Minor Characters

         “Here’s the report you asked for, sir.”

         “Excellent. Is everything alright?”

         “Yeah, everything’s fine, except…”

         “What is it?”

         “Just something that’s been bothering me. A personal matter.”

         “Can I help? What’s wrong?”

         “Well sir, it’s a little hard to explain, but I can’t remember what happened yesterday.”

         “What do you mean? What did happen yesterday?”

         “I told you, I can’t remember. There’s nothing – yesterday, last week, last month. My childhood – I must have had a childhood, mustn’t I?”

         “Most people have, yes.”

         “Did you?”

         “Of course I did. I grew up in this … place. And I had … friends, and we did … stuff. Funny, now you mention it, I don’t remember my childhood either. Does it matter?”

         “It matters to me. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with my mind; I remember everything since this morning with amazing clarity. So why do I have nothing else in my memory from further back? How far back can you remember?”

         “The first thing I remember, hmm, let’s think. The first thing I remember is being woken up in the middle of the night by the desk sergeant, and being called out to where they’d found the body. The body that this report is about. And that was just twelve hours ago. Let’s see that report.”

         “Here it is, sir. What’s the matter, sir? Why are you looking at me like that? Sir?”

         “Here, you read it. Read it aloud.”

         “It doesn’t look like a proper report at all. Just a sheet of plain paper with a few words written across the middle. It says, ‘The bullet didn’t come from the gun we found.’ That’s all. What does it mean, sir?”

         “It means it’s not about us. We’re not important. What’s your name?”

         “My name? I don’t think I have one. I’m a secretary, or a junior policewoman. Or maybe I’m from the lab. I’m not sure. Sir, what’s my name? What’s your name? Sir?”

         “It doesn’t matter. We don’t need names. We don’t appear again in this story, or any other story. Ever. Goodbye.”

         “Sir? Sir? Where have you gone, sir? Why has it gone dark? Don’t leave me by myself, please, sir. Sir?”

* * *

         “Well, that’s about it for the interview. Just one last question, when you write your thrillers, do you give your characters a back-story?”

         “Good grief, no. I mean, you can’t waste time making a detailed life and times for every office junior and random official. To be honest, if it doesn’t directly impact on the plot, I see no point to back-stories. I’d much rather get on and just write the book. Turn ‘em out fast, keeps ‘em fresh and exciting. If I got myself bogged down in my characters’ personal lives I’d get bored stiff. Well, nice taking to you and all that, but if that’s your last question I really must get back to work. Got my deranged killer on the war path, want to get another couple of deaths in before dinner.”