Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: QUESTION (S) (05/30/19)
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TITLE: What's Best? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Rachel Rudd
06/06/19 -
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"Hey Evie, wait up! I want to talk to you."
She paused at the door staring at the tree poster her teacher had just put up. Her friend came up beside her. "Evie, did your parents really say you couldn't use Blabbreeze?"
She nodded. "How lame! Aren't you old enough to make your own decisions?"
Evelina dropped her eyes to Nagashree's glittery shoes. "I'm allowed to use other stuff." She shrugged. "They said it could mess me up."
"Mess you up? Not having it is what's messing up your life, sis. I think you should try for yourself to see what you've been missing.”
Evelina watched her newest friend walk away. If her parents let her, then they must not see any harm in it, since they were normally so strict.
Walking into her bedroom, she stacked her bookbag on the piles of papers strewn on her desk. She took out her phone and fell on the bed.
What would it hurt if I just tested it out? Dad’s too severe anyway.
The app's description seemed harmless enough. Even the logo looked cool, like a piece of fruit that was talking. The download was quick. Her finger hovered over the decision to install. Her friend's words persuaded her, "you'll see what you've been missing."
"Well, let's see then,” she muttered.
Twenty people started following her within a minute of her registering. So cool! Even a boy from 8th grade, that she knew by name only, asked to be her friend.
Suddenly a face popped above her phone, "Whatcha doin', Evie?"
"I'm just checking out a new app. You should try it, Edie."
" What's it called?"
"Blabbreeze."
"Cool. Did Dad give you permission?"
"Weeeeelll, I'm just checking it out right now. Look how many friends I've gotten so far. I'm up to forty in just five minutes."
"That's awesome!”
"Are you going to try it?."
"Ok, I guess so."
Pretty soon their faces were scrunched in weird positions and they sent pictures as fast as they could take them.
“Did you see that Steve and Laura watched the movie we want to see?”
“Yeah, and posted spoilers for the rest of us!”
Ten minutes later they let out a gasp. "Evie, did you see what that 8th grader sent?"
"Not that I wanted to!" Her face turned pale and she threw the phone down with eyes like saucers. "Why would he post himself doing that with her?"
The front door opened and footsteps came from the hallway.
Simultaneously they said, "Dad's home!"
"Edison, Evelina, where are you?"
"Oh-no. Quick get in the closet." They tip-toed over the wooden floor and shut the door.
"Edison, Evelina, are you home?"
He walked into the kitchen knowing that was normally one of their first stops. A bag of figs left open on the counter made him stop. The twins were the only ones who ate that tough squishy fruit. They must be home.
Both of their rooms were empty, but a slight shuffling noise from the closet made him pause. He opened the door. "Why are you hiding from me?"
Edison whispered, "We heard you come home….we were scared you’d get mad."
"Who told you I would get mad? Why would I do that?” His glance fell on the phones in their hands. “Have you been doing something I told you not to?"
Edison looked at Evelina, “Evie said I should try it. I didn’t think it would be that bad.”
“My friend Nagashree said it was fine. Her parents let her use it all the time.”
“That might be, but…”
Evelina interrupted, “But we were missing out on so much because we didn’t know what our friends were doing.”
“And did you find out what’s going on?”
The reddened faces told him that they had found out more than they wanted to know.
“Can’t you see that I want what’s best for you?”
They slowly nodded their heads. "God is a good father and tries to keep us from those things he knows will hurt us...I want to do the same with you."
“Then are you going to ban us from our phones?”
“Well, God did banish Adam and Eve from the garden.” The twinkle in his eye caught their attention. “Maybe some restrictions along with “painful labor and toil” would be appropriate?”
They groaned.
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