by Georgia Doar
Taller than me… they all are… they think they're so sleek with their special uniforms and badges… I have a uniform too, you know! So does everybody else! The same collared shirt and khaki’s, but their blue ‘AT&T’ hat and badge really seem to set them apart. Everyone is scared of them. They try to guilt you into buying their TVs because your TV doesn’t work; no one else in the member support department would ever dream of that. But I am the one who has to go talk to them. Couldn’t it have been Dave? No. No one trusts him. Not after he dropped a large container of PowerAde from the forklift onto a small child. Even still, I asked Kelly, the manager, if Dave could do it, but she only scolded me. “How inconsiderate of you to ask that!” she yelled. Then, because I’m always stuck in my people pleasing ways, I OFFERED MYSELF UP! It immediately became one of my top three regrets, along with running a marathon to see if I could (I’m really not a runner…) and going backpacking for two weeks (Turns out you need training to go rock climbing…) It's got some pretty hefty competition. But here I go, down the TV aisle. It’s time to do this: ask the AT&T people if they would like to have their lunch break now, instead of 30 minutes from now.
“Hi, um… I was, uh… wondering if, um… ” I started.
“Spit it out!” one of the four employees squawked. They were all standing in what seemed to be a choreographed formation from a 2000s Disney movie, where the bullies are about to shove the protagonist (me… duh), into a locker (or in this case a TV).
“Can you have your break now?” I asked in a hushed tone, as they towered over me.
“Yeah, fine… whatever, ” the same employee responded. And with a twist of their heels they left me in their dust.
They were just as scary as I thought.
"St. George and the Dragon" by Theo Wong, age 8
"Dancing Through Dark" by Phoebe Wong, age 12
By Pruitt Smith, age 9
