Vlada's Job

"I'm telling you, the solution to our club finances is very simple--."
"--And I'm telling YOU, Josefina, that we can NOT resort to 'robbing banks!'"
Another meeting of the International Revolutionary Marxists Club had devolved into a fierce argument between Josefina and Nina. On one side of a long table was Josefina, dressed smartly in her school uniform. Her long, dark hair was drawn back into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. Her feline ears were a two-tone grey with black at the tips, and her tail a dark, sooty color. She spoke from a cool distance. "I don't understand your objection, Comrade Nina. Were not the workers the ones 'robbed' first? It was their labor that produced that wealth, after all." Josefina examined her fingernails with feigned indifference. "It's a wonder you don't support its reappropriation, comrade. I wonder," she purred icily, "are we finding bourgeois sympathy in your Trotskyite dogma, or do you yourself shrink from direct action?"

"Neither!" Nina shot back. Her brows set into a stubborn furrow as she leveled a finger at her Stalinist opponent. "You have no place to question my commitment to revolutionary action, Josefina, because your suggestion is the furthest from it!" She smacked her hand on the table with a resounding thump. "Just what do you think will happen even if you succeed? Not to mention the irrefutable fact that, even if it weren't madness, the IRMC hardly has the resources for such a reckless endeavor--lacking the guns, the vehicles, the manpower for such a thing! It's nonsense. Chicanery. Foolishness!"

Josefina was unphased. Her eyes slid sidelong toward Nina beneath dark lids. "And your idea to sell copies of your newspaper--that is not 'nonsense?'" Josefina leaned onto her elbow, pointing directly at Nina. "Besides which, how much money has the club wasted on your 'proletarian periodical?' Come, I ask you, how much has your silly little newspaper brought in?" The Trotskyite's furry brown tail flared in retaliation, and the argument continued on.

The club's chaircat wasn't paying attention. Vlada sat at the head of the table, her eyes unfocused and staring off into nothing. She didn't even have her glasses on. The large, round lenses were resting lightly in her one hand while her chin rested propped up on the other. Her silver-grey ears drooped, insensible to the escalating argument. Her brow was slightly knit as though turning over and over a problem in her mind. Down by the floor her tail wrapped unconsciously around the leg of her chair, its tip tapping occasionally against the floor.

This wasn't the first of such arguments. Tensions had been simmering for a while between the three of them. As a club, they were endowed with a very small fund by the school for club activities. The needs of the revolution were manifold however, and needless to say it rapidly dwindled down to what spare change was left. Previous plans to restore the club to solvency had proved fruitless and the frustration was beginning to take its toll. It weighed especially heavily on Vlada. She was the head of the club and it was her responsibility to find a solution, and the more she thought about it, the more she believed there was only one real solution. She felt lost, no longer certain that she was guiding the club on the path to revolution. No matter how she turned things in her mind, she just couldn't see the way.

"--Madame Chaircat!" Even with the vehement Nina right beside her, Vlada was so deep in her own thoughts that it took her a moment to realize she was being spoken to. She looked up to Nina, who was positively fuming, then to the icily placid Josefina and back. "Oh," she said softly, realizing, "Oh, I'm sorry, comrades." Vlada rubbed her eyes and replaced her glasses. "I was elsewhere."

Nina's bellicosity overflowed. She hissed as she shook a finger at Josefina."We need a decision, Madame Chaircat! This madwoman won't be satisfied until we're all in shackles!"
Josefina sniffed, "Such hysteria is only natural from such a timid kitten. Madame Chaircat, I move that we begin looking for a Finance Chair with a little more backbone."

An angry retort was already at Nina's lips when Vlada's hand shot up. "That's enough, both of you." The two other girls fell into sullen silence, though they exchanged withering looks. "You are both correct." She leaned forward on her elbows and knit her fingers. "The club's finances are in dire straits, and if we want to continue any revolutionary activity at all then immediate actions are to be taken. Armed robbery I think is too... bold at this juncture, and whatever revenues we would acquire through sales of our newsletter would be insufficient to meet our needs." Anger still simmered beneath Nina's hairband, but she sank down into her seat. "What are you proposing then?" At this, Vlada leaned back into her chair, crossed her arms, and sighed.

"We need to get jobs."


---


The plan was uncomplicated. To advance the goals of the IRMC, all three of its members would find employment, both as means of revenue and making contacts for the establishment of the necessary workers' vanguard party. Josefina, as ever, was coolly confident that she would have no trouble finding work. Nina, not to be outdone, declared she would find employment that very week amid a flurry of inquiring texts.

