Short Story 11: Nanny

Each of us have done a thing or two that churn our stomachs to even slightly remember them. The time you split your pants. The time you fell down while walking at graduation. While each of these instances are absolutely horrid, they shape who one becomes over time. The short story, “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros, follows an eleven year old girl named Rachel who has to cope with one of life’s sucker punches on what would have be a wonderful day; her birthday. The terrifying incident involving a disgusting red sweater that Rachel describes as “raggedy”, “old”, and smelling of “cottage cheese”. The emotions that these events evoke in Rachel, coupled with various literary techniques and choices such as stream of consciousness style writing, decisions

The gunshot rang out over an hour prior but the echo could still be heard in their ears all this time later. Axel and his wife Mary-Jo drove in silence ever since they left the pharmacy, this whole time both of them running through the scenario a hundred times over. They had a plan, but they should know by now nothing goes as they planned. Nothing ever has and nothing ever will. Their original plan was to leave the trailer park once Axel was in charge of his father’s car shop, but his father closed the business down once he retired this past year. Something along the lines of he wouldn’t leave his namesake to a burnout. Then the second plan was for Axel to get a well-paying job alongside Mary-Jo’s position at the daycare center. Unfortunately

Evie hopped off the bus with a renewed sense of purpose. “I came here to succeed. Not to worry about home,” she thought to herself. She was feeling driven and ready to begin anew here, in a foreign land with foreign people, people who don’t know her or her legacy. She looked around at the lively street scene before her. The signs were vibrant and their brilliance drew her closer and closer to the center of town. The entire city seemed to be moving towards her, and an endless sea of men and women spewed out of the buildings and down the block. The congested streets keep her pace slow, but her mind was racing with new thoughts and ideas. The gridlocked traffic finally allowed for some leeway, and Evie found her way out of the fray and across

I’m late. The Starbucks line was long and the coffee stain is still splattered on my black skirt. I check my calendar, September 11. The city’s smog is killing me. If it wasn’t for this meeting, I’d be at my allergist getting new medication to deal with it. I take another sip of my coffee. The heat and the splash of mint I had them add, helps open up my sinuses.

She groaned. "Mr. Schmidt, with all due respect, I'm getting up early tomorrow and it's already 12:05. Are you sure I can't just continue this in the

Everyone in the car let out a collective breath as our car crunched over the gravel turning into Arrowhead Resort in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The tension slowly drained out of Amy’s face as she came to the realization that we weren’t going to be late after all. Luke, situated between Abby and me in the back seat, groggily peered around, taking in the rundown surroundings that had changed drastically since he had last been awake. The tiredness of being up since 3:45 in the morning slowly slipped away as we waved to friends of the family that we were meeting there. Matt parked the car among the hundreds that were already sporadically parked, and we all piled out, ready for the float trip.

It had been a cold day in the city. The last straggling workers hurried home buried beneath their coats. The winter darkness had come on quickly and suddenly, yet the city was enveloped in its own light. The pavements were almost empty, unheard of in the bustling metropolis, yet the streets were still overflowing with Life. Vans and taxis overtook each other, and swerved out of the way as an ambulance trundled past.

I had been driving for two hours, but I didn’t care. Beams of sunlight glimmered through the gaps between buildings, and the cityscape was alive with light. It was a good day for diving, and I was a good driver. It was a perfect combination and I couldn’t help but smile. Mom undid the windows and her smile matched mine as her long grey hair danced in the rushing air. “Enjoying it, Mom?” I asked, waking her from a trance. “Yes, Robert” she replied, her voice cooler than the morning. The engine purred smoothly as I navigated the car gently through the turnpikes sharp curve. Ahead, a large truck spouted black stacks of exhaust high into the air, leaving a path clear of traffic in its wake. Behind it, a lone blue convertible cruzed comfortably, taking advantage of the now open road. Despite being a couple of

He woke up the next morning at 6:45, but little did he know that traffic was going to be worse than ever. Wilbur lives 17 minutes away from ikea, and he leaves at 7:30 just to be safe. 5 minutes into his drive, Wilbur had gotten on the highway and that's

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to, I promise. I was drunk and it just bothered me so…” He gave her the lame excuse he had worn out long ago.

“Marissa! You are going to be late,” she said, shaking me out of bed. I rolled out, groaning with confusion and annoyance.

The cards were new to raising a kid so they didn't know that they could say no. Everything she asked for she got. The cards did not want to be mean so they did whatever she asked. The queen of hearts did not have any friends, or even enemies there was no one. Just her and the 5 cards her whole child hood. She got bored sometimes, so she made the cards put on a show for her. She had no idea what spoiled was.

It's a dark, cold night here in Pennsylvania, you couldn't see anything, the only things you could see where the street lamps. I can't believe my mom is leaving me and my brother home with a babysitter. I mean like we're old enough to stay home alone. But then again there's a full moon tonight.

Nanny services is a merit good, a socially desirable but often under-provided good. In a free perfect competition market structure of nanny services, market failure, the inability to recognise allocative efficiency, arise as a positive externality of consumption. A positive externality of consumption is when the consumption of a good provides social benefits that exceed the private benefits enjoyed by a consumer.

At the end of a long road was a cul-de-sac, and settled along the end was an apartment complex. Every day a silver coupe would keep a regular transit schedule; it would leave at 6:30 A.M., arrive for lunch break, take off to finish the work day, and at 4:00 P.M. it would take me back home at the apartment complex at the end of a strangely long cu-de-sac. After a ten minute shower I hopped back into the coupe and drove to my second job; I was usually on top of things and could manage my time well. 8:30 rolled by and I knew I was only thirty minutes from clocking out.