I stood behind the starbucks cash resgister, my eye ached from staring at the screen and my head throbbed and seemed to spin. I rubbed my eyes to escape from this miniature hell for just a moment,andlooked up at the long line of pale, dead business people waiting for the daily dose of legal speed, trying to get back the energy they once had when they were young

“Double tall nonfat nofoam caramel macchiado.” He handed over the cash like a robot, never looking up from his wallet. I plopped the 78 cents of the change in the chubby white hand , staring at his disgusting bald head andthinking about how he must go home to his sterile condo with his overpriced cup of sugar water and watch his sitcoms on his designer leather couch, and go to bed to repeat the same thing the next day.“Wow.” I laughed at myself, “This job is making me as bitter as a 90 year old man” I kept my eyes on the digital clock at the bottom of the screen, which seemed to be frozen on 4:53 forhours. When it was finally five o´ clock, I tried to take a deep breath, but it seemed to choke on the air. I looked down at my trembling fingers and knew that I had to get out of there. I walked out thetinted glass door as I untied my apron as I watched the sunset glitter on the rows of cars creeping down El Camino.

On my drive home, I stared at the long lines of people sitting in trafficin their sports utility vehicles and BMW´s looking blankly out the window but not really seeing anything. They didn´t see the homeless man on the street-corner with a tear in his eye, and they didn´tsee the beautiful orange and purple streaked sky floating just above their heads.

The thought of all those people driving home listlessly from their boring jobs depressed me so i turned up thesong i was listening to and tried to think of something else. I went into my house and saw my dad sitting in front of the TV and eating a bottle of peanuts. I trudged down the hall to my room and…