Vlada's search wasn't as expedient. Every day after school she'd chase down a lead or submit a new application. She signed up for mailing lists and websites; followed job blogs for her city; asked her friends and her neighbors and her teachers if they had heard of any opening at all. For a time she even eschewed her overstuffed book bag. She didn't have time for any extra reading anyway. Between school and home work and her interminable searching. It wasn't long before she had exhausted all of her preferred places of employment, and she soon resorted to more likely candidates--retail positions, unskilled labor, part time fast food, things like that--but soon she was sending off resumes and applications to anything and everything for which she could conceivably qualify. Most of the time she heard nothing back. If she was lucky, in her follow-up calls she'd sometimes get an assistant-manager-of-this or department-supervisor-of-that politely but impatiently telling her that they were still reviewing candidates and would call her when they were ready. Her inbox remained empty, no emails, no calls. The weeks dragged on, and on. Vlada's copious zeal carried her far, but even a revolutionary's fervor wasn't inexhaustible. After several weeks of looking, of running after leads and likely openings, of staying up late into the night to finish endless online applications, to say nothing of the endless reams of resumes and applications and surveys and tests and qualifications, she was utterly exhausted.

It was in this state of complete prostration that one of her older schoolmates found her one evening after school. Vlada was outside, slumped with her back against a stately old tree just beginning to show its fall colors. Her school bag was leaning against her lap and her arms and legs were left to fall where they may. A few scattered leaves of red and orange hues lay on the insensible student, looking all the more red for the setting sun. Her head canted slightly to one side, allowing the other girl's eyes--one blue and one green--to see her placid, sleeping face beneath the brim of her cap. Dark, weary circles hung low beneath her eyes, and her mouth was open, parted a bit, with her breast rising and falling slightly as she dozed. Her tail languished between her legs, completely still. Even her ears, normally erect and alert, drooped on either side of her head.

Vlada's taller schoolmate was torn. She hated to wake such an obviously exhausted classmate, but the autumn afternoon was beginning to grow late. For a moment she stood contemplating before kneeling down beside her and gently tugging on her sleeve. Vlada was so swallowed up in oblivious slumber that it took much gentle cajoling on the taller girl's part to finally rouse her.

"Mmm..." Vlada murmured. Her eyelids opened heavily. The older girl smiled sweetly to her. "Sorry to wake you up. It looked like you were really out there." The Leninist rubbed fitfully at her eyes and yawned before looking up dumbly at the older catgirl. "I didn't want you to catch a cold or something, sitting there on the ground." Vlada just blinked at her through bleary eyes. Her thoughts were slow and her body heavy. "Mmmnn..." She arched her back and stretched. "What time is it?" she mumbled.

"Oh!" The tall brunette checked her watch, and told her it was about five-thirty. Vlada groaned. "I missed another IRMC meeting! Nina will never let me hear the end of this." The girl with green and blue eyes touched Vlada's shoulder sympathetically. "Well, what's done is done. Come along, would you like some coffee? You look absolutely exhausted." Vlada looked blearily up from under her cap and tried to protest, but the older girl insisted and succeeded in finally coaxing the Leninist to her feet.

Only a few blocks away there was a small cafe. The cool autumn air helped restore Vlada somewhat on the walk over, but she felt bodily and mentally depleted. All the way her tail trailed limply behind her. The taller catgirl didn't say anything as they walked, perhaps perceiving that her companion wasn't in much of a state for conversation. When they arrived, Vlada was deposited into a cushioned booth while her classmate ordered their drinks. Vlada couldn't stop yawning. One side of her face smooshed up against her palm as she supported her head with her hand, but even then she could hardly keep her eyes open. Her head was just about to slip from her hand when Jenny slid into the opposite side of the booth with a tall cup of coffee for the both of them. "Here, this should perk you up a bit."

For a little while they sat drinking in silence. The girl sitting opposite the Leninist was smiling benignly as she politely sipped her drink. Vlada wasn't surprised to find that she was right, that she did start to feel a little better. "Thanks," she murmured over the rim of her cup. Her blue and green eyes caught Vlada's and she smiled. "Don't mention it." She took another sip of her coffee and set it aside, wiping her mouth clean on a little napkin before continuing. "I see you around campus sometimes, but I don't think we've ever been properly introduced. I'm Jenny." She extended a hand and the capped catgirl took it and gave it a light shake. "I'm Vlada."

"What has you so worn out, Vlada? Don't tell me a smart girl like you is having trouble with class." Jenny smiled and caught Vlada's tired gaze with hers and a light pink shade spread across Vlada's cheeks. She explained how busy she'd been the past few weeks and why. The older girl listened silently, grey-brown ears erect and attentive, occasionally twitching, nodding where appropriate as Vlada's story came tumbling out.

