The Curious Tale of Marian the Librarian, continued

Part the Second:

We rejoin our heroine, Marian, on the day of her job interview. Unfortunately, the interview date coincided with the hottest day of the summer, and Marian was forced to wear pantyhose on a day that was so hot her hair was sweating. Marian, dressed in her grown-up interview clothes proceeded to the interview, where she was met with a large sign proclaiming "Job Fair - Library."

This gave Marian pause. Job fair? Hmmm...She gamely proceeded to the library, where she was ushered into a room containing about 10 other poor souls also wearing clothes completely inappropriate for the tropical heat of the day. Marian hoped that they were here for other positions, but in her heart of hearts, she knew this was not true. She broke the painful silence and asked if they were all elementary teachers, and as she expected, the answers were glumly, "Yes."

The interviews were conducted on a simultaneous basis; desks were set up throughout the library, and 5 people were interviewed at once. It was something akin to speed dating, but Marian wisely chose not to make this particularly inappropriate observation to the principal interviewing her. After about 20 minutes, she was told to return to the holding pen, where she was met with about 10 new people who hadn't been there before, but also wearing equally uncomfortable clothes and expressions.

Marian, being something of a talker, broke the silence and again asked if they were all here for the elementary jobs. They were. One teacher, who was also clearly rather a talker, asked about what the procedure seemed to be, and Marian relayed what had happened to her so far today. The other teacher remarked that it seemed akin to American Idol, and Marian replied that they would probably have to run the Gauntlet of Fire at the end of the day. Only the other woman laughed, and Marian was saddened that the warm day and obvious stress had caused her colleagues to lose their senses of humor. Gauntlet of Fire, people - that's funny!

Marian was then called to meet with 2 more administrators, where she once again did her interview thing, and tried not to faint from the heat. At the end she was blessedly told she could leave, and she said her good-byes appropriately.

Little did Marian know that she would, actually, be running the Gauntlet of Fire, and that it would consist of her walk through the 9,000 degree parking lot while wearing pantyhose on a day when even the foliage was sweating.

What will happen to Marian next? Stay tuned for the final chapter in her saga....