Character Interview: Robin Lewis via Karen Heenan

All this week  I'm interviewing potential new recruits for my imaginary company. I've invited several authors to send along some suitable candidates, chosen from among their fictional characters.

Today's interviewee is Robin Lewis, of Songbird and A Wider World, nominated by author Karen Heenan:

AW: Firstly, I'd like you, please, by way of introduction, to bring an object for Show and Tell, let us know what the item is and why it is special/important.

RL: The small book I have here was given to me by Cardinal Wolsey when I was a boy and came to London to sing in his choir. He caught me several times in his library, and when I went from his choir to the king’s Chapel Royal, he gave me this book so I could write down all the things I remembered from my monastic education – an education discontinued because I worked for the greatest man in the land.

It looks like nothing, but at the time, it meant hope to me. Hope that someday I would finish my education, and perhaps, like the cardinal, have a great library of my own. I did these things, and have outlived both king and cardinal, and their libraries.

AW: [Handy chap to have in the office, I think.] Secondly, I'm going to place four items in front of you. Could you please rank them in order of usefulness/value, with a few words about your evaluation?

These items are: a leather-bound notebook, a horse, a bag of coins, a sharp pointy weapon.

RL: It’s difficult not to put the leather-bound notebook first, but I would have to say the bag of coins, because with that I could purchase any number of leather-bound notebooks, horses, or sharp pointy weapons (the latter three items in order of importance, you will note). Money cannot buy happiness, but it can buy books, and quiet places in which to read them, and that is very nearly enough.

AW: [Pretty sure this is the sort of quiet, clever, conscientious person who might do well] I have several vacancies in my global corporation. Would you be best suited to the role of CEO, Finance Officer, Head of Human Resources, or Chief Medical Officer? Why?

RL: What a terrible prospect. Finance is not my strong suit; I am squeamish about medical matters; and anyone who knows me would assure you that human resources would be the last place I would fit. I do generally have good judgment about people – whether or not I like them – so I will take your CEO position, employ a stable of trustworthy surrogates, and retire to a quiet place to spend your money on good books and wine.

AW: [He wants to retire already? Hmm, on to some general stuff...] You're going on a first date. Who has chosen the venue - you, or your date? How are you feeling - nervous, tongue-tied, or have you totally got this? Who's your 'wingman'?

RL: I am fortunate to have a choice of ‘wingmen’ as you so quaintly term it. Depending on my ‘date’ – these terrible modern words – I would either bring Edward Pickering, my dearest friend, or Sebastian Black, my servant (and dearer to me by far than Ned, although I would appreciate if you would not share that information). Both are always there to support me, albeit in different ways. As I said, the identity of my date would determine my choice of companion for the evening.

As for the venue, it would be my suggestion, because there are few enough places where I am comfortable; adding an unfamiliar location to a meeting with an unfamiliar person (with whom I am hoping, I assume, to make a connection?) would be entirely too much to bear.  

AW: [Diligent, but perhaps not a giggle at the Christmas party? Still, I find him captivating...] You've been building something - a Lego model, a battleship made of matchsticks, a ship in a bottle, or something similar. Someone you don't get on with smashes it deliberately. How do you react?

RL: A reaction is what they want, and so they will not have one from me. I will calmly sweep up the debris, and bide my time, no matter how my innards boil with fury. Violence is rarely the answer. Retribution can be achieved with more long-lasting effect if one takes the time to quiet one’s anger and make an appropriate plan. I am all about the plan.

AW: [Calm, loyal, capable... but would take some getting to know, I feel. Interesting...] Thank you Mr Lewis, we'll be in touch.

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As an only child, Karen Heenan learned early that boredom was the enemy. Shortly after she discovered perpetual motion, and has rarely been seen holding still since.

She lives in Lansdowne, PA, just outside Philadelphia, where she grows much of her own food and makes her own clothes. She is accompanied on her quest for self-sufficiency by a very patient husband and an ever-changing number of cats.

One constant: she is always writing her next book.

Website: karenheenan.com

Facebook: facebook.com/karenheenanwriter

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