Wielder of Words

Lucille sat at her computer, typing away furiously. It was nearing eleven at night, but she was still in the office, working away at the article. There was no way to walk away---how could she walk away from something as important as the scoop she had about how the government was literally cheating its citizens of its hard-earned pay through the myriad of tax schemes that, on the surface, appear to be favouring the poor with the low rates but in reality was more taxing on them in the long run?

It wasn't the first time she was involved in something like that. In the business, Lucille was known to be a rather efficient wielder of words, a no-nonsense journalist who went all out to get at the most hardened facts and to bring it out to the general public in a manner that was as accessible as it was sensational. It wasn't flowery prose either. Pithy text that was readable by the Average Joe---that had been her motto for the past decade as an investigative journalist.

But she had made some enemies along the way, most of them not willing to take her head on for fear of the charge of infringing upon her journalistic integrity---all her points had hard evidence backing them, and a few of those who tried had soon discovered just what kind of a rabbit hole they had found themselves in. This story was going to be no different.

Lucille wiped the sweat of her brow. She had been processing her facts the whole day, and had been typing for the past hour. At that time of the night, the office miraculously doesn't have its air-conditioning on, which made it all the more ridiculous considering that many of the journalists were still in the office at that time working on the stories that were due in a day's time to be included in the weekly periodical. She cursed softly under her breath at the heat, but soldiered on doggedly.

She knew that if she didn't write that article, no one else would. Those who honed the art of wielding words the way she did were fast thinning out due to the insane amounts of effort needed to get to the point and avoid the obstacles that often surround them. Many had either retired or switch jobs once they had been burnt, but she kept on.

She was the best there was at what she did.

(Based on an exercise generated by WriteThis - 2014-06-19 21:04:18)