The first two parts are available here on Prose.

Read the ongoing tale by visiting my storyteller's blog: https://seventhfloor.org/

I encourage you to subscribe so you get each part as it's published. Because once it's finished it will only be available as a complete Kindle book.

-Mock

By Emmanuel Williams

September 8, 2024

Driving home from the university that Friday, Alice submitted to her desire. She had been thinking of Sayla’s invitation every day since it was offered, and she began to become frustrated by the wait.

She entered a parking garage in the downtown district and found a secluded enough corner surrounded by other cars so she wouldn’t be interrupted.

…unless someone came back.

She wore jeans and a muscle tee over her bra, but it didn’t matter. Her belt came loose slower than she would have liked, but with a quick zip the jeans had been pushed to her ankles. Remembering Sayla’s pussy puffed against the side of her panties. How it made the entire mound look bigger than it should. All the more to deal with.

She slid hers aside too. Alice thought at that moment that maybe her pussy was fatter than Sayla’s in the hurry she was in. And the fever she was in…

Never had Alice penetrated herself. It was a man’s job and she was convinced of that. But she felt so insulted by Alice thinking she was an amateur and this time, she was going to push a finger inside. And show it to Sayla at the Minx meeting. Whenever the hell that would be.

She started rubbing like usual. Covering her pussy with her hand and rubbing. It was comfortable, and she liked it.

But she was far more moist than usual. And it seemed a lot hotter in the car now that her pussy was out in a parking garage. Before long, her ring finger fell into the awaiting slit.

She had to moan. When she did, the car was filled with a sound it had never heard before…

Pleasure.

For a moment she held her finger in the open lips and felt the liquid inside spread to her inner thighs. When she took the finger out it made a wet sliding noise that caught her off guard, but was welcomed by the finger’s owner.

“Hell yeah,” she half-whispered.

And she plunged another finger in just to hear the sound when it came out. It gave her chills when she heard it again. She thought about two fingers at a time, but didn’t know if she would open that wide without a man present. So she’d just thrust with the one for now. It was her middle finger. And her inner labia were trying not to let go of it.

Back and forth she went, staring at the process and breathing faster than she thought she should. But in no way would she slow down.

“If anyone saw what my lips were doing they’d fuck me so hard,” said Alice. Trying to slow herself down and enjoy the experience. It was then that she rubbed her pussy like before - four fingers grabbing onto her outer lips and rubbing in circles - but she couldn’t keep her hand in the same place before.

She looked for a place to focus her hand, and when for the first time she decided to slide up her pussy, she got to the top and immediately wanted to go back down…

“Oh my - oh my god,” said Alice. Trying to keep her legs from shaking. Then she did it again, and…

“Ahh! - Ahh! - FUCK! Fuck, fuck, HOLY Jesus,” she was screaming.

Climaxing in her hot car in a parking garage in the downtown district on a Friday.

-STAY TUNED-

By Emmanuel Williams

September 3, 2024

Alice is busy. She’s lost in her mind. Her roommate, Sayla is gone and she never gets the chance. So her clothes have been abandoned on the floor next to the bed, and in the background is her mix of Lana Del Rey.

Her left hand is caressing a breast, but the other is between her legs.

Little does she know, Sayla is home early, and is heading down the hall. Damn those sneakers, you can never hear her coming…

Arriving at Alice’s door, it appears to be left open. But before Sayla could inquire, she was struck by the appearance of Alice’s neatly trimmed pussy covered by her four fingers as her roommate attempted to get off, but apparently couldn’t.

Intrigued, she lingered at the doorway and pulled a 4 inch accessory out of her purse.

Alice purred, hemmed, awwed, and breathed quicker by the minute. Sayla slipped her panties off of her lips and stroked herself, spreading moisture from her opening up and down, her legs spreading on their own as she watched.

Sayla was ready to penetrate herself, when Alice came. Shuddering and bringing her knees together. Her A cups hopped up and down her chest as it heaved in spasms.

Sayla tried to keep track of her taut nipples and waited for Alice’s eyes to connect with hers, then plunged the rubber penis into herself to the wet slosh of her pussy ringing through the bare walls of the hallway.

Alice panicked and covered herself in her blankets, ashamed of her nakedness.

Refusing to make Alice uncomfortable, Sayla frustratingly removed the tiny cock and replaced her panties, fixed the skirt she was wearing, and addressed as many elephants in the room she could find.

“Alice, you need help,” said Sayla. Hands at her waist and her fingers restless on her hips.

