Five Minute Observations

Author: Joe Class III

  • Emulsion Plastics: Now Hiring

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    Joe Class III
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    Pulling off the highway onto the gravel road leading to the new plastics facility, Emulsion Plastics, Kathy’s heart raced, thinking about the different kinds of work she could soon do if the hiring manager decided she was the right fit. Instead of wearing the uniform for the diner, she wore a very modest dress with…

  • Signature Required

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    Joe Class III
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    Kathy pulled into the parking lot of Janice’s Diner, dust flying over her new 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra. It drove like a luxury vehicle, unlike Jack’s Studebaker. The cloth seats felt like butter compared to the pseudo-pleather of the Studebaker. All electric controls meant she could roll down the passenger window. It wasn’t a convertible…

  • Ground Zero: Melton’s Plan

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    Joe Class III
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    Zander Melton wasn’t the brightest student in law school. He wasn’t as adept as his classmates at retaining information. And what he lacked in actual intelligence, he more than made up for in his ability to see where the pieces on the board were moving. Zander was a strategist, and a good one, at that.…

  • The EPA, PFAS, and Jim’s Cow

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    Joe Class III
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    “Doc, you sure this ain’t all that serious?” Jim watched Doc move strategically around the sick bovine, using a stethoscope to hear for anything abnormal. “I got more than 6,000 head needin’ to be well enough to sell some. I can’t very well go to market and not talk about what this old gal has.…

  • Moloski’s Take-Over

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    Joe Class III
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    “Twenty-one days, Jim,” Gerald whined. “Twenty-one days I’ve had to listen to alcoholics talk about getting clean, getting sober. And for what?” Jim didn’t see him pull out the cigarette or light it. But there he was, the former President and CEO, smoking a cheap cigarette. “All so I can prove to everyone that I’m…

  • Considering Retirement

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    Joe Class III
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    “Kathy!” Janice’s shrill voice echoed through the diner from the kitchen. The Presbyterian church let out a few minutes before 11:30 a.m., hunger setting in. Church people knew Janice’s breakfast foods would be hot and ready to go in minutes. Janice knew well that a few of these ‘holy rollers,’ as she called them, would…

  • Moloski Returns to Plastics

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    Joe Class III
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    After parking the Lexus in a secured parking garage close to the Burnside Bridge, both men got out. A few minutes later, they were at the spot where Jim Barton met Gerald Moloski. Sitting between two homeless men, Gerald passed his bottle. On Gerald’s left sat Miguel, and Edward on his left. Miguel had Parkinson’s…

  • Emulsion Plastics is Hiring

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    Joe Class III
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    Cole Wilkes wasn’t comfortable in small towns in Middle America. Emulsion Plastics employed him as the Global Human Resources Director for new production facilities. Hiring and training new employees was his only job. Only after all the staff was hired and consistent production levels were achieved could Cole move on. His latest assignment was the…

  • Bad News for Moloski

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    Joe Class III
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    “What do you mean leaking?” Gerald looked down to Dr. Charles Kirchoff, one of the senior scientists in charge of maintaining RDF Plastics policies and procedures. A short, mousey man, Dr. Kirchoff was a stickler for following the rules, towing the line, and ensuring everyone complied with company policy. Kirchoff was the first to inform…

  • Kathy’s Second Job

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    Joe Class III
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    “I heard they is gonna be openin’ a factory just up the road. Some kind of assembly work is what I hear,” Beatrice whispered, even though the number of people inside Janice’s Diner numbered less than five, not including the staff. Betty and Beatrice sat at the third booth from the door. Doc and Jim…

  • Detective Barry Lawson

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    Joe Class III
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    “So. You two drove this guy here. All the way from Iowa?” Lawson shook his head, yawning. “Get any sleep?” “Get any sleep?” Detective Adam Murray’s tone dripped with sarcasm, his eyes narrowing. “You are a piece of . . .” Murray lunged at Lawson, ready to beat the snot out of him. “Knock it…

  • Setting the Cruise Control

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    Joe Class III
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    Angie is my favorite person in the whole world. She and I do a lot together. And I mean a whole lot! We get coffee. Manicures. Pedicures. Facials. We’ve been known to get massages simultaneously but with different masseuses. Huh. That would be kinda hard. Two massages at the same time? I wonder if Sven…

  • Rin Zaterelli

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    Joe Class III
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    “Get down!” A black, unmarked, unlicensed car pulled up next to Zaterelli’s limousine, automatic machine guns firing into the limo. Reinforced Kevlar plating, bulletproof glass, and insulated rubber tires made the limo the perfect vehicle to keep the crime boss safe. Rin Zaterelli and two of his goons were finishing up a quick visit at…

  • Check-In with Floyd

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    Joe Class III
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    “You know somethin’ Jim,” Doc said, rolling down his window halfway, “the ladies is right. Somethin’ ain’t right ‘bout Floyd not being in the diner for a week. I sure hope we ain’t goin’ to find him holed up inside the house, windows locked tight, shotgun in hand, ready to shoot whoever decides to come…

  • The Zaterelli Family

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    Joe Class III
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    “Mr. Zaterelli? There’s a Zander Melton here to see you?” The voice on the other end of the office intercom was silent. “Melton? Zander Melton?” Rin Zaterelli looked at the two goons on either side of his mahogany desk, puzzled. Both men stood in unison, ready to bum-rush the door. Zaterelli hired them as bodyguards…

  • Protective Custody

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    Joe Class III
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    A black Cadillac Escalade drove up to Floyd’s small farmhouse with a wraparound covered porch. The distance from the highway to the house was far enough away that you could see in every direction from the second floor. Floyd didn’t have much to do these days, so he sat in a rocker by the front…

  • The Patterson Homestead

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    Joe Class III
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    “I’ll drive,” Doc told Jim, opening the passenger door for him. Jim eyed Doc’s truck. The eight-inch scratch showed signs of rust. Jim shook his head, no. “You’ve been tryin’ to drive us places ever since you put that gash in the passenger side door. I remember. Ya almost killed me. I told you once,…

  • Your Words Count

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    Joe Class III
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    Words matter. Like more than you thought they did. Wrong words can do irreparable damage for however long you have left of your life. Kids don’t know what words have the potential to do by uttering the simplest of words and phrases. The more you think about it, the more you start to understand how…

  • Creativity

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    Joe Class III
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    I’m not sure I’m smart enough to understand how it works or what it is. I’m no scientist. I’m not a researcher. But I do know what creative thinking looks like. I know how my brain works, creating a solution from nothing. But can I paint like Michaelangelo? Not even if I wanted to! Can…

  • Pearls? Meet Blink-182

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    Joe Class III
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    “Wait, what was that?” Pulling out the earbuds, Gina looked over her shoulder where the sound came from. “Can you please move?” The woman was wearing sunglasses inside, which was the first thing Gina noticed. Second were the extravagant pearls hanging from her neck. Gina saw lots of women wearing pearls in southern California. But…