Wednesday 10 February 2016

FREE STORY: Personal Agent, by Pedro Camelo

There's something wonderful about being able to introduce a new writer. Pedro Camelo will be making his English language professional publishing debut this very Saturday, in the new Inklings Press anthology Tales From The Universe. It is a pleasure, then, ahead of that publication to introduce this aperitif, a piece of flash fiction from Pedro. Many thanks, sir, for letting us host your work!



Personal Agent
by Pedro Camelo

Yes, okay. . . . I need to know which flights go from New York to Paris on the 23rd of November. I need to check all the routes and all costs from all the different companies for two tickets, tourist class. 
For now, let’s say that they return on the 30th and give me round trip prices. No, no extra luggage and no pets either.

I’ll also need to check on three-star hotels or better no farther than 20 miles from the airport. Yes, miles, they don’t use kilometers. Their budget is no more than $300 USD per night in a room for two. You do the change to Euros.

I don’t think I’ll need to check on a rental car if you can get me a package that includes transport to the hotel from the airport and vice versa. My clients want to try public transportation, walking, and the like. They also want to try the trains to visit around Europe from there. No, they haven’t asked for info on other hotels, hostels, lodges, or the like. Just give me a list of prices for trains and stations by capital and I’ll be sure to download the proper maps and routes to their cell phones.
I guess their papers are in order, but I’ll ask them to confirm and link them to the proper entity if they need to check for passports or visas.

And . . . I think that’s it. Just let me double-check that I have everything before showing it to my clients. They have to make the final decision before buying.

Yes, everything seems to be in ord—what? I’m getting an abort signal? But I haven’t even shown all this info to my clients! Let me ask them to verify that they want to cancel. . . .

Yes? YES? I don’t believe it! If they don’t have enough time, why are they even asking?

The worst part is that if they ask again tomorrow, I’ll have to do this all over again, and they won’t even change a thing.

No, I’m not mad. I can’t get mad . . . fortunately for them.

I’ll let you decide if I’m serious.

Yes, I’ll guess I’ll talk to you later. I don’t know when. They are just so whimsical . . . all of them.

Well, at least you’ll keep on running. The next thing I’ll know is I’ll be receiving a kill signal and—



On the other side of the screen, her clients had closed the browser.


A personal note from me, Leo McBride. Pedro's story for the upcoming anthology was almost confounding for me. Tales From The Universe reaches for the stars, reaches for the future, and Pedro's story for the anthology zigs where others zagged. It shattered all my expectations as I worked through the various submissions we were considering for the anthology. It is as much a journey into the heart as it is a journey to the future. I can't wait for you to read it when it goes live on Saturday. In the meantime, I heartily suggest that all you Facebookers follow Pedro's author page there - follow this link: https://www.facebook.com/PedroCameloAuthor/?fref=ts

Tales From The Universe is now available on Amazon here: http://mybook.to/TalesUniverse

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