear this story has no basis in fact. Oh shoot you caught the fact that the bible is a book on mechanics. 😁
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I knew I could trust to your instinctive duplicity
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😁
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Our friends are busy building a house. Heh-heh, this sounds all too familiar!
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We built one twelve years ago and I guess nothing has changed. Thanks, Priscilla.
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Hmmm, I was a consultant for six years. I wish I could disagree with you, John.
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I was for five. I can’t disagree ether.
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Three hundred??
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Yup. So you know what he says will be valuable.
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Yes! 😂
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The truth with a bit of fictionalizing. Good one, John! 🙂
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Thanks, Lauren. 😁
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A Yes man, huh? Sounds like an expensive proposition to me!
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Yes it is. Thanks, Debbie.
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[…] The Consultant by John W. Howell © 2021 […]
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