All the frustration of the past months simmered over as she spoke. She talked about the acrimonious atmosphere poisoning the club and how hard she had been working to try and get it back on track. The young Leninist hadn't realized just how much all the rejection, wasted effort, wasted resources, and wasted time had affected her. By the time she was done the bashful blush on her cheeks had turned into an indignant flush. A laugh escaped Jenny's lips before she could cover her mouth. Her companion looked a little hurt. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh at you." Her comforting smile returned as she reached over to touch Vlada's hand reassuringly. "You were just making this face, you know..." Jenny set her brow in a little furrow of determination and frowned with her jaw sticking out. She couldn't hold it long before she burst into a fit of giggles. "I'm sorry," she covered her mouth, trying to control herself. Vlada was red from cap to collarbone. "Really, I like when you make that face. I see you make it alot when you're reading your books around school. If that isn't a look of revolutionary conviction then I don't know what is."

Vlada flushed a deep, dark red. She had never spent any time with Jenny before. The wavy-haired catgirl was older than her so they didn't share any classes, but her notoriety preceded her. Long an admirer from afar, Vlada knew her by sight mostly, and reputation. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed to be failing so terribly in front of her. Her cheeks were glowing red and she was about to excuse herself when Jenny said "I'd like to try to help you, if you don't mind." Vlada was wide-eyed, stunned. She shook her head. Of course she didn't, and Jenny leaned towards her on her elbows. "Well, here, why don't you tell me more about what you've tried so far..."

Vlada talked, and Jenny listened. Often the older girl didn't say anything, but just watched her with keen eyes, smiling. Sometimes she would ask a question or two, but the there was a look in her eyes of serene perception. The more the younger girl talked, the more nervous she felt. "...and after weeks and weeks of searching and applying to everywhere I could possibly think of, still nothing! I'm at my wits' end, and if I can't figure something out soon I don't know what is going to happen to the club." The red-cheeked Leninist glanced up, but Jenny's blue and green eyes were still watching her, and she immediately looked away. "Tell me something." Jenny said, setting aside her empty coffee cup, "Did you think it would be easy?" Vlada opened her mouth to reply but immediately closed it. She wanted to protest, "No, of course not," she wanted to say, but, in reality, she did. "My grades are good," she muttered weakly, "and I'm smart, qualified for the work I applied for, more than capable..." Jenny just chuckled. "You and I both know it's not about grades or qualifications or capability."

In her mind things had gone something like this: Vlada would go out and get a job. No doubt, with all the reading she'd done, the theory she'd absorbed, the unbreakable arguments she'd spent so much time rehearsing, she would quickly organize whatever workplace she ended up in with the IRMC at the forefront. From there it was just a matter of spreading the organization, uniting the proletariat, and before you know it the bourgeoisie is overthrown. She could see the path to revolution in her mind, exactly how each step could go and should go. For one like her who never struggled academically, that could see three moves ahead of whatever she did, that experienced success in virtually all of her personal endeavors, this sort of frustration, this failure, this inability to find a solution was entirely unknown. Before she had handed in her very first application, in her mind's eye she could see herself being triumphantly carried into a brave new world on the shoulders of the emancipated proletariat as Josefina and Nina looked on admiringly. To have her conceit exposed to the older girl was more than humiliating.

If Jenny was aware of Vlada's shame she made no sign. Instead she spoke about the mechanisms and contradictions of capitalism at play, and her conception of the necessary trajectory of a revolutionary party. Indeed, she spoke with such an eloquent mastery of advanced concepts that Vlada was taken aback. Her attention rapt, she sat listening in silent awe of the penetrating power of the older girl's insight. For a long time now, Vlada had seen herself at the pinnacle of achievement. How many hundreds-of-thousands of pages had she read? How many scholastic awards had she won? Wasn't she the chaircat of the most revolutionary organization in the entire school? Her head spun with the dialectical rammifications related to her by Jenny's keen insight. It dawned on her as she listened to the other girl that her pinnacle had been at the top of a steep hill, but that hill stood at the foot of a very tall mountain indeed. Jenny was pleased to see the fervent puissance return to the eyes beneath that cap bill. Soon, Vlada and Jenny were deep in intricate conversation regarding the road ahead.

