Day
Ashley Meyer
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Table of Contents
Authors Note
Section 1 – United States
Section 2 – Africa
Section 3 – United States
Section 4 – Africa
Section 5 – United States
Section 6 – Africa
Section 7 – United States
Section 8 – Africa
Section 9 – United States
Section 10 – Africa
Section 11 – United States
Section 12 – Africa
Good… whatever time it is in your area…
My name is Ashley Meyer, and what you are reading is a product of my senior project. The senior project is required for every student in my Academy, a program set up by the city with a specified learning directive. The academy I am enrolled in is the Global Studies and World Languages Academy (yes, it has a lengthy title, so it shall now be referred to as GSWLA), and we focus on, obvious by the name, the world. We take classes on the cultures, languages, government systems, and careers found around the globe throughout our four years in high school.
This story comes in play during my senior year. All seniors must take the Global Connections Seminar, known more affectionately as either the senior project class, or DeMotts class. For the class, each senior must complete their senior project, which consists of a fifteen page research paper, and an actual project. This story is a product of the latter.
For my paper, I talked about poverty visibility in two regions of the world, and what caused this visibility. For my project, as you are about to find out, I wrote a story that focuses on two teenagers. They live in different countries. They have different lifestyles. They have different lives, one lives in an African village, while the other in a city in the United States. But, at the same time, there are similarities between the two, and that is what I hope to bring out in this story.
Now, after that long/brief explanation as to why I wrote this, I need to ask something of you, my reader. When you are finished reading the story, please leave a comment or review on the website. The amount of comments I get has an impact on my grade. You can say whatever you want. You can say you loved it. You can say you hated it. You can say you wish I had used the nominative instead of the dative in a certain sentence. You can correct my spelling and grammar. Or you can just say hi. I would love constructive criticism, but would accept almost anything. Please. If you do not wish to have your review online, you can e-mail it to me at
[email protected]. Either way works for me.
Okay, now that I am done with the begging, you can continue your reading, and please enjoy.
Your author,
Ashley Meyer
United States
Loud beeping drilled into his head, tearing him from his sleep. He rolled over, falling to the floor in the process.
Using the wall, he climbed to his feet, only to get a pillow to the face.
Glaring at the lump that was his brother, he slapped the alarm off, and tossed the pillow back on the bed.
He quickly moved around the room, pulling on his clothes, tossing stuff in his bag, and rushing out the door. He made his way through the halls, and stopped outside the breakfast area.
Before entering the room, he checked to make sure it was empty, and that nobody was watching him. As quick as he could, he stepped over the rope and grabbed some muffins, an apple, and a box of cereal. He quickly stuffed them into his bag before leaving the room.
The night deskman waved at him as he passed through the lobby. Blindly, he waved back.
~~~~~
Africa
Her dream was broken by the bright light of the rising sun. She threw an arm over her eyes, but she was already awake, and sleep was beyond return. Her legs were heavy as she climbed to her feet. She did not understand why they felt so heavy; there was nothing in her.
She made her way out of the hut, and crouched next to the fire pit. There were still small sparks at the very bottom of the embers. She scanned the nearby area, and grabbed some twigs and leaves to get the fire going.
Once the flames had taken hold of the wood and grown in size, she placed the pot with the remains of the previous day’s water over them.
Going back into the hut, she woke her little sister, and they started down the road, each holding an empty water pot.
~~~~~
United States
He ate the apple as he walked down the street to his bus stop. He chewed every bite slowly, trying to make it last. He broke through the skin, and savored the sweet meat inside.
He ate it right down to the core. After staring at the pits and seeds for a few seconds, he tossed the apple in a bush by the sidewalk. By the time he was on the bus, it would be food for ants and other bugs.
He was grateful for the meal, no matter how small, but the fruit was not quite enough to completely satisfy his hunger. True, it lessened it to a manageable ache, but it was still there, as always.
~~~~~
Africa
At times, she felt as though the sun was her energy source.
She lived by the sun. As it threw light onto the tall grass and trees, she rose from her small bed on the floor. As it sat on it’s throne in the sky, she worked, and earned her living. And as it settled for the night, she retired back to her dreams.
She loved the feel of the sun’s warmth as it hit her skin during it’s rise over the horizon. It chased the chills of the night away, and finished dispelling sleep from her body.
She loved the shadows the sun and trees would work together to cast on the ground, giving her shelter from the sun’s unrelenting heat. As she sat within the shadow’s cool boundaries, she searched for patterns in the shadows of the grass and leaves, of the branches and vines.
The sun meant a lot to her, and, as she started her daily trek with her sister, she turned to face the sun, walking in its direction.
