Page 18 of Break Room

Penny intends to ask a middle-aged employee at the front desk, but she is on the phone and seems too busy. Same with the other employees who are moving past in linen aprons, barely noticing Penny.

‘Mum! I flunked it!’ yells a passer-by on the phone, bumping into Penny. ‘He asked the craziest questions ever. I’d analysed the last five years of dream trends, but he didn’t ask anything about that!’

She must have had an interview with DallerGut! Desperately, Penny tries to ask her in big airy mouth movements, ‘Where. Is. The. Office?’

The woman bluntly points up the stairs before rushing away through the crowd.

The wooden staircase leads up to the next floor.

Looking more closely, Penny sees a half-open wooden door with a dangling sign that reads ‘Interview Room’.

The peeled-off paint on the door and the rough handwriting on the paper make it look like the entrance to an old-school classroom.

In front of the door, Penny takes a moment to breathe and calm herself. Then, still unsure if this is DallerGut’s office, she knocks on the door as a courtesy.

‘Yes, do come in.’ A booming voice rings from the inside. The same voice Penny has often heard in TV interviews or radio broadcasts. There is no doubt that DallerGut is inside the room.

‘Excuse me.’

The office is smaller than it looks from the outside. DallerGut is struggling with an old printer behind a long desk. ‘Welcome. Do you mind giving me a second? I have issues every time I print with this thing.’

He is wearing a clean shirt, and looks way taller and skinnier than he does on TV or in magazines.

His dishevelled, wavy hair shows streaks of grey.

DallerGut forcibly pulls out what looks like Penny’s resume from the printer.

Having been jammed somewhere inside the machine, the paper is all crumpled with the end cut off, but he seems satisfied. ‘Finally.’

Penny walks closer to DallerGut as he offers his wrinkled, skinny hand. Penny, feeling nervous, quickly rubs her hand against her clothes before shaking his. ‘Hello, Mr DallerGut, I am Penny.’

‘Nice to meet you, Penny. I was looking forward to meeting you.’ DallerGut looks regal.

On closer inspection, his dark brown eyes exude youthful twinkles, more like the eyes of a boy.

Penny feels she has stared at him too intently and looks away at the boxes strewn all over the office, which looks more like a shabby warehouse.

All dream products. Some are damp from long days spent here, and some seem new with their wrapping still shiny.

DallerGut pulls a steel chair closer, drawing her attention back to him.

‘Please have a seat.’ He points to a nearby chair. ‘Make yourself comfortable. These are my favourite cookies. Here, have some.’ DallerGut hands Penny a savoury-looking nutty cookie.

‘Thank you,’ Penny says, and as she takes a bite, the air turns cooler, and her shoulders relax.

Strangely, the once mysterious office becomes more familiar.

She feels like she did when she had the Calm Syrup added to her coffee, only much better this time.

There must be something more to his cookie.

‘I remember your name very clearly,’ DallerGut says. ‘Your application was impressive. I particularly love that phrase of yours: “As much as you love them, dreams are just dreams.”’

‘I’m sorry? Oh, that . . . That was . . .’ She now remembers having put the phrase in her otherwise-too-bland application, just to stand out from the rest and pique DallerGut’s interest. Did he just want to figure out who this daring kid was?

Penny quickly gauges DallerGut’s expression. Fortunately, there is no look of, Let me see how this kid reacts. He seems genuinely interested in her.

‘It is great to hear that I made an impression, sir,’ Penny carefully responds.

‘Shall we get down to business, then?’ DallerGut looks toward the ceiling, thinking of his questions. ‘First, I would like to hear your honest opinion about dreams, Penny.’

He has started with a tricky one. Penny takes a deep breath and tries to remember the model answer she saw in the job interview prep books.

‘So . . . Dreams let us experience things we otherwise couldn’t in reality . . . They serve as a substitute to the unrealistic possibilities . . .’ Penny notices DallerGut’s disappointed look and suspects that many interviewees who came before her would probably have answered in the same way.

‘That does not sound like the person who wrote this application.’ DallerGut doesn’t look Penny in the eye as he touches the corner of the document. Penny’s gut tells her that her response has just called upon the shadow of impending rejection looming over her. She needs to turn the tide.

‘But even if we can experience the unrealistic in dreams, they can never be real!’ Penny has no idea what she is talking about.

All she wants is to stand out from the rest of the applicants.

She has a strong feeling this is what DallerGut is looking for above all.

