Storytelling: We All Need a Break

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We All Need a Break

Julia walked out onto the terrace at Monica and Rachel’s apartment. After the night when they set up the area so that she could meet her deadline, she had been spending a lot of her time outside, on the terrace, writing. Julia still loved writing in the cozy coffee shop, so she has been splitting her time between the two places.

Today Julia came up to the terrace to blow off some steam. She feels angrier that she has felt since she moved to New York City. The new editor at her office has been taking credit for the work that the authors are actually doing. Julia and the other authors are now looking like they are lazy and not meeting their deadlines. Today Julia had finally had enough. The editor, David, had sold Julia out in front of her boss for something that she had not even done. She was livid and could not spend another moment in that office, so she came up to one of her favorite places to get some sun and let the warm air sit on her skin.

After a few long hours of sitting and napping beneath the warm sun, the group of friends showed up at the apartment. They all came outside to sit with Julia and share about how their days had gone at work. When Julia’s turn came around she shared about what was going on and she was surprised when each of her friends mentioned times when they had been in the same boat at work. They told Julia that it was important to stand up for herself and talk to her boss about what is going on with her new editor.

As the conversation moved on and the friends began discussing more lighthearted topics, Julia sat back and felt so much better about the entire situation.

The friends spent the rest of the night enjoying one of first of many warm nights of the summer together.

Friends

Author’s Note: I wrote this story based on the Jataka Tale, The Crab and The Crane. In this story the crane uses his ability to fly to trick some fish into coming with him to a pond that is full of water. They end up going with him and he kills and eats every last fish. He tries to do the same to a crab, but he becomes wise to the Crane’s scheme and snaps the crane’s neck. This inspired my story because Julia is in a similar situation where her editor is using her and tricking her, but she is smart enough to fix the situation.