Through the muffle of her comforter came Alice’s reply:

“No I don’t…”

“Yes you do! You call that masturbating? You barely came, and you were barely having fun,” said Sayla.

The covers came slowly off Alice’s face.

“What are you talking about, I had fun,” she retorted. “Until you… why were you watching?”

“I would be more concerned about being inexperienced,” said Sayla. Walking over to the bed and taking a perch on the corner Alice was facing.

“What if I told you,” said Sayla, pausing to clear her throat for dramatic effect, “that I was taught ways to…”

“SHUT… UP… REALLY???”

“Let me finish! What if I, well, what if WE could show you how it’s done? But you can’t bring your boyfriend. No boys allowed.”

“What? A ‘Girls Only Touching School’?? Sign me up,” said Alice loudly, her face shining bright and forgetting to clutch her blanket so her tits fell out as she reached out for a hug but was too far away.

“Well it’s not a ‘touching school’,” said Sayla, through hearty laughter. “It’s more of a club my sorority sisters and I started in college that’s, well, never really died. It’s called The Very Private Minx Club. And we’ll show you as much as you’re comfortable with.”

“Woah, slow down,” said Alice, rolling over and out of the bed and confronting Sayla face to face. “You’ve been part of a secret sex club and you never told me?”

“It’s not much of a secret club if you blab about it to every roommate you have,” said Sayla.

“What makes you think I’m worthy?”

“Because I walked in and your door was wide open and you were touching yourself naked on your bed without a care in the world,” Sayla replied. “You’re a free spirit, and you’re gonna need it.”

“Holy shit,” Alice said. “When do we start?”

-STAY TUNED-

After losing the password to this Prose account, Apple has recovered it, so I'd like to fill in those of you who are still around. Hopefully some of you remember enjoying the content this account has produced.

That said, I've been writing heavily in my absence.

You can find all of this work at my fiction/nonfiction website: https://seventhfloor.org/

Please subscribe and visit often.

I have completed a book written in installments on my website, then removed and compiled into "King of Demons" by Emmanuel Williams (yours truly). A link to the book can be found on Seventh Floor. It is available via Kindle, as it is self-published using Amazon.com.

A word about King of Demons: it is about a child murderer who dies in a cop chase and at the gates of hell he chooses punishment but ends up murdering the punisher assigned to him. Lucifer demands this punisher must be replaced and tasks Brian with the mission to possess 9 different vessels and deliver as many souls to hell as he can with his time on earth. Eventually Brian gets the hang of possession, and not even Vladimir Putin can stand in his way...

It is a book of Supernatural Horror.

But like I said, I've been writing heavily. So occasionally I'll share a highlight from Seventh Floor's fiction section here on Prose. And as new fiction is created, I'll upload to both sites.

I hope anything you read inspires you toward your own stories.

It's good to be back!

-Mock

I don’t need to tell anyone how divisive things are politically in this country. This America. It’s not our day-to-day. It isn’t business as usual. It isn’t our best foot forward. I blame the majority of Republican politicians backing and including the President we like to call simply “Trump”.

It’s not like we’re fans of his. That we would shorten his name for shorthand in conversation is just a testament to how much we’re talking about how lousy the Commander In Chief is. I remember when we thought George W. Bush was lousy at the job. That was over a decade ago. But Bush was never interested in dividing the country on issues like racial equality, immigration laws, and boldly drawn party lines.

It wouldn’t even cross Bush’s mind to send armed services to US cities to stop a peaceful protest. Many of which turn violent immediately following the arrival of the military. But these days, it’s a Trump tactic. Not knowing how to fix a problem without taking money from it or throwing money at it, he throws his weight at it. You get the feeling that he tried tweeting about it, and is still trying but to no true avail.

What Trump is doing is out of hand, it is out of line, it has been creating a national divide between the political majority of 2016 and the rest of the country. It’s this majority that has tried to stick together since Trump was sworn into office that year. It’s the same group of people wearing Make America Great Again hats instead of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, refusing to believe in scientific realities and choosing instead to put their logic aside, listening to conspiracy theories that treat scientific data as if it were designed to bad mouth their leader.

This majority, The Trumpsters, with their TV diva leader, Trump himself, are steadily and confidently giving this country, this America, a bad reputation around the world. Read this excerpt from an article in The Guardian written by Simon Tisdall who spoke with a Harvard professor about Trump’s handling of the pandemic, the article itself is from April, 2020:

*

Call it the Trump double-whammy. Diplomatically speaking, the US is on life support.

