We all knew what was coming next, but that didn’t stop us from raising our hands, excitedly screaming and carrying on, “Pick Me, Pick Me!” No way, were we going to miss-out on seeing Tom Jones, and from front row seats, to boot! This was, indeed, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not for seeing TJ, but that Mr. Twinkie bought them for us.
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The entire Manufacturing Department had been working ten hour shifts for ten weeks straight, without a day off. This isn’t easy work, as we manufacture and package those early pregnancy tests that consumers buy. The package inserts alone, give fourteen people jobs, as the FDA keeps setting standards for us to include certain information with our product. Considering that we spend each and every day, yes, we work weekends too, standing on a hard concrete floor, we’ve built our muscles strong… strong enough to see Tom Jones and become raving lunatics flailing our bodies about. Yep, if anyone’s got stamina, look no further, we can handle it!
The usual way the Company handles such offerings is by holding a lottery to those who wish to receive the gift. I’d say there was about forty of us who raised our hands, then quickly formed a single-file line to chose our tickets. We weren’t able to see the what was on the tickets, as we picked them blindly. Mine had the word ‘PATIENCE’ on it.
Later that afternoon during break time in the cafeteria, Mr. Twinkie rolled in a cart with a box o it. The box held the ripped-off stubs to our tickets, (he was always fair to us this way). He reached in and grabbed the first of three winning words. I closed my eyes, crossed my fingers and held my breath as he read the word, ‘HONOUR’. Mary screamed and ran up to get the envelope. The second stub that Mr. Twinkie reached for, said ‘CIVILITY’, silence prevailed, then J. D. put on his glasses and said, “oh, ME, ME” and went up to accept his envelope.
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Now the tension was at it’s highest level, the room became quiet and I crossed my arms and legs in addition to the other crossings for luck. It seemed as though someone stole time, the wait became painful, “DUTY was called, it is the last word”, and Mr. Twinkie pulled his glasses down and perused the room. When in walked Ellen, she went straight over to Mr. Twinkie and whispered something to him. Mr. Twinkie then said, “I’m sorry folks, but DUTY must wait. There was an error, no one has that ticket, it wasn’t picked up. A hush of relief and excitement for another chance, permeated, as Mr. Twinkie reached in that box, looked at the stub and said, “Well, since ‘DUTY’ has no taker, ‘PATIENCE’ seems to have won out!”, and with that said, I fainted but held on to that ticket so tightly. Gus could see it and he yelled that I was the third winner, then he made a comment, so I am told, “She’s practising for when Tom Jones come out onto the stage.” and the whole room chuckled.
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-dld January 11, ’11-
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T10 Take it Away, Tuesday: We all knew what was coming next
The only rule: start your story with the above sentence.
dld self narration 