Short Story Press presents "White-Out Man", by Janet Marie Lewis.

Everyone it seems wonders, at some point in their lives, what will happen when they eventually stand before the “Pearly Gates”. One man seems stuck somewhere between, in a groundhog effect, approaching and reapproaching the gates in a repeatedly futile attempt to attain a bottle of whiteout. In order to follow standard protocol, the clerk must annotate on the requisition form for what exactly the whiteout is being used. Peter is his name, and he has seen the White-Out Man many times over the past months, and his patience is running thin. As he inquires of the reasoning behind the request, White-Out Man becomes irate and difficult, overheard by Peter’s boss, who intervenes on the intercom.

White-Out Man is haggard and doesn’t seem to realize the same old mistakes can’t be covered up over and over again. The file-purging time approaches yet again, and he has discovered that before he can purge, his form needs to be clean, hence the necessity of the whiteout. He also doesn’t recognize that he is in impeding danger of being hauled down the seemingly endless stairs to the “Sub-levels”. Poor White-Out Man, he knows what lies down in the Sub-levels; but is unsure if there is any way to avoid them other than to white out his mistakes time and again.

This rare metaphorical work, "White-Out Man", broaches age-old questions of humanity in a purely science-fiction manner to which most people today can relate. In a world that is all but overcome by technology and requisite red tape, where not even a simple pen can be accessed without filling out a form, it seems all but impossible to maintain any semblance of composure. The question is...will we be faced with these same or similar endless circles of frustration and bureaucracy even after our time on earth is complete?