1 Vanilla Lemon

"Islets Caroline. Born during rainy summer day. Owns a dog, a cat and a rabbit with a blue hat. Likes red at times, hates violets. The favorite fruit is mango." The door opened to the truth room, the place where she will conduct the interview. It is always mouthful to say her passwords but those are truths she has to say to open the truth room. Truth bears truth. Says on the only decoration at the wall inside the white painted room. There is a white chair for the applicant and for the interviewer, a white table and the black folder full of applicants for the day. Five hundred is the quota. The clacking sound of her stiletto echoes around the room. It will be good if there is at least a window inside so she can think of other stuff while drinking her coffee during her break. She put her bag on her drawer. Bring out her cup, filled it with an instant coffee and hot water from the dispenser. She likes the bubbling sound of the dispenser when it sometimes interrupts the interview. It gives her time to breathe in the coffee and erase the scents still lingering on her nose. She grab a mirror tuck hidden on her drawer to look at her self. Her reddish hair is neatly tied at the back. Make up good. A bit pale on the lips but a retouch of red tint will be perfect. Clothes, boring black coat and white blouse neatly ironed last sunday and still crisp. Smells clean and fresh. She is ready. She smelled her coffee and took a sip. Coffee is life. Coffee is blood. She said to her self, noticing that the hat of her rabbit figurine is a not aligned she gently tap it with her finger then pressed the green button near the folder.

"Mr. Al White. Please come in."

All white. She mumbled as she waits for him to come in. She likes the sound of his name. He sound clean and fresh. Hopefully he is also good. She heared his footstep only when he is already at the door of the interview room. Now the moment of truth. Is he good or is he bad?

Al White just turn twenty five this year. Another lemon she thought. Has excellent academic records, excellent work experiences specializing collection and field work. Has great athletic abilities. Lives alone, likes to cook but doesn't have time and do household chores as much as he can. The latter sounds like he is a good candidate for a wife. Damn. He smells great. Like a freshly washed clothes and dried under the sun. He also has a calming scent. Like he is a walking aroma therapy hand picked for her picky nose. He is not good. Al White is excellent. She smiled a bit and wrote excellent and another thing down on his resume.

"Is that it?"

"What?" She is not supposed to look at her applicants longer than five seconds. But she was unable to look away. Brown like chocolate hair. Interesting grey eyes. Clean, fresh and crisp clothes. Good posture, clean finger nails, time conscious, observant and a good speaker. His handsome features adds to the overall look. But in conclusion this guy is obviously the smart, know-it-all, handsome and hard to deal with applicant when they ask alot of questions about the job.

"Are you only going to ask what I ate today? "

"Yes." Here it comes. She braced herself.

"Why?"

"Do you want me to ask you what did you drink after consuming the disgusting sandwich you brought from the convenient store two blocks away from here?"

He laughed amused. "How-"

"You're hired Mr. White. You have good credentials fit for the job. Go to the door to my left. Somone there will orient you about the job and the requirements you need to bring after that. You will start probably a day after tomorrow if you met the requirements of that team. So if you don't have any more questions I still have four hundred and ninety-nine applicants to interview."

"Wait a minute. I don't get it."

Islets hold her breath. "What else?"

"My eating habits? Is that part of the qualification?"

"If I say yes will you stop asking questions?"

"Nope."

"Then no. That is just another spill I have to build rapport to my applicants."

"One last question."

"Mr. White. How did you know about the job?"

"From the advertisement I saw..."

"Where?"

He rattled his head for an answer but nothing came to mind.

"Mr. White on your way to work someone told you about The Company didn't you? Most people wouldn't be here when they only hear the name The Company. But you are one of few people who did. It means you are pre-qualified for the job. Then the purpose of me being here with you is to verify that you are indeed a good candidate for the job. So my job is done you may now proceed to the door on my left."

"Okay I get it but answer my last question."

A few more seconds to go. Islets told her self. All applicants are entitled for a question or two. She can still last for a few more seconds. She just look at him hoping her silence will be as good as a yes.

"Then Ms. Islets. Do you perhaps have an excellent olfactory senses?"

Observant or intuition? She closes her eyes before answering. Both. "Yes."

"Thank you for your time." Al White smiled. He opened the door to her left. He mumbled something before closing the door behind him but Islets was not able to hear it because she becomes busy writing her observation on her empty notebook.

Islets gulped down her coffee immediately. The heat on her throat makes her more focus. She looks at her watch. That is more than a five minute interview. She opens her drawer, takes out a small brown box, opens the lid and smells the coffee beans inside of it. She must erase his scent or else she would be searching for his scent like some kind of a dog or an addict. If she must she will choose to be a dog.

This happens sometimes. Her encountering applicants like Al White is not new. It is a rare occurance though and exact reason why It takes quite a while to get used to them. Her only job is to smell them nothing else. A huge number of applicants will come everyday. Piled on her black folder are their resumes.

Even as a recruiter she was given a few details about their company. The Company is its official name. They are very strict when it comes to information management. You will only be given appropriate amount of information depending on your job and from there you can do everything. She has her own reasons in accepting such shady job when she applied at The Company as a recruiter. Probably the same reason as her applicants. Still she always has that natural curiosity to know more about the company through her applicants.

The first thing Islets noticed was the format of their resume. Name, Birthdate, Education, Special Skills and a check box for good or bad. Everyone has the same format. When she applied, she clearly remembered highlighting her skills. She did not came from a prominent school and only have above avarage scores but nothing notable. But for some reason the person who interviewed her at that time knew about her special ability that she didn't included. When asked about it she just admitted it to step up her score but didn't expect that she will get the job right there and then.

The recruiter asked her to stay at the back during the next interview. Her only task was of course to know if the person smells "good" or "bad". Closing her eyes once for bad and twice if good. He didn't even see her do it because he never look back at her. At that day there were only four people who were asked to open the door on their left. She was not included.

The next day Islets received a message to come back. Arriving at the office she found a black folder with five hundred applicants and a few instructions on her task. Fail those who smell bad pass those who smell good. At that day she passed three hundred fifty seven people. They all entered the room on her left.

There are many questions she wanted to ask the recruiter who suddenly gave her his jon without endorsement. First on her list is that door on the left. Frankly she didn't know what is beyond that door. From time to time she will receive a note with a few instructions on it or what she needs to improve on. But nothing tells her about the lelft door.

Once she felt the urge to look. To see what is beyond that mysterious door. There was no note that she can't but everytime she tries the same feeling she had while opening that door eight years ago stops her.

Something tells her that if she opens that door she will loose a thing or two and she couldn't afford that. Not after she left everything behind.

Second, she also noticed that the applicants seems to know about The Company from weird sources. Some from a toilet cleaner advertisement, from the graffiti in a public comfort room, from a questionable website, from people chatting people in the road or sometimes and in rare occasions they are directly contacted by The Company to apply. They receive a business card. Most of them didn't even remember receiving one but they still came anyway.

Third, most of the applicants has something from their scent. Those scents are different from their overall scent. Like, it was put there on purpose for her to notice.

Vanilla Lemon. Applicants who has a hint of vanilla lemon on them receive business cards. One hundred percent of applicants from vanilla lemon passed her screening. That's why Islets feels that those are rare applicants are pre-screened already. They are hand picked by The Company and her interview is only for formalities.

And this one is also probably just for formalities.

Islets put Al White's resume to a shredder. Take a whiff of her coffee, let it sit before calling another applicant.