“A job with who, doing what?”
“You’d be working for me…I’m starting something new and it has to do with something near and dear to your heart.”
“You, you, mean…” Jake stuttered.
“That’s right," Xavier said with a grin, “UNUM”.
“I thought you were a government worker, the government agency responsible for our country’s plan for Unum is the POSR”. Jake said, revealing that his interests in Unum included politics as well as science. “Is that who you work for?”
“No, I work for a new agency, RUN,and I didn’t come here by chance, this is a recruiting visit and you’ve passed the exam with flying colors. I’d love to have you join…” Xavier trailed off trying to interpret Jake’s stoic face. “RUN stands for, reach Unum now.”
“I’m in.” Jake stated, as a matter of fact.
A large smile spread across Xavier’s face, “excellent we’ll just need to deconflict with your school bef…”
“I’m homeschooled”, Jake interrupted, “I make my own schedule”.
Just as he said that, Beth walked in the room. She took one look at Xavier and let out a soft hiss and quickly donned the large headphones draped over her shoulders. Jake gave her a quizzical look as he smirked. Xavier gave Beth a wider berth, avoiding eye contact as she glided past him to the other side of the room. He gave Jake a nod and ducked out.
Jake turned to his bed to find Beth sitting there, her typical post when she came over to Jake’s room. “Beth, what was that?”
Beth removed her headphones, “I don’t like him Jake, something’s off about that one.”
“How can you tell Beth? You barely spent more than 45 seconds in the same room with him.”
“That’s all I need…Jake, a good listener hears what’s being said. A great listener can hear the chatter of a silent room.”