In my earliest days, I lived in a store called Macy's. Life in there was fantastic! I loved hearing the cheerful sounds of young boys
and girls racing into the store. I also loved the tranquil sounds of silence at night after closing hours.
I would listen to these sounds day after day, never getting tired of them. After a while, though, I started to feel lonely.
I wanted to leave the womb and go out into the world, and have an owner to feel comfort in me, and wear me.
Silently, I longed for that day to come.

One day, a teenage boy came into the store. He had distressed blue jeans and a deep red tee with the "Adidas" logo on it.
He wore rugged, worn-down sandals on his feet, and on his head, a mushroom-like haircut, with lots of body hair on his arms.
He seemed friendly to me, and I hoped he would pick me. "Please pick me, please pick me... Yes, he's coming over here, and... Oh my gosh!
He's picked me!". The rest was a blur, for the next