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Julie
While Rebecca is lost in her rich fantasy life in the wake of her breakup, her boss calls to inform her that she’s exhausted her sick leave. Lost in a philosophical reverie over the pointlessness of running, Rebecca receives a call from her boss telling her that she has to come back to work on Monday. Up until now, she’d been screening all his calls. Amidst her boss’s empty platitudes, Rebecca slips back into a reconciliation fantasy about her ex-partner. Using Rebecca’s name for the first time in the story, her boss asks if she’s still on the line. However, not even a call from her boss shakes Rebecca from her indulgent fantasies. Although it doesn’t seem that Rebecca has jeopardized her job by taking time off work to grieve this breakup, it is clear that her boss isn’t giving her any more time to wallow in her sweatpants.
Rebecca’s boss Quotes in Cross-Country
The Cross-Country quotes below are all either spoken by Rebecca’s boss or refer to Rebecca’s boss. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Cross-Country
Quotes
I wander into the study as he talks, my fingers absently, lovingly, grazing the keyboard of the computer. Double-click on the internet icon, go straight to the club site. Last week’s results are posted, and there he is, placed forty-second now. A nagging cold, maybe. Slipping down the ladder into numb mediocrity, driving back to his new Ikea sofa and wonder bleakly whether he should open a couple of those cardboard boxes, pull out the old photos from where he’s hidden them, and then, and then…swallow his pride to pick up the phone. He’ll ring late, sheepish and sad, voice thick with tears. Ask me if I feel like some Thai takeaway, or just a bottle of wine. If we could talk. It seems so possible, so likely I feel my throat tighten in anticipation.
‘Rebecca? Hello?’ My boss is still on the line.
[…]
‘I’ll bring something in for morning tea,’ I say.
So what I’m going to do, I’m thinking, since I have every right to, nothing to do with him, is ring the number and ask about joining. I’m looking for a phone number I can try, and I refresh the screen and start again.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Rebecca’s boss Quotes in Cross-Country
The Cross-Country quotes below are all either spoken by Rebecca’s boss or refer to Rebecca’s boss. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Cross-Country
Quotes
I wander into the study as he talks, my fingers absently, lovingly, grazing the keyboard of the computer. Double-click on the internet icon, go straight to the club site. Last week’s results are posted, and there he is, placed forty-second now. A nagging cold, maybe. Slipping down the ladder into numb mediocrity, driving back to his new Ikea sofa and wonder bleakly whether he should open a couple of those cardboard boxes, pull out the old photos from where he’s hidden them, and then, and then…swallow his pride to pick up the phone. He’ll ring late, sheepish and sad, voice thick with tears. Ask me if I feel like some Thai takeaway, or just a bottle of wine. If we could talk. It seems so possible, so likely I feel my throat tighten in anticipation.
‘Rebecca? Hello?’ My boss is still on the line.
[…]
‘I’ll bring something in for morning tea,’ I say.
So what I’m going to do, I’m thinking, since I have every right to, nothing to do with him, is ring the number and ask about joining. I’m looking for a phone number I can try, and I refresh the screen and start again.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
