Who: Luisa and Tom. When: At the start of the month. Where: At Luisa's. What: Being journalism geeks. Rating/Warning: Low/None. Status: Complete.
Luisa had hunted out a lot of her fathers work from where it was stored in preparation for Tom’s visit. When she’d called her father he had been pleased to learn that somebody was so interested and had emailed over her some more pieces for him to see.
She had them all in a box on the living room table ready for him to rifle through, the coffee was brewed and she’d just set out a plate of biscuits too.
Tom was pretty excited. Over the years, Lester Rey had become one of his more favourite journalists, and some articles to this day Tom still felt were the best on certain subjects. This was a bit like a dream come true.
He arrived at the address and walked up to the door, giving a bit of a knock.
Luisa happily answered the door with a smile, “Hello Tom” she smiled, “Please come in, come in” she stood back to let him in. “Thank you for coming, did you find it okay?” she asked.
“Hi!” Tom said brightly as he walked inside. “Yeah, no problems, actually. And thank you for inviting me. You really have no idea how grateful I am for this.”
“Oh you’re more than welcome” Luisa said, leading the way through to the living room after closing the front door. “My dad was quite flattered that somebody wanted to read his articles, he actually sent some more over” she laughed softly.
“I’m honoured, then.” Tom laughed as well, following Luisa. “Be sure to pass on my thanks to him as well.”
“Of course” Luisa replied, gesturing for him to make himself comfortable, “I thought a drink and biscuits might be nice. Do you prefer tea or coffee?” she asked.
“I’ll drink either. I’m not one to fuss.” He sat and glanced around a bit. “So, you’re a novelist, right? Was it always just novels for you or did anything else ever catch your fancy along the way?”
Luisa smiled and decided tea would be good since the pot was already brewing anyway. “I am” she confirmed, “Well I studied Literature and Creative Writing, I toyed with the idea of journalism but fiction was a bigger pull for me”
“I’m a bit jealous,” Tom admitted. “I don’t have the imagination for fiction. I tried a few short pieces for some bits in university, but they were god awful.”
"I guess I've always liked the ability to create and shape my own characters. Maybe its the control freak in me" she joked, "I tried more serious journalism but it never felt right, plus following in my dads footsteps is a bit daunting"
“I could understand that.” He grinned, and laughed a bit, too. “But you mentioned that in your dreams you’re a journalist, right? Funny how things like that come up.”
She nodded, "I am" she said, "I definitely follow in my father's footsteps in the dreams. I appreciate it more now, knowing how hard the dream me studied and worked for it"
“Journalism is definitely something that does not come to the faint of heart,” Tom agreed. “In my dreams, it’s what I studied. I mean, my dreams take place at the turn of the century, and I’m Irish, so being political seems only natural. But if I thought being a journalist in today’s world was hard, I’ve been proven otherwise.”
"Wow" Luisa said with a nod, "That must be pretty fascinating as well as tough" She could imagine being a journalist now was hard enough but back then in that situation it must have been incredibly hard.
“I’ve come to learn that being Irish in general at that time wasn’t very easy.” He laughed, and shrugged. “You make the best of it. I’m just glad I live now, when I do. Endless opportunities here and all.”
Luisa nodded, “That’s true. I guess that’s one good thing about the dreams, you appreciate the things you have here more. Or at least I feel that way”
“Cheers to that.” Tom smiled. He liked Luisa, he decided. She had that way about her. “Any new novels brewing on the horizon for you?”
She liked Tom too, he was kind and a gentle kind of person. “Oh yes actually, I’m currently editing the first draft of the next one in my mystery series”
“Sounds exciting. I guess living in a place like this, you’re never wanting for inspiration when it comes to mysteries.” After all, weird things seemed to happen every other week.
“That’s very true” Luisa nodded, “Although I have to admit I like knowing the secrets of the mystery, it frustrates me that I don’t know why so much craziness happens here”
Tom nodded. “It frustrates everyone, I think. But some day someone will figure out what’s happening here. I’m sure of it.”
“I hope so” Luisa said, “I’ve heard so many theories - some more plausible than others” she grinned.
“But you have to admit, the implausible ones are pretty entertaining.” He cracked a grin. “So, about those articles, then. I’ve been dying to have a look, really.” “Oh they most definitely are” she agreed, before chuckling softly, “Of course, sorry. Here I am blathering on at you” she moved to pick up the box and set it down in front of him. “These are all the ones I had, the unpublished ones are towards the front”
“Nonsense. I know blathering, and, trust me, you were not blathering.” Tom gave her an amused look, then took the box with a sort of reverence. He’d have to tell Sybil about these later. “Was there ever any reason they never got published?”
“According to dad they were seen as either too controversial or reflected a view the paper felt wasn’t in keeping with their own and some of them he wrote purely for himself” she replied, “And of course the early ones are from the start of his career and he wasn’t well known enough then to have a lot of articles published. They didn’t want to show any favoritism” Honestly, Luisa found the whole idea ridiculous, if the work was good what did it matter who wrote it but then she’d never been in that world properly.
Tom nodded as he listened. It seemed too bad that company politics had put a stop to some of what might have been their best articles, but that was the game, and he knew it. He picked one up carefully and skimmed over, re-reading certain parts twice just to get the full effect. “Amazing.”
Luisa smiled as she watched him read, her dad would really love seeing how intently Tom was focusing on the words he had written so long ago. “You’re obviously more than welcome to take the box away with you” she told him, “I can’t expect you to read them all now after all, I just ask that you be careful” she added knowing he would be.
“I’ll guard them with my life, honest. Actually, I think my girlfriend might be interested in having a look, too, if that’s all right. She’s thinking of taking up political science herself and I think journalism might be a good road for her to look at.”
“Of course, that’s all right. Dad would love it too I’m sure” she told him kindly, “Anything to encourage more politically savvy journalists”
“I’m not sure she needs encouraging, now that I think about it.” Tom laughed and stood, holding the box like it was an old family heirloom under his arm. “I should probably get out of your hair. I’ve got plenty of reading to get to now, after all.”
Luisa chuckled and stood with him, “Of course. Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoy reading” she smiled as she walked with him to the door.