Shift into Gear

/ Liz H-H

Tiny dandelion growing thru cracked sidewalk“What goes around, comes around, again and again and again,” Sharlie muttered, shuffling her feet – along with all her fellow shift workers at Widgetties Inc — over the cracks and buckles in the sidewalk that led up to the factory’s tall, iron double doors. Her steel-toed boots were worn, soles held to uppers with fraying duct tape. “Uh-huh, Baby needs a new pair of shoes, but first she needs a different, better job.” 

Graduate school hadn’t paid off for all the time and money she’d put into it, but at least now Sharlie knew better than to stay in a feckless situation for too long.

She stepped out of the line of waiting workers before she’d have to hear, one more time, the screech and groan of opening doors and the resonating clang as it slammed shut behind them.

A half-dozen of the work-weary crew lifted their gray faces, watching her leave, and dropped out of the line to follow her, their shoes shuffling as they stumbled across wholly unfamiliar terrain.

© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2021)

*The challenge? Write a story in 6 sentences, no more & no less, and if you’d like, share your creation or just visit and comment on others’ ideas, with GirlieOnTheEdge, Denise. The prompt is “SHIFT”, and here’s where you join the party: Six Sentence Stories 

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