“The Trump administration’s self-centred, haphazard, and tone-deaf response [to Covid-19] will end up costing Americans trillions of dollars and thousands of otherwise

preventable deaths,” wrote Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard.

“But that’s not the only damage the United States will suffer. Far from ‘making America great again’, this epic policy failure will further tarnish [its] reputation as a country that knows how to do things effectively.”

This adverse shift could be permanent, Walt warned. Since taking office in 2017, Trump has insulted America’s friends, undermined multilateral alliances and chosen confrontation over cooperation. Sanctions, embargoes and boycotts aimed at China, Iran and Europe have been globally divisive.

*

This is new to us. This is America. We’re used to the best Presidents, the best approach to global crises, the best we can be. What we’re experiencing is a multitude of worse and worse. We were spoiled rotten, like Honey Boo Boo. Now we’re falling off of the tree and being eaten by squirrels instead of picked by the usual farmers. There’s little interest in us until we have new leadership.

Is that true? Or are we as a people louder than the words of our monstrous leader and his group of followers?

I think we are. I think this November we are going to turn heads with how many vote against Trump. I believe in a New Majority. This population of people contains a high number of groups and individuals who will affect change in a manner that will banish Trump, his regime, and his Trumpsters from the power they only cling to.

The Old Majority of Trumpsters clung to their power and since they only sought to use it to their own advancement, will see only the fruits of such labor. In alienating the American people, I believe it will be increasingly difficult for someone to mention their support for Trump and be extended any degree of help or sympathy. It is clear that the utopian plan for Trumpsters is this society that supports them and their money.

After the Trump presidency there will indeed be a sort of fraternity or some other named club that perhaps includes a MAGA hat and a matching tie, a shadow society that will aid each other professionally. But it won’t be American. It will be a shadow republic, a cult led by a former president of the united states. Desperate for power, terrible at holding it, thumbs pressed to their smartphones waiting for the next conspiracy idea to hold them over until they can make America theirs again.

Emmanuel Williams

September 3, 2020

Pope Francis, in a tweet on August 22, 2020: “God does not love you because you behave well. He loves you, plain and simple. His love is unconditional; it does not depend on you.”

1

I believe in God the Father, Creator of existence, and King of Kings. Long ago in my youth, I heard talk of God and how faith without works is dead. Then I heard of “good deeds”. I put the two into a single ideal. One that had me chasing goodness and virtue.

But what if Pope Francis is correct? What if your actions didn’t change the way God felt about you? If he loved you the same when your actions were horrible and destructive? Just as he loved you when you were decent, good natured, humble, and respectful.

The concept of unconditional love from God came much later in my years. But it wasn’t explained well. Confused, I had questions. What is the meaning of “unconditional”?

Word of mouth told me that love had to be this way or it was worth leaving your relationship for someone who would care stronger for you. Who would love you in poverty and in wealth, sickness and… well, you understand.

As a writer, I see conditions as the spring board into conversations about setting, characters responding to their environment, from the “dark and stormy night” to the light of the morning. I focus mostly on the ability to adapt to conditions that may begin adversely, yet are conquered by good deeds in the end to restore peace with lessons learned.

With that definition, clearly no matter what the conditions, God loves you. Loves us all.

2

I can see how easily one can say that this is God’s blindspot. Where he turns his eyes and his back on the world and that love is just the policy of a sovereign entity. This is a mistake.

God is still affecting the universe.

In fact, consider the circle of life. Catastrophes that lay waste to life, home, and nature. Viral pandemics. Forest fires. School shootings. All of them test our character, pave the way for fresh creation, heighten human awareness, and bring renewal.

When our relatives die, we commit ourselves to higher ideals. With the ache to heal, we grow in our compassion for those who have pain to shed. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.

The pope is correct. The Lord does not stop loving you because you behave like an idiot or because you doubt him, or because you haven’t thought about him in a while.

When people die, they are loved in this life and the next. Death is a condition no mortal can deny. Neither does the love of God.

Of course, I cannot guarantee that the afterlife is anything like living. But if you’ll never feel the love of God once your senses leave you, why not now?

3

At the heart of the Pope’s words is forgiveness, which is a major wonder of God. The beauty of it is alive with Christ. Who died for the sins of mankind so that a sacrifice was made to forgive us of all wrongdoing. Christ himself forgiven for pushing the task away from himself. Praying before his death that his “cup” be taken away by the Father. There was a time our Savior didn’t want to die either.

