Here you go, DJ. As I said in my note, I'm establishing character here, so
no big action. Snowy and Tortie both have 'cute' names for a reason, and
neither would consider changing their first name. Let me know what you think.

The Tortie Papers - Part One - 

"One more applicant to go." Snowflak thought to herself. All these young
kittens, fresh out of journalism school. Their eyes aren't even open yet.
The best head straight for TV jobs. The only one with any experience I've
saved for last. Wonder what's wrong with her, to be applying here? 

As Snowflak opened the door, she was surprised to see the applicant already
walking towards her, hand outstretched. "Thank-you for agreeing to meet with
me, Ms. Skaukatt. I'm Tortie Carical, and I appreciate the chance to talk
with you about the Trib." Her manner was quite different from the younger
applicants. While not the stereotypical brash young reporter, she did seem
quite confident, almost as if she was preparing to interview Snowflak for a
story instead of a job.

At first glance, the only thing the two Kats had in common was the long
tufts topping their ears. Tortie's extremely short fur was a mottled
camouflage with black, brown, and tan, a tan semicircle above her eyes.
Snowflak, on the other hand, had long fluffy white fur, with grey 'ghost'
tabby markings. "Before we get started, can I offer you some milk?"

"Yes, I'd like some frothed, with a little coffee, in a china cup, if it's
available." answered Tortie. 

As they walked to the kitchen, Tortie took in her surroundings. "You've got
a lot of room to grow in this building." she mused as they passed several
empty offices.

"Yes, my father had it built in the heyday of the newspaper." Snowflak
responded. "Now, with competition from TV and other media, we're not having
an easy time. Ahh- here you go- the milk and coffee, and there's the machine." 

There were plenty of unused mugs in the cupboard, with the Trib logo on
them. Tortie selected two. "How about if I make some for both of us? I've
wondered why you advertised for three reporters at once. As you said, most
newspapers aren't in expansion mode right now. This might be something I can
help with." 

"Well, my best reporter managed to wangle a low-level job with Kats Eye
News, and quit immediately. The other two got fed up with the extra work
load, and they found other jobs before I could replace the first one. It's
not easy to keep morale up- with circulation down, and advertising down, we
were all concerned about our paychecks." 

As they returned to Snowflak's office, she continued: "I wouldn't normally
paint such a bleak picture for job applicants, but with your experience, it
has to have occurred to you already. You've seen the pay range for these
positions. I have to ask why a kat with your experience is even applying?
I've looked at your portfolio, and you can certainly write."

"Can you imagine this peppered hide on TV?" Tortie pointed at her fur as she
sat in the chair across from Snowflak. "The TabbyTown Tattler, the newspaper
I'm working at now, was in a position similar to the Trib. If anything, it
was worse. Being a small town newspaper, there was less business to fall
back on. Mr. Chatwel, the owner and my mentor, finally decided that he had
to change the paper if he wanted it to survive. He decided to quit chasing
the big corporate advertising money, which was going to TV anyway. He aimed
his editorial policy to appeal to small-business advertisers. It wasn't all
that difficult, since HE was a small business owner, too. He also decided
that the question of 'What's happening right now?' is best handled by TV,
but that TV does a LOUSY job of answering why, or 
doing any in-depth news. He decided to stress that in marketing the Tattler,
he'd appeal to kats that wanted to know the real story, not just what's
happening this very minute...." 


As Snowflak listened to Tortie, she thought to herself: "Can I trust this
Kat? In a way, it doesn't matter. If she can turn this paper around it's
worth it. If I don't do anything, I'll soon be the proud owner of an empty
building up for bankruptcy sale."

"...Mr. Chatwel and I both agreed that I needed to move to a big city paper
to further my experience, and I've already trained my successor at the
Tattler. When I saw your ad for reporters, I thought what you really need is
a first class editor. I know that you're the editor of the Trib now, Ms.
Skaukatt, but you're also the owner. The two jobs are too much work for one
kat to do, and you can't delegate the job of owner. I thought that if you
concentrated on the owner's job of finding 
new advertisers, that I could get the editorial end of the paper in line to
back you up. Can you think of any reason why I couldn't get started right
away as the editor of the Trib?"

Snowflak was taken aback. Her tail twitched ever so slightly as she thought
about giving up editorial control. "Well... we don't have the budget right
now to pay an editor, which is why I'm doing double duty. You've seen the

salary range..." 

"I'm willing to take a chance if you are, Ms. Skaukatt. If you give me the
job of editor, I'll start out at reporter's pay. If we can get advertising
revenue to go up instead of down, and increase circulation in the next six
months, then we'll talk about paying me what I'm worth. It's got to be
better than re-arranging the deck chairs on the Megaleo." 

The mention of the 'unsinkable' ocean liner that dragged the cream of
MegaKat City society to the bottom of the sea 70 years before struck home.
Snowflak had been fascinated by the story since she could read, and the
image of the Trib building slipping beneath cold ocean waves had been a
disturbing dream lately. "All right- I'll take you up on your offer." She
reached across the table to shake hands with Tortie. 
"Well, we better look over these other resumes so you can decide who your
two new reporters will be... and call me Snowy." 

"Thank-you, Ms... Snowy! I think we'll both look back on this as the start
of the new Trib. Do you think MegaKat City is ready for a newspaper with
four of these?" she said, pointing at the long tufts that topped her
absurdly tall ears. 


"Actually, six! Ed Lynx runs the presses, and he has them too! I'm sure the
city isn't ready for us, but they'll have to get used to it!" Snowflak
purred as they clinked their mugs in a toast. 

---------------------                                                 
Paul Kemner         | "Many people appear to imagine that they cannot   
Toledo, Ohio        |  afford to have artistic surroundings, whereas  
pkemner@bright.net  |  the wonder is that they can afford so much     
-------------------  expensive ugliness." M. H. Baillie Scott


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