Brenda is overweight and plain-looking. William is her team leader. William ignores Brenda. When she asks him questions, he tells her to ask him later. He tells her to look in the manual. What manual? she asks. He pretends that he doesn't understand...
The phone rang. It was her son. Six years ago she had left her home country. She had sold her business. She wanted her son to get an education in America. She spoke no English. Her son spoke little English. Her friends and family said she was crazy....
You forgot to say thank you, said the apartment building manager. Thank you for what? Sid asked. Remember your email? she asked. He had sent an email about a safety hazard. He had suggested installing a window in the lobby door. Sometimes people leav...
Bill walked to the front door of his apartment. Someone had slipped a piece of paper under the door. It was a notice from the manager. They were going to spray his apartment for bugs. He didn't have any bugs. They would spray Friday morning. Friday m...
She grunted. She was pulling up her slacks. She had bought them a year ago. She tried to button the top button. She couldn't get it close to the button hole. Look at this, she told her husband. Are those the slacks that I shrunk? he asked. She said n...
John was very overweight. The new desks and chairs were too small for him. He complained to the boss. The boss told him to lose weight. John quit. Robert had had a private office previously. Now he was out in the middle of the floor with everyone els...
They were going to move to a new office. But why? Their current office was in a new building. It was in a nice neighborhood. It was near trains and buses. It was near shops and restaurants. The boss wanted to save money. They moved into their new off...
Sasha was pregnant with her second child. She and her husband knew it was a boy. Their first child was a girl. Pauline was four years old. She was excited about her new baby brother. She was going to help feed him. She was going to help dress him. Sh...
In baseball, 27 batters up and 27 batters down is a perfect game. A perfect game usually occurs less than once every five years. In 2010, two perfect games occurred in May alone. Then in June a third perfect game occurred. But there was a problem. Th...
Marina does performance art. She recently finished a five-day performance. She sat silently in a museum. She sat there every day for six hours. She didn't move or talk. There was a circle on the floor. Visitors could walk up to the edge of the circle...
