8
.
KUPPEL PARK
Kuppel Park
Nichole Haines
Most days, Paul Ford was happy with how his life had
gone. Being a contractor wasn’t so bad. You got to travel
for free and see the most chaotic and ugly sections of
every country you went to. Busy airports became a home
away from home. Watching the stressed reactions of your
fellow
travelers
became
your
prime
source
of
entertainment, after you had exhausted all the cheap
thriller novels and the movies on tiny screens.
Highways, overpasses and underpasses sort of blended
together, forming the different scenery panels on the
carousel of life. The road markings and signs were
different. In some countries you drove on the left, and
in others you drove on the right. Some places had
99
8
.
KUPPEL PARK
Kuppel Park
Nichole Haines
Most days, Paul Ford was happy with how his life had
gone. Being a contractor wasn’t so bad. You got to travel
for free and see the most chaotic and ugly sections of
every country you went to. Busy airports became a home
away from home. Watching the stressed reactions of your
fellow
travelers
became
your
prime
source
of
entertainment, after you had exhausted all the cheap
thriller novels and the movies on tiny screens.
Highways, overpasses and underpasses sort of blended
together, forming the different scenery panels on the
carousel of life. The road markings and signs were
different. In some countries you drove on the left, and
in others you drove on the right. Some places had
99
roundabouts every two seconds, and others didn’t bother with them. Some had toll roads, and you had to use a slightly different coin to pay for them. But other than surface details, the fundamentals of travel and commute were exactly the same no matter where you went. And you met the same archetypal drivers; the angry one, the reckless one, the slow one, the one who can’t make up his mind which speed they want to go, and the one who never uses their blinkers.
Thankfully, there was usually some unique experience to be found at the other end, once all the nonsense was out of the way and it was time to actually work.
Paul held a position that most people probably would never think of. And if they ever happened to hear about it, they would be jealous. His official title was entertainment consultant. When he first heard about the gig, he thought it sounded like a lot of meetings and conference calls. A lot like his previous job, except he might actually talk about something interesting at said meetings.
But it was much more hands-on than that. What he actually did was fly and/or drive to various entertainment venues. They could be music halls, arcades, zoos, museums, theaters or amusement parks. Whatever the case may be, the owners of the establishment would pay someone like Paul to come and spend a day, or however long, touring and then using the facilities much like an ordinary customer would. He would then write up a detailed report, which would go out to various publications.
His reports had been make or break for many new businesses. Over time, he had gained a reputation. He was no longer hired by any business that wasn’t already one
hundred percent confident in itself. But that just meant that he got to visit a lot of cool places, places that already ran like well-oiled machines and basically wanted to use his reputation as a type of advertising campaign.
Nowadays he pulled in at least ten grand per small gig, and about fifty K for bigger jobs, of which he usually took two or three per year. The result was an easy and fairly exciting life that involved a lot of hotels and flights. It could be worse, he knew. He could still be sitting in a cubicle, answering phones and