Modern Canterbury Tales: The Journalist

Hello my lovely readers!!

So I have bad (to me) news that results in good news.

My whole family has been hit with colds (bad-ish news), so today I pretty much did nothing but write. And write. And work on Chapter Twelve! There's the good news.

This week I'll edit it and post it at the beginning of next week! Oh, and I also began typing up Chapter Thirteen, so that will be up later this month as well!

Which means that I shall be posting both both of my modern Canterbury Tales this week.

Here is the first one. The second and final I will post Wednesday.

On a cruise ship, there are people with stories waiting to be told. Not a person passes me in the halls who I don’t wonder, if asked, would he tell me? Would she tell me her story? Beneath their smiles, whether false or genuine, something lurks in their faces; their deepest secrets and their brightest moments unique to their individual pasts. I smile back, but inside I long to ask them about their lives, both their successes and their hardships.
After all, that is my job.
As an investigative journalist, I tell the stories beneath the smiles. This often earns people such as me less-than-friendly reputations and nicknames, ‘muckraker’ being among them. I discover the holes in the stories, exploit the weaknesses, and expose the lies. The area of investigative journalism I chose at the beginning of my career is one I have felt strongly about since college. I investigate homicides and suicides, and aid in the prosecution and justice of the guilty, and repeal the convictions of those I believe innocent.
My first week of investigative journalism, I was assigned a double homicide and suicide. A father came home one night, drunk and infuriated, and fatally shot his wife and four year old son before putting a bullet through his own brain. To say that it was a rough introduction to my job is a serious understatement.
Since then, I’ve investigated and reported more murders and shootings than I care to count. Why do I continue with my job when nearly every day I surround myself with death? When I was in college, an unnamed man murdered my best friend’s younger sister in a drive-by shooting. She was only fifteen. Still to this day, he remains unknown. The authorities never caught him. Witnessing the pain her family endured during the following weeks and months nudged me on the path I tread now.
Two months ago, I reopened a formerly closed case and successfully proved innocent a man convicted of a murder charge, and the judge revoked his life sentence. For over a month, I dug through evidence, case files, past criminal and personal records in a grueling search for justice. Exhausted, I returned to work, where my boss convinced me to take a much-needed vacation.
Why choose a cruise to Israel? Israel is a nation with a story told for centuries. Theirs is a story of hardship, of pain, of triumph, and of victory after countless years of endurance and difficulty; a story much like the stories of the victims and their families whom I aid through journalism.
A cruise provides me with the opportunity to discover the stories of my fellow travelers. Among my diverse companions is a professor who appears irritated with his pupils, a college student with too much time to spare, and a reclusive soldier who spends most of his time alone.
Stories are the history of our lives, each and every one of us. The stories of my fellow voyagers may or may not be told in their lifetime. But as a journalist, it is my duty to examine their lives, sort through the evidence, and tell the truth behind the stories.

Thank you for reading about my dear Cassandra Ross. Look for the story about Jack Price, my combat medic/soldier on Wednesday. Until then, farewell my wonderful readers!!

~Abbie