Bringing the Devil Out of Me

"Alice! Alice thank God you're here early!" Diane cried as I walked through the elevator doors and towards the cubicle I had been assigned just two weeks prior. I raised my eyebrows and tried to figure out what had made the secretary so frantic.

"What's up Diane?" I asked, walking to my cubicle as she rushed to my side.

"George called out sick just five minutes ago. He's got a huge interview in twenty minutes and the only other guy on the floor has an interview with one of the kids from the high school football team. You've gotta take it!" she gushed, cornering me as I walked into the cubicle and placed my purse on the desk. My cubicle was still empty aside from the cubicle, desk, and chair I had been given.

"I'd love to Diane. Did George already prepare the questions?" I asked, pulling out my new tape recorder (digital of course) and a notepad and pen from my bag.

"Yes, I've forwarded the document to your email. Mr. Whitacre said for you to follow that to a T, and if you think of any other good questions to ask them. The questions George prepared are mandatory, but a little creative freedom never hurt anyone," Diane explained, relief washing over her face.

"Okay. So where is this interview?" I asked, turning on the computer. It roared to life and I logged onto my email quickly.

"The interview is in the conference room just down the hall. When you go towards the elevators, make a right and its the big room to the right. You can't miss it," Diane said before scampering out of the cubicle. I chuckled and opened the Word document she had attached to the email. I hit the print button before even reading over it and the printer below my desk whirred before spitting out the interview questions.

How do you feel you are going to perform as a team next season?
How did being knocked out of the first round of the playoffs effect you?
Have you changed anything that you feel will improve your performance?
Do you think that you'll take home the Cup this year?
What team do you think is going to pose the biggest challenge for you in the upcoming season?

I read through the interview questions. They were standard, really, and I was looking forward to conducting the interview. I guess I'm interviewing the Penguins. I mean, he mentioned the Cup. I thought with a grin. I opened my purse and removed a calendar before pinning it to the wall of my cubicle with a red thumb tack. The looming figure of Martin Brodeur stared down at me, dominating the top half of the calendar. I crossed off the box labeled May 30th with my red marker and spun in my chair before standing up and heading to the bathroom to make sure I looked good enough to conduct an interview.

"Hey Alice! They didn't tell me you were going to be here!" Marc beamed as I walked into the conference room. I smiled.

"They didn't tell me either. George was supposed to conduct this interview originally, but he got sick...so here I am!" I explained, flouncing into the chair beside my new roommate. He shrugged and turned to a tall man with curly brown hair, dark eyes, and a pleasant smile.

"Evgeni Malkin, it's a pleasure to meet you," I said, holding out my hand. He shook my hand, and I was amazed at how much he dwarfed me.

"It is very nice to meet you too. Flowers has told us all so much about you," Evgeni said, his voice laden with an even heavier accent than Marc's, but Russian instead of French.

"If he's said anything bad, it's a lie," I smirked, looking at Marc. His eyes gleamed with an impish mischief and he smiled like someone who knew a secret. The door swung open again and I turned to see Kris Letang and Matt Cooke walk in. Matt was laughing about something Kris had said to him, and I noticed the gap created by a very much missing tooth.

"Mr. Letang, Mr. Cooke, I'm Alice Parker. It's nice to meet you," I said, standing and shaking both of their hands. Kris eyed me up and nodded approvingly before turning to Matt.

"So you're Fleury's roommate huh? He said something about a short red headed reporter girl, but didn't mention that you'd be interviewing us today," Matt said, examining me carefully.

"I didn't know until this morning that I would be interviewing you...long story. So are we waiting on anyone else? Nobody told me how many of you would show up," I asked, turning towards the door.

"We're waiting for Sid and his huge ass to show up," Matt smirked. I bit back a laugh and shook my head.

"Hey, what did I say about talking trash on my butt? You're just jealous Cookie." Sidney cried from the hallway before walking in and giving Matt a playful shove.

"What do you think Alice, is it huge or what?" Matt asked, turning to me. I raised my eyebrows and sighed.

"Honestly...it's pretty big, but Dion Phaneuf's butt is bigger," I chuckled. Sidney's face flushed a furious shade of red, and then he cracked up.

"I told you!" he cried victoriously.
"Alright boys, let's get this interview started before I get fired." I laughed, dropping back into the seat next to Marc.