Small Places : Nick L Belardes [97 of 128]

• I stare at his red lumpy schnoz that has veins like wolf spider legs. Where these noses come from I have no idea.
• His nose looks like it has been soaked in pale ale for a month. "I have a problem with you and your ringleader, Joan," he says.
• Me: "Ringleader? Did she perform a circus crime? She was fired." Where has this guy been? I sniff for signs of alcohol. He blows his nose.
• "When she was here she got you all hating our markers and Post-Its. I have no purchase orders for your marketing items in the past month.
• "Yet our reports on marketing expenditures are off the chart. I'm tired of this Joan character. She's a bad name," he says and sniffles.
• Me: "She was fired. Why do you want to talk to me?" I imagine Kira de Frito's birthmark above Ken Grippo's huge nose. His eyes cross.
• Ken: "I'm talking to you because you're part of the problem." Me: "Me?" Ken: "You're in the marketing department, aren't you?"