In the end, Jesus Christ was crucified as an insurrectionist because his miracles took place on holy days, and his words offended high ranking clergy of the day. Man will punish you much worse than God will.

4

The death of Christ is where the love of God became a legend. The fact that he would give his only son (John 3:16) to guarantee eternal life for those who believe in him. Believing in Jesus is believing in God. The other third of the holy trinity is what visits churches every Sunday and invades worshippers of God when they get radical about Him.

The conditions for the Father’s presence is ultimately a divine mystery. For the son sits next to his father in heaven. But the spirit will visit you when you invite, nay, seek the presence of God.

5

There is no church building for some. For those of us without a word from a preacher we can agree with, there is still the word of God. The bible has not been replaced by kindest words from popes or flowery butter from politician rhetoric. One far outweighs the other, that being the former over the latter. Yet we that seek His face on our own are buoyed by tweets like Pope Francis’s. It is times like these we feel encouraged, aided, even taught, with so few characters.

6

The last part of the Pope’s words; “it does not depend on you” are perhaps the most thought provoking of the message. This is an invitation to stop worrying about the behaviors that give you so much guilt. It is for the realm of God, it is His kingdom, his territory to the merit of our lives, actions, decisions, or the conditions in which they occur.

It is His right alone to know all. He is an Ultimate Being. A supernatural entity. Whereas we are merely mortal men, women, and between fit for the use of free will, which is the foundation of humanity.

The love of God does not depend on His creation, it depends on Him. He has promised this love on countless occasions. A good sermon will remind you of these promises. Often.

7

I will end with this: behave as if you are loved no matter what.

Title: Beyond Actions

Genre: Religious

Ages: All

Word Count: 942

Author: Emmanuel Williams

Why it fits: Some are aiming for bookshelves, others are aiming for the stars, and may they at least find the Moon. I will be aiming for the Pulitzer Prize.

Hook: A picture of the Pope + the Title.

Synopsis: A Sunday-style message about the love of God.

Audience: Literally everyone.

Bio: Very humble beginnings. Penniless childhood led me to fear my peers and read from authors like Brian Jacques, Rowling, and Shakespeare as I hid in my bedroom. But since I’ve been reading Malcolm Gladwell and Carlos Ruiz Zafon- since I began to take writing seriously- and since I refuse to believe in a one-way path, I may write fiction here or there, but I will always have something to say, and the best way to say it is usually in essay form. I have yet to pen the full manuscript. But life isn’t over and nor is the dream.

Platform: Honor and Faith.

Experience: I’m a committed writer. Have always been told that I have a knack for the english language and I agree. In all humorous arrogance. But I have no experience reaching out to an agency for representation on any level. I have my mind, I have the talent, I can tell a story, and best of all, I have ambition. Come on, wink if you have ambition.

Personal Style: Ogre? Perhaps Hobbit? But mostly a benevolent elf, who makes grammar mistakes, sometimes isn’t humorous at all, but instead of tone, I give you words. Actual, individual, words themselves. My words shall speak for themselves.

Likes: Breaking records. And I like music. Rock to Hip Hop to Country to Radiohead. But I love Coldplay. As for hobbies, this is it. I write. And I love it too.

Hometown: Denver, Colorado.

Age: 32

Thank you, #Trident.

Pope Francis, in a tweet on August 22, 2020: "God does not love you because you behave well. He loves you, plain and simple. His love is unconditional; it does not depend on you."

1

I believe in God the Father, Creator of existence, and King of Kings. Long ago in my youth, I heard talk of God and how faith without works is dead. Then I heard of "good deeds". I put the two into a single ideal. One that had me chasing goodness and virtue.

But what if Pope Francis is correct? What if your actions didn't change the way God felt about you? If he loved you the same when your actions were horrible and destructive? Just as he loved you when you were decent, good natured, humble, and respectful.

The concept of unconditional love from God came much later in my years. But it wasn't explained well. Confused, I had questions. What is the meaning of "unconditional"?

Word of mouth told me that love had to be this way or it was worth leaving your relationship for someone who would care stronger for you. Who would love you in poverty and in wealth, sickness and… well, you understand.

As a writer, I see conditions as the spring board into conversations about setting, characters responding to their environment, from the "dark and stormy night" to the light of the morning. I focus mostly on the ability to adapt to conditions that may begin adversely, yet are conquered by good deeds in the end to restore peace with lessons learned.

With that definition, clearly no matter what the conditions, God loves you. Loves us all.