~~~~~
United States
He sank into his seat. His head down, his hands deep in his pockets. Deep bass pounded out of the headphones that hung loosely from his ears.
He had found the MP3 player at a park a few months previous. At first his mother thought he had stolen it, but he assured her that it had just been sitting in the grass, for anyone to pick up. He had gotten his songs from a library computer, and was saving up for a new pair of headphones.
He didn’t look up as dark shapes passed his seat.
The other students didn’t notice him as they found their seats. Good, that was how he wanted it. Their eyes skated over his form as they searched for a seat. They registered that he was there, but they took no notice.
He was perfectly happy blending into the background.
~~~~~
Africa
Her day was run by water as much as by the sun. Each day, she and her sister woke with the sun, but woke to get water.
Daily, they walked in the stifling heat, over the dry dirt, through the grass that made them itch, and past many huts, until they reached the stream.
The water soaked ground felt good on their tired feet, and soothed their dry throats. No matter how much they wished to stay at the stream, they took the trip for a purpose: to get water for their family.
As soon as they arrived at the stream, they filled their pots, and started back home.
The walk home was often harder. They were tired and had to carry
the water, but it was mandatory. The life-giving liquid demanded that they walked for hours each day.
~~~~~
United States
He always smiles when he’s at school. Everybody- his friends, the teachers, everybody- thought he was just a happy person. They believed that he never had a bad day, that he always saw the bright side of life. With genetically straight teeth and deep dimples, nobody saw his smile for what it really was.
He used his smile as a mask. He couldn’t let anyone see through it. He couldn’t let anyone see what his life was like.
His smile guaranteed that he was thought of as the same as his friends.
~~~~~
Africa
Her feet never hurt anymore. They used to, years ago, when she first started to get the water.
They used to be covered in blisters and sores, and nothing she ever did would soothe them. She would just force herself to walk through the pain.
She used to have to stop regularly. When the pain would get to be too much, she used to give out on the side of the road. She would sit against a tree, in the shade, and cry to herself. After the first few weeks, she was too tired to even cry, and she would just hold herself, occasionally falling asleep.
It was different now. Her skin had toughened over the miles she had walked. Her joints and muscles were used to the exercise. She can walk the entire time without stopping.
Calluses were not the only thing she had gotten over the years. Scars had appeared from stepping on rocks and thorns. They were the ones that had healed badly.
Two scars stood out. They were right next to each other, on the top of her foot. A few years back, she had stepped in a bush, and disturbed a snake. She had been lucky. Although she had spent a week in bed, the bite was not fatal. That was when her sister joined her.
~~~~~
United States
He hated field trips. He hated paying for field trips. He hated that his friends always went. He hated that he would be shoved into another class during that block. He hated having to do replacement assignments. He hated how excited they all were when they got back. He hated having to listen to what happened during the field trip.
Most of all, however, he hated the questions his friends asked. ‘Why didn’t he go?’ ‘What did he do during the day?’ ‘They thought he was going to be the first one to sign up, what happened?’
After a while, he had to put on a mask of indifference, and act like he didn’t care about fieldtrips. Eventually, they stopped asking him the questions, and stopped expecting him to go.
~~~~~
Africa
She knew the other people that walked the route with her.
Many were around her age. They joked with each other; their laughs mingling in the air. They were her closest friends. Some lived in her village; the rest lived in the other villages in the area. Each day, they all met up by an old tree, and walked the rest of the way together.
Others were older. Their hair swirled around their faces like spider webs. Their backs were stooped from the weight of the water they had carried their entire lives. But their eyes were bright as they talked to the younger generations.
No matter the age, however, they all greeted each other by name. A type of kinship had formed between them as they collected their water day after day.
~~~~~
United States
Sometimes at night, he would lie on his back, his arms under his head, and his gaze fixed on the ceiling. He would think as he laid there. He thought about a lot of things. He thought about school. He thought about his future. He thought about life in general.
He thought about the stuff his friends had. He thought about how nice it would be to have that stuff.
He thought of how his life used to be. Before his dad lost his job. Before they had been forced to leave their house. Before all of this.
Sometimes, he just wondered how he made it through the day, as the ache in his stomach gnawed at him.
~~~~~
Africa
She was the last to eat at night. She watched as her father ate, as her older brothers ate, as her younger brother ate. They all ate their share, leaving the two girls to the rest.
When, at last, it was time for her and her sister to eat, she always made sure her sister had enough to eat first. She did not care if it meant she went without for a day.
Long after the sun went down, she would climb into bed after washing the dishes. She fell asleep almost instantly, her body demanding the sleep.
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