When they finally stepped out of the cafe the sun had set. A darkening blue dusk had set in and a chill was in the air, but Vlada couldn't feel it. Her mind was elsewhere, spinning with thoughts and possibilities. She felt recharged and potent once again. Jenny too was pleased. The pall of defeat and exhaustion which had hung so heavily over Vlada seemed to have lifted. Jenny couldn't help but grin--Vlada was making that face again. "It's a long road, you know, to a new world. But if anyone can get there, I think you can." Vlada bit her lips, trying not to smile.

They bid each other a good night and went their separate ways after promising to talk again soon. Vlada had a long bus ride home to sit and think. "To learn, to learn, and to learn again..." she mused to herself. The mountain she had to climb loomed large in her mind, but rather than intimidate her it excited her. She had the feeling that once she was at the top, she'd be able to see the new world she envisioned. Already she was thinking ahead, planning her route up its sheer faces and promontories.

When Vlada stepped off the bus near her house she looked at her phone and thought about sending Jenny a "thank you" text. Her thoughts lingered on the older girl and how those blue and green eyes looked at her so keenly, and her cheeks warmed. She let her mind wander as she returned home and prepared for bed. Her body still felt worn out, but the oppressive weight of failure was gone. Once in her pajamas she climbed into bed, turned off the light, and fell instantly asleep.

--

"Well now where is she?"

It was after school a couple weeks later, and Nina was impatiently pacing in the club room. Exasperation was plain on her face and the bristling fur on her fluffy tail. Josefina wasn't paying particular attention; instead working on some papers of her own. Back and forth Nina went turning fiercely on her heel, her face a mask of intense irritation. In her wake her tail cut through the air like a scimitar. Compulsively she checked her phone, her steaming annoyance drawing nearer and nearer to bubbling over with every passing moment.

"I'm sending her another text. This is ridiculous! This will be the third meeting she's missed. The third! And not a word to us the whole time. Just what exactly is she doing? What does she think this is, a box social? She's ignoring her responsibilities. This is a club for action--revolution! If Vlada can't take her responsibilities as chaircat seriously then something must be done!"

Josefina ignored her. In a little booklet taken from the breast pocket of her coat she scribbled a few notes before returning it. Otherwise she worked silently and steadily scratched with the tip of her pen at the stack of papers in front of her. Nina was too absorbed in her flurry of angry text messaging to notice it. The Stalinist's tail swayed contentedly in the air.

Nina was in the middle of the sixth page of a long text denouncing Vlada's recent behavior as Club Chaircat when Vlada herself burst through the door. "Sorry! Sorry. I'm sorry I'm late." She hurried in, red cheeked and happy. As she set her things down her smile faltered as she saw Nina's furious scowl. "What? What's the matter?"

"Only that you're late! Again!" fumed Nina.

"Well, yes, of course." Vlada's happy look changed to confusion. "I informed Josefina as Vice Club Chaircat that I would be late today. Didn't she tell you?"

The Finance Chair's blistering glare shifted to Josefina who simply smiled with innocent benevolence. "Goodness, Comrade Nina, my apologies," she said, spreading her hands apologetically. "I was so distracted by your fretting that it must have slipped my mind."

Before Nina had a chance to erupt, Vlada changed the subject. "I have good news, comrades!" Rummaging through her bag, she took out a cheap-looking yellow hat made in the shape of a box of french fries with an "M" on the front. "I just came from a job interview. A most successful job interview! Next week I start working the drive-thru at MacGonagall's!" Josefina and Nina exchanged looks before clapping rather unenthusiastically in congratulations. Vlada positively beamed as she exchanged hats again. "But come--I've been so busy myself these past weeks that I haven't even heard anything from either of you. Tell me about your jobs, the conditions and your coworkers. Are we making any progress toward securing our club's finances?"

Nina blushed furiously and slowly sat down in her chair. "I... have not yet been able to find employment, Madame Chaircat." The corner of Josefina's mouth tugged into the faintest smile of satisfaction. Sitting back, she knit her hands together beneath her chest. "I, on the other hand, have experienced no problems, and have been employed these many weeks. But, tell me, Madame Chaircat, is such a position really in keeping with the, eum... The dignity of the post of Club Chaircat?"

"Of course, Comrade Josefina. A true revolutionary shrinks from no labor that advances the cause of the revolution. And Nina, don't worry--now that my search is over, I can help you in yours. Together we'll find you a job, just you see. Soon we'll be able to devote our time to the IRMC, and have the resources to support it." This seemed to mollify her intense embarrassment and she smiled, abashed. "Thank you, Madame Chaircat."

Vlada shared a lopsided grin. "Don't thank me just yet. This is just the first step. It's a long road, you know..." Another meeting of the International Revolutionary Marxists Club was inaugurated, and for the first time in what felt like a long while, Vlada was certain she could see the way forward.