2

I can see how easily one can say that this is God's blindspot. Where he turns his eyes and his back on the world and that love is just the policy of a sovereign entity. This is a mistake.

God is still affecting the universe.

In fact, consider the circle of life. Catastrophes that lay waste to life, home, and nature. Viral pandemics. Forest fires. School shootings. All of them test our character, pave the way for fresh creation, heighten human awareness, and bring renewal.

When our relatives die, we commit ourselves to higher ideals. With the ache to heal, we grow in our compassion for those who have pain to shed. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.

The pope is correct. The Lord does not stop loving you because you behave like an idiot or because you doubt him, or because you haven't thought about him in a while.

When people die, they are loved in this life and the next. Death is a condition no mortal can deny. Neither does the love of God.

Of course, I cannot guarantee that the afterlife is anything like living. But if you'll never feel the love of God once your senses leave you, why not now?

3

At the heart of the Pope's words is forgiveness, which is a major wonder of God. The beauty of it is alive with Christ. Who died for the sins of mankind so that a sacrifice was made to forgive us of all wrongdoing. Christ himself forgiven for pushing the task away from himself. Praying before his death that his "cup" be taken away by the Father. There was a time our Savior didn't want to die either.

In the end, Jesus Christ was crucified as an insurrectionist because his miracles took place on holy days, and his words offended high ranking clergy of the day. Man will punish you much worse than God will.

4

The death of Christ is where the love of God became a legend. The fact that he would give his only son (John 3:16) to guarantee eternal life for those who believe in him. Believing in Jesus is believing in God. The other third of the holy trinity is what visits churches every Sunday and invades worshippers of God when they get radical about Him.

The conditions for the Father's presence is ultimately a divine mystery. For the son sits next to his father in heaven. But the spirit will visit you when you invite, nay, seek the presence of God.

5

There is no church building for some. For those of us without a word from a preacher we can agree with, there is still the word of God. The bible has not been replaced by kindest words from popes or flowery butter from politician rhetoric. One far outweighs the other, that being the former over the latter. Yet we that seek His face on our own are buoyed by tweets like Pope Francis's. It is times like these we feel encouraged, aided, even taught, with so few characters.

6

The last part of the Pope's words; "it does not depend on you" are perhaps the most thought provoking of the message. This is an invitation to stop worrying about the behaviors that give you so much guilt. It is for the realm of God, it is His kingdom, his territory to the merit of our lives, actions, decisions, or the conditions in which they occur.

It is His right alone to know all. He is an Ultimate Being. A supernatural entity. Whereas we are merely mortal men, women, and between fit for the use of free will, which is the foundation of humanity.

The love of God does not depend on His creation, it depends on Him. He has promised this love on countless occasions. A good sermon will remind you of these promises. Often.

7

I will end with this: behave as if you are loved no matter what.

Emmanuel Williams

ewill4k@gmail.com

August 23, 2020

The Problem With In-Person Learning at

This Phase of the Pandemic in America

1

Schools have been shut down since before the end of the last school year. But at this point, in August, with the Coronavirus still killing American’s by the score, countless schools have reopened their doors, classrooms, and libraries, cafeterias and offices to students. Some schools have opened with every class being offered online, some have taken the hybrid road with a percentage of classes being offered online, the other percentage in-person. Some schools have decided to reopen completely in-person. And for these schools, learning has become a matter of life and death.

2

Think about it. Look at the American student. Learning starts in Kindergarten and proceeds through the 5th grade at any particular elementary school building in this country. That’s ages 5-10. To date, the virus has claimed the lives of children as young as 6. Based on the data, the virus could be in that building.

The next grade + age group is known as Middle School. Where children become teenagers, and that means kissing. But the problem isn’t the infatuations of youth. It’s the preteen who decides to come to school even though they’re sick so that they can see, in some cases, their very first significant other. Grades 6-8, ages 11-13.

High School should scare anyone nowadays. It’s where the parties no one’s parents know about are weekly traditions. Where skipping out on classes, experiments with cigarettes and marijuana, and teen drinking lead to friendships and bonds but also to plenty of cases where the mask is probably not on a student’s face. Where there is little to no social distance between them. Especially not at the Homecoming dance, or Prom. Grades 9-12, ages 14-18.

The College student is at the highest risk. There isn’t a parent to be found unless they’re taking classes at the same campus as their children. Rare, but not unthinkable. Parties are everywhere. Kissing is everywhere. Ditching class? Also everywhere. I have faith in the average college student, but on average, their opportunity to drop the mask and be close to people is more than an impulse. It’s proven, to date, hard to control. Freshman - Degree Holding. Ages 16+.

