Daphne and the New York Times

Congratulations to 8th grader Daphne Kelly from Mrs. Prince's English class!  Her written response to a New York Times "Our Conversation Challenge" for teens received the "Reader Picks" status. The picture prompt from October 10 is titled "Climbing a Building."

Daphne’s Submission:

Nick looked up toward the monstrous tower that loomed above him. It stood tall and was made of yellow brick. Nick always walked into the yellow building at precisely 7:28 each morning just as he had today. But, something was off. He found out what that was quickly when he pushed a tiny silver button in an attempt to call the elevator. 

“Sir! Sir! Sorry but, um, well, the elevator is broken,” a young woman with smooth blond hair called.

“But, it was working perfectly fine yesterday!” exclaimed Nick. The woman narrowed her eyes.

“Yes well, a lot can happen in the few hours you aren't here.” Nick sighed and began to walk towards the stairs on the other side of the foyer. A large sign sat directly in front of the stairs that read ‘Stairs broken, take the elevator.’ Nick laughed, how much worse could this day get! It's not like he could return home, he had an important assignment to get done today. Nick stood seemingly rooted in place for a good 2 minutes before making up his mind and walking back to the front of the building. He had to scale its walls.