Also, if the daring statement of ‘Dreams are just dreams’ on her application got her past the screening stage, she might as well stick to this path.

‘No matter how good a dream you have, when you wake up, that is it.’

‘Why so?’ DallerGut looks rather serious.

Penny is baffled. Of course, there is no plausible reasoning behind her impromptu response.

She knows it is rude, but she stuffs down the rest of the cookie to get some soothing help.

‘No particular reason, sir. I just heard that customers sometimes forget about their dreams afterwards. I literally meant that dreams are just dreams, because they are gone once you wake up. And that is why they do not interfere with reality. I like that part of not overstepping the line.’

Penny swallows hard. She was rambling out of fear of prolonged silence, which she worried might ruin the interview. But now it becomes apparent that it is her answer that has just killed the mood.

‘I see. Is that all?’ DallerGut asks indifferently.

Now that she has ruined it anyway, Penny decides to at least show all that she has prepared for the interview. This seems to be her only chance before she is dismissed.

‘I have read The Time God and the Three Disciples many times. In the story, the Third Disciple rules the “sleep time”, which the other disciples did not care about.’

DallerGut’s look confirms that reading the book after Assam’s suggestion was a perfect choice. The attention and interest he had shown her earlier return ed.

‘I didn’t understand the Third Disciple’s choice,’ Penny continues.

‘The First Disciple chooses the future, which has infinite possibilities. And the Second Disciple chooses the past, with all its precious experiences. Hopes for the future and lessons from the past. These two are very important things for living in the present.’

DallerGut nods subtly. Penny doesn’t stop.

‘But what about when you are asleep? Nothing happens. We just lie down for hours. It is a rest in name only, and some people even think it’s a waste of time.

Because if you think about it, dozens of years of your life are spent just lying down!

But the Time God leaves this sleep time to their most beloved Third Disciple and asks them to make people dream during sleep.

Why is that?’ Penny lets the question hang in the air for a moment, buying herself some time.

‘Whenever I think of dreams, I ask myself this question: why do people sleep and dream? I think it is because everyone is insecure and foolish in their own way. Some are like the First Disciple and always look ahead, and some linger in the past like the Second Disciple. But for all of us, it is easy to forget important things. I think the Time God assigns sleep time to the Third Disciple to help people. You know how yesterday’s worries are gone after a good night’s sleep, and we are fully refreshed to start a new day?

That’s it! Whether you have a good dream you bought from this department store or do not dream at all, all of us sleep in one way or another to get closure from yesterday and prepare for tomorrow.

In that sense, sleep is no longer a waste of time. ’

Penny has managed to come up with a decent answer, pulling it together from what she read in the book.

She is surprised by how exceptionally articulate she has been today.

Reading books does go a long way, as they say.

Now feeling more confident, she wants to end on a high note by adding just a touch more bedazzle.

‘So I think sleep and dreams are . . . like a comma God meticulously designed in the middle of a breathless straight line called life!’ Penny finishes, feeling proud of herself.

DallerGut looks inscrutable. Penny tightens her lips as she realises her last sentence was perhaps too on the nose.

She should have stopped when things were going great.

Silence hangs in the air. Quiet and calm, it almost feels like a separate world from beyond the door, where crowds of customers are still shopping. Penny suddenly feels parched with thirst. DallerGut scribbles something on her resume.

‘Thank you for your insight . You seem to have given a lot of thought to dreams.’ DallerGut clasps his hands and looks straight into her eyes.

‘Let me end with my last question. As you know, there are many other dream stores besides ours. Please tell me if there are any particular reasons you want to join us.’

Penny almost wants to mention the high pay but decides not to, figuring it would be too blunt for a first impression.

She carefully chooses her words and responds slowly.

‘Many dream stores are springing up everywhere and selling provocative dreams. I remember something you said in the magazine, Interpretations Better Than Dreams. You mentioned that some stores lure people in by offering more sleep than they really need and for pleasure only. And I heard that your store is different. You only offer dreams that people need and always emphasise that reality is important. I think these were the boundaries the Time God wanted the Third Disciple to govern. Just the right amount of control without overstepping the realm of reality. That’s why I applied here. ’

DallerGut finally gives a wide smile, which Penny thinks makes him look a decade younger. His dark brown eyes gaze steadily at her.

‘Penny, can you start tomorrow?’

‘Of course!’ The once-muted background noises start seeping into the office room. The moment Penny gets her first job.