3

This is reality. This is the student’s social life. Admittedly, it’s ruined by this pandemic. Who do you know wants to be told to stay away from people who aren’t their family? Those who do are not doing great psychologically. If you have the audacity to see your friends at this time then I suggest you mask up. I suggest that if you’re sick, stay home. I suggest you see your significant other, without a mask, where the two of you can be alone. If you can’t find that, put the mask back on. It’s ok.

But this is a pandemic, which is the worst it can be for “people” type of people. A virus that spreads through the air we breathe, by the uncovered sneezes and coughs left on bus seats where people wipe their snot. There’s germs on the commuter electric scooters no one cleans until the end of the day. They’re left in the air for 45 minutes after a sneeze. I would wear a mask. Because that sneeze could kill you if it comes from the wrong source.

This is days, weeks, perhaps your final days and weeks, on a ventilator, on bedrest. WithOUT your family. WithOUT your friends. Without ANY significant people at all except for the heroes around you wearing pretty much a spacesuit and a scalpel. Who knows what or how you’re eating. Or what happens when you have to expel it all…

4

At the beginning of the school year, we heard the President say it was imperative that education resume. It was after the same guy said businesses have to resume. After that guy saw what the shutdown did to the economy. After he couldn’t take the country losing money like it did. After he lost money when the stock market shut down too.

So the guy opens up the country again. Great. Is it time for that? No. Will there be a time for that? Not if you’re still looking at the statistics showing how many cases and deaths in proportion to hospital beds and effective tests. Not if you care about your significant people enough to not get them sick. Not if you worked an ER a day in your life.

5

If you are the President of the United States, of the World Health Organization, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you have the tools to make the best of differences in the matter of COVID-19 v Education. You and the people who are your colleagues affect the health of a country like America. This information belongs in your minds.

The information that people who are significant to us are indeed dying out there. These people- these Americans- deserve better. They deserve to learn. They deserve to love. They deserve to live. Will they? If that decision belongs to you, then I had good reason to write this piece.

If you are a student and you are reading this, keep your masks in rotation, wash your hands, keep your distance from anyone insignificant. Take your classes seriously.

Teachers, you were my key audience. You know what raises hands? Students in attendance. But they can raise their hands from a computer and you can teach yourself the platform if you are given the time. I suggest sharing platforms across state lines like ventilators between hospitals. The pod theory seems sound to my knowledge...

Pod theory: Small groups of students learn in person. If a student is infected, you only have to quarantine the group (or pod) instead of the entire building. If there aren’t enough teachers, bring a pod or two to school today, and the other tomorrow.

6

I’ve been thinking about the problem with in-person learning when the country actually started moving to reopen schools. I heard the President say that’s what he wanted, but I didn’t take him seriously. I thought someone would fight him on it. And hard. But that didn’t happen. Teachers started protesting but those cries died down, the marching slowed to a halt, and they started to go with it, far too soon.

The reason I have a problem with it, is because I have a son, nieces and nephews, my sister, all in school. I have a problem because I voiced my concerns to them, but they’re still risking their lives because of this… rush. All the panic, all the hype, and then to stuff everyone back into buildings where they can all get infected, sick, and die.

It’s this rush to get people out of their homes again, rush to get people into school, rush them back to work that gave me reason. When no one is rushing people off of the streets, no one is rushing Trump off of Twitter, no one is rushing money into the pockets of healthcare practitioners who are fighting this war with inexplicable strength.

7

You want my advice? Throw money where money is needed. Don’t toss it somewhere it stagnates without use. Pay for teachers to learn the skill to manage their classrooms wherever they can. Pay for Doctors and Nurses to be able to protect themselves with the right gear. Pay for transit systems to properly protect themselves from the onslaught of the unprotected homeless rides. Pay for the homeless to afford housing that doesn’t have them holding each other captive in endless battles with neighborhood drug lords.

Pay up.

Pay up.

Pay up.

Afterword:

Title: "In-Person" (or the long version before the first section.)

Genre: Journalism - Opinion

Ages: All

Word Count: 1284

Author: Emmanuel Williams

Why My Project is a Good Fit: Some are aiming for bookshelves, others are aiming for the stars, and may they at least find the Moon. I will be aiming for the Pulitzer Prize. If at first, you.

The Hook: My hooks will always be the title and an intruductory tone in paragraph one. In this piece, sentence one asks the reader to find the day's date.

