Tyler P

Tony
==I hate my job. Why do I still work here anymore? Oh, I remember, because people still come to jeer at me. More the merrier my boss says, more people more money is what he actually means. I work at a boring grocery store just a block away from my new apartment. I've been working here for a month. My payroll, better than all the workers here combined. //That's// the only reason I stay here. He pays me this because my being Italian attracts bullies from all over. Does he care about my well being, no! But if it attracts customers than I must be here.== ==They make fun of my accent, and the rest of my heritege. They throw rotten tomatoes at me and say "Dodge this stupid mario brother!" This happens //all// over town too. At resturants, I might order a fancy dish like a nice piece of fish. But I get some //noodles// instead, but I pay for both meals. Just because I'm Italian doesn't mean that I only eat pasta.== ==I was just thinking about this while scraping tomato off of my face, and then my harassers stopped. They found new prey, like in the amazon, always looking for the best prey. But instead of their usual "Hey dork" they said something else, to someone else. They grabbed a goats foot and shoved it in the man's face and said "came to get these?" in a sarcastic voice. They were talking to some Indian person. The man looked hurt, but then something flashed on his face and he got his groceries. A couple of loafs of bread and some seeds for eggplant.==

"Why are you buying eggplant seeds?" I asked inquisitively.
==That was when he told me of the garden. He told me of so many foods, and so many cultures. //Everyone// is nice, and //everyone// is friends with each other. That was what he was thinking about before. I decided that after my shift I would go take a look.==

It was paradise, though some one named Sam told me what that meant. Amir described it as a place to break the rules and be happy, but I thought of it as a safe zone.
==The very next day I got some pepper seeds and planted them into the ground. I took my mind off of work, and into life itself. Everyone talked to each other and they said they were all friends. But they were more than that, they were family. Instead of the snip its of conversation outside of the garden, like "hi" and "'sup" they had more //personal// conversation.== ==The following day at work I gave one of my harassers a smile and said hello.I don't know why I said that, but it made me happy. He was confused, but he smiled back. When Amir came in the kid stopped the rest and they walked away. My boss almost fired me, but then the guys "bullied me" and I kept my job, and my payroll.==