The Interview

The two men shook hands,

“Please take a seat. I have your particulars here and I’d like to pick up on a few points and maybe you could fill in the blanks for me?”

Stuart replied,

“Of course, that will be fine”

The tall man with white hair poured Stuart a glass of water and said,

“Here you are; I know these things can be a little unnerving so a glass of water may help”

Stuart took the glass and tried not to shake and spill the chilled mineral water.

“Ok Mr Barnes or can I call you Stuart?”

“Stuart is fine thank you”

“I see here you left school at 16 is that correct?”

“Yes I left at 16 and went straight to the bank for my 7 year apprenticeship it was a hard job to get into back then”

The tall man smiled and replied,

“I’m sure it was, good training is essential. It says here you have 2 sisters do you see them much?”

Stuart replied,

“Not anymore, I used to see a great deal of them obviously not now”

Stuart took a long pull on his mineral water as he waited for the next question,

“I see you did military service in the war?”

“Yes indeed I was with the Middlesex regiment under Colonel Grass”

The tall man nodded and carried on,

“Yes I have met Colonel Grass, quite a stern character indeed”

Stuart replied,

“Yes very stern but a fantastic leader”

The tall man turned over the page on Stuart’s resume and said,

“Did you have to kill anyone on your tour of duty?”

Stuart wrinkled his brow at the question and said,

“Not that I remember I was a driver of an armoured car we didn’t see much action the war was nearly over when I was drafted”

“I see very good. It says here you had 2 children?”

Stuart shifted in his seat and said,

“Yes Rebecca and Simon”

The tall man walked to the corner of the room where a large green filing cabinet stood. He opened the top drawer and pulled out a manila coloured file and returned and sat down opposite Stuart and opened the file. He placed the file next to the resume and said,