Synopsis: I break down the ages facing the In-Person problem and try to shed light on why it might not be working.

Audience: Everyone in sections 2 and 5. The number of which keeps this part very short.

Bio: Very humble beginnings. Penniless childhood led me to fear my peers and read from authors like Brian Jacques, Rowling, and Shakespeare as I hid in my bedroom. But since I've been reading Malcolm Gladwell and Carlos Ruiz Zafon- since I began to take writing seriously- and since I refuse to believe in a one-way path, I may write fiction here or there, but I will always have something to say, and the best way to say it is usually in essay form. I have yet to pen the full manuscript. But life isn't over and nor is the dream.

Platform: I must admit, I don't quite know what you mean by this. Perhaps you mean what I stand on... or for. I'll tell you what I stand for: Honor and Faith.

Education: High School graduate, Technical School graduate (the certificate literally, literally has nothing to do with life now) for Professional Massage Therapy, some bible college for leadership, some online college for business management, bible college was easier.

Experience: I'm a committed writer. Have always been told that I have a knack for the english language and I agree. In all humorous arrogance. But I have no experience reaching out to an agency for representation on any level. I have my mind, I have the talent, I can tell a story, and best of all, I have ambition. Come on, wink if you have ambition.

Personal Style: Ogre. Perhaps Hobbit. But mostly a benevolent elf, who makes grammar mistakes, sometimes isn't humorous at all, but instead of tone, I give you words. Actual, individual, words themselves. My words shall speak for themselves.

Likes: Breaking records. And I like music. Rock to Hip Hop to Country to Radiohead. But I love Coldplay. As for hobbies, this is it. I f* write. And I love that too.

Hometown: Denver, Colorado, USA. Home of the 16th Street Mall, the Mile High Stadium, (a really big section of) the Rocky Mountains, piano band The Fray...

Age: A Millenial, 32.

Thank you.

The Problem With In-Person Learning at

This Phase of the Pandemic in America

1

Schools have been shut down since before the end of the last school year. But at this point, in August, with the Coronavirus still killing American’s by the score, countless schools have reopened their doors, classrooms, and libraries, cafeterias and offices to students. Some schools have opened with every class being offered online, some have taken the hybrid road with a percentage of classes being offered online, the other percentage in-person. Some schools have decided to reopen completely in-person. And for these schools, learning has become a matter of life and death.

2

Think about it. Look at the American student. Learning starts in Kindergarten and proceeds through the 5th grade at any particular elementary school building in this country. That’s ages 5-10. To date, the virus has claimed the lives of children as young as 6. Based on the data, the virus could be in that building.

The next grade + age group is known as Middle School. Where children become teenagers, and that means kissing. But the problem isn’t the infatuations of youth. It’s the preteen who decides to come to school even though they’re sick so that they can see, in some cases, their very first significant other. Grades 6-8, ages 11-13.

High School should scare anyone nowadays. It’s where the parties no one’s parents know about are weekly traditions. Where skipping out on classes, experiments with cigarettes and marijuana, and teen drinking lead to friendships and bonds but also to plenty of cases where the mask is probably not on a student’s face. Where there is little to no social distance between them. Especially not at the Homecoming dance, or Prom. Grades 9-12, ages 14-18.

The College student is at the highest risk. There isn’t a parent to be found unless they’re taking classes at the same campus as their children. Rare, but not unthinkable. Parties are everywhere. Kissing is everywhere. Ditching class? Also everywhere. I have faith in the average college student, but on average, their opportunity to drop the mask and be close to people is more than an impulse. It’s proven, to date, hard to control. Freshman - Degree Holding. Ages 16+.

3

This is reality. This is the student’s social life. Admittedly, it’s ruined by this pandemic. Who do you know wants to be told to stay away from people who aren’t their family? Those who do are not doing great psychologically. If you have the audacity to see your friends at this time then I suggest you mask up. I suggest that if you’re sick, stay home. I suggest you see your significant other, without a mask, where the two of you can be alone. If you can’t find that, put the mask back on. It’s ok.

But this is a pandemic, which is the worst it can be for “people” type of people. A virus that spreads through the air we breathe, by the uncovered sneezes and coughs left on bus seats where people wipe their snot. There’s germs on the commuter electric scooters no one cleans until the end of the day. They’re left in the air for 45 minutes after a sneeze. I would wear a mask. Because that sneeze could kill you if it comes from the wrong source.

