Cut by Thread

I would do anything

I took the trolley towards Manhattan, then started going from one store to the next, asking for work. Many declined me because I was too young, they had no money, or they had enough workers. I wasn't surprised, considering how bad the economy was. I went to the last store of the day. It was a clothing factory with a big lit up yellow sign that said McWhirters. I opened the door and went to the cash register. With the biggest smiled I had, I asked "Good afternoon ma'am, I was wondering if there are any jobs available?" The lady at the counter glanced at me with disgust and told me to hold on while she got the manager. She took me back to the manager's office. She opened the door and told me to sit. I sat down on the chair, nervously waiting. There was a huge desk filled with paper work and fashion designs. A man walked in and sat behind the desk. He was a tall, thin man with glasses and was wearing a suit. He must have been in his late 40's, based on the way he looked and dressed. Then, the man spoke. " Hello, today is your lucky day. We do have a job opening. I don't know if you are fit for it, though." he told me. I interrupted him and started to say, without crying, " Please sir, I need this job. I lost my father and I don't want to be in the streets with my little sister and mother. Sir, i will do anything to get this job! I don't care what I have to do. I just need pay." Then, I started tearing up despite trying not to. The man looked at me and knew that I had been though a lot. He took a deep breath, and scanned me. He told me to stand up, then he said, "you would do anything for this job? Well, that bracelet you have on your wrist is very nice. If you hand that bracelet over, I'll give you the job." I looked at my wrist. It was my bracelet that my father gave me. It was the only thing I had from him. I took it off, and felt the gold chain with a pattern of hearts for the last time. I started to cry and whispered to myself, "It's for Grace." I handed him the bracelet, not giving him any eye contact. He took the bracelet and put it in the bottom left drawer of his desk. After that, he took me to the back of the factory and showed me what I had to do. He opened a door and huge wave of dust came to my face. I coughed."You'll get used to that," my new boss said. We walked past many sad women sewing buttons onto trousers. After we passed them, there was a group of men listening to music. They smiled as they glued the soles onto shoes. They seemed like they were having a great time. We went farther down the factory, passing people sewing, dying, and organizing clothing. Finally, we got to the place where I would be working. There were a lot of machines spindling thread of all sorts of colors. There were a bunch of kids working at the machines. I was astonished to see so many kids being here when they should be in school. Most of them were probably in the same boat that I was in. My new boss said, " As you can see, there are kids here because they are small enough to go through the machines and change the thread. I'll tell you this now. If you get hurt here, we have nothing to do with it. It is considered your fault. Make sure you keep your hair up and away from the machine." I nodded and then he called out to boy named Sam. Sam came out of one of the machines. He continues to speak, saying " Sam here will show you how to work these machines and how everything here works." He pushed Sam towards me. He was covered with dust. It caked his face and his clothes were ripped and torn. He had no shoes on. Sam looked at me and took me to the machine. Our boss left. Sam explained the schedule, how the machine worked and how to change the threads. We went into one of the machines so he could show me how to change the thread. I followed him through it and did as he told me. Suddenly, something was pulling my hair. It tugged harder and harder. I started to scream. Sam pulled a pair of scissors from his pocket and cut my hair off faster than I could realize what was happening. " Make sure you have your pretty hair away from them machine missy," he said. I stared at him with amazement. I stuttered a thank you, but he ignored me and continued explaining how things worked. After that, he took me outside of the factory and said, "We get paid at the end of the day and your shift is from 8am until 5pm for the weekdays and 6pm-2am on the weekends. Good luck," before walked back inside. I started walking to the trolley to go back home and thought of the strange boy, Sam. What an odd boy he was, but he saved my hair and possibly my life. I touched the newly cut piece of hair. I let go of my hair and got on the trolley.