Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Jim at the licensing department

Jim van de Vuuren wears a really bad toupee. Probably the worst artificial hairpiece to have ever been manufactured. Jim appears ignorant of this. Jim is a loud man, direct, maybe even rude.
Jim tends to gesticulate extravagantly, palms often flung out as if to indicate how weighty the world is upon him.
Jim believes himself to be an important man, if it weren't for him, the drivers' licensing department would crumble into insignificant iotas.
Even though Jim's sphere of influence extends no more beyond that of the mandatory eye-testing, yes, Randfontein would be sorrier without his dedication.
He has an eye for the ladies, yes, Jim does. He likes the young, nervous ones, first-timers, floundering with their applications. He likes to think himself a good man then, almost benevolent, when he overlooks their failure to make out some of the checkered boxes while they peer into the eye-testing machine. While they sit, eyes manacled to the black plastic, Jim stands close, sometimes stroking their hair during the test. He likes the feel of feminine silkiness and the residual softness of shampoo.

1 comment:

DS Irvin said...

I jumped here from your other blog, the zephyr and I.

I like the idea of a character such as "Jim"

He seems like a predator, looking for the nervous girls to try and take advantage of. I can imagine people like him in government centers of bureaucracy, sweaty with a thin mustache, taking pictures of girls for their drivers licences and keeping a copy for himself.

Sorry, I got a little carried away.

Nice writing.