This is days, weeks, perhaps your final days and weeks, on a ventilator, on bedrest. WithOUT your family. WithOUT your friends. Without ANY significant people at all except for the heroes around you wearing pretty much a spacesuit and a scalpel. Who knows what or how you’re eating. Or what happens when you have to expel it all…

4

At the beginning of the school year, we heard the President say it was imperative that education resume. It was after the same guy said businesses have to resume. After that guy saw what the shutdown did to the economy. After he couldn’t take the country losing money like it did. After he lost money when the stock market shut down too.

So the guy opens up the country again. Great. Is it time for that? No. Will there be a time for that? Not if you’re still looking at the statistics showing how many cases and deaths in proportion to hospital beds and effective tests. Not if you care about your significant people enough to not get them sick. Not if you worked an ER a day in your life.

5

If you are the President of the United States, of the World Health Organization, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you have the tools to make the best of differences in the matter of COVID-19 v Education. You and the people who are your colleagues affect the health of a country like America. This information belongs in your minds.

The information that people who are significant to us are indeed dying out there. These people- these Americans- deserve better. They deserve to learn. They deserve to love. They deserve to live. Will they? If that decision belongs to you, then I had good reason to write this piece.

If you are a student and you are reading this, keep your masks in rotation, wash your hands, keep your distance from anyone insignificant. Take your classes seriously.

Teachers, you were my key audience. You know what raises hands? Students in attendance. But they can raise their hands from a computer and you can teach yourself the platform if you are given the time. I suggest sharing platforms across state lines like ventilators between hospitals. The pod theory seems sound to my knowledge...

Pod theory: Small groups of students learn in person. If a student is infected, you only have to quarantine the group (or pod) instead of the entire building. If there aren’t enough teachers, bring a pod or two to school today, and the other tomorrow.

6

I’ve been thinking about the problem with in-person learning when the country actually started moving to reopen schools. I heard the President say that’s what he wanted, but I didn’t take him seriously. I thought someone would fight him on it. And hard. But that didn’t happen. Teachers started protesting but those cries died down, the marching slowed to a halt, and they started to go with it, far too soon.

The reason I have a problem with it, is because I have a son, nieces and nephews, my sister, all in school. I have a problem because I voiced my concerns to them, but they’re still risking their lives because of this… rush. All the panic, all the hype, and then to stuff everyone back into buildings where they can all get infected, sick, and die.

It’s this rush to get people out of their homes again, rush to get people into school, rush them back to work that gave me reason. When no one is rushing people off of the streets, no one is rushing Trump off of Twitter, no one is rushing money into the pockets of healthcare practitioners who are fighting this war with inexplicable strength.

7

You want my advice? Throw money where money is needed. Don’t toss it somewhere it stagnates without use. Pay for teachers to learn the skill to manage their classrooms wherever they can. Pay for Doctors and Nurses to be able to protect themselves with the right gear. Pay for transit systems to properly protect themselves from the onslaught of the unprotected homeless rides. Pay for the homeless to afford housing that doesn’t have them holding each other captive in endless battles with neighborhood drug lords.

Pay up.

Pay up.

Pay up.

Emmanuel Williams

August 22, 2020

My train derails. Off of a bridge. From the inside, I cry and cry "Awe, fuck…" The lights, suddenly brighter. The inertia. I can feel my stomach falling faster than the fall, hoping for impact, not bracing for it like I wish I could. I would if only I wasn't in so much terrible shock.

I hope the driver is dead first, not some cardiac arrest from some old man. There's no one else to blame. Is it a newbie? Was it his or her first ride without a trainer to tell him how to handle turns and at what speed? Because we're all dead now.

Oh, what misfortune. Did I live too wrong? How did God decide this was the moment to crash a fucking train? And, selfishly, arrogantly, implausibly, why mine?

What do I have to explain at the gates of heaven? Sure, I'll have to account for my sins, “but I was murdered by a train operator, Mr. Saint Peter, Sir!”

Do we get a chance to atone in the afterlife? In full digression, there is perhaps purgatory. But I don't have much faith in it. I'll have to explain my porn stash, the years of addiction, the rejections I handed out at complete personal discretion.

That arrogance again.

Are we the damned...? Driver and passengers all? And what about this poor train? This beautiful beast that we trusted!

I hope it's not destroyed completely in some near-nuclear blast. I hope there are some survivors. I hope I'm not one of them. I'd be maimed permanently. No life to truly live. Years would go by and I'd marry the one girl who had enough pity to stay near my ghastly body.

Oh vey. Goodbye.