This post is written for Friday Fictioneers. The challenge is to write a complete story with a beginning, middle and end in 100 words or less. My story follows below the picture prompt below.
The only thing the locker lacked was a toilet. The storage units were located near a patch of tall trees and thick shrubs. Problem solved. There were showers in the men’s locker room at school. No one gave it a second though when they saw him shower after riding his bike to school. He was told that new teachers would have a difficult time their first year. Adapting to a new professional life required sensibility and a fine tuned optimistic personality. The only bare bulb had to be turned off by nine to avoid detection.
Oh Danny Boy! 
I like how you dropped the bomb in the middle of the story. Since the back of the teacher’s union was broken, this is more like non-fiction. A story whose details are rich and make you think.
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A very sad story. Hopefully, he will soon earn a liveable wage and will be able to acquire a roof of his own. In the meantime, he is very resourceful.
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I have had my day when a cot was a luxury and showering a privilege. So much for my way back machine. Well done story, Danny.
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Mine was a sleeping bag in an unfurnished apartment.
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Depends on who you’re with. 🙂
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Great story, as it makes one think. Well done
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Thanks for stopping by.
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In our area, there’s a storage facility that allows the homeless to shelter in empty units when it’s freezing outside and the shelters are closed or over filled. Sad that people have to live this way, though. We did for a few weeks between homes. It was horrid.
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Interesting.
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Desperate times. If it’s not the teachers then it’s the students and pupils. Something has to give somewhere.
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I recently heard about a homeless teacher. He (I think “he”) just got hired and word was going out to find someone to take him in until he could get a few paychecks under his belt…
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Sad.
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Yes
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He must love his job to suffer that.
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True.
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A sad reality. It really shouldn’t happen. Hopefully, the situation is temporary.
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Yes, hopefully.
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I have a friend who spent a one-year army posting in Afghanistan, living in a shipping container. I could feel the squeeze. 🙂
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That must have been horrible.
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My friend admitted that, while it was different, it wasn’t really terrible, just isolating and somewhat claustrophobic, especially for a big guy like him. He couldn’t walk down a hall and chat with a neighbor.
They were intended as individual bedrooms/workrooms for transient junior officers. Cross-stacked three high, my buddy got a top bunk – and a steel ladder to access it. They had been lightly floored, walled and ceilinged. It made them a bit homier, but even more cramped.
They had a single bed – for a guy who’s six foot, four – a night table, a work desk and chair, and anything you could haul up. They had lights, baseboard radiant heaters, individual air conditioners, and reliable, base-supplied electricity to power them and laptops, etc.
They didn’t have water, or sanitary facilities. A midnight pee run might involve an empty pop-can. Showers, toilets, mess hall and work offices were in nearby buildings. They were better than what many natives had, but it got old, fast. He was happy to return to ‘normal’ civilization. 😳
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What a story!
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And maintained a blog throughout it all. Posted a couple of times a week, and answered every comment. Made me tired just watching. 😎
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Teachers aren’t paid nearly enough
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Sad. And professional sports athletes are paid way too much.
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Huh. Glad I didn’t work in that school! Sounds like they didn’t pay enough to keep him alive, never mind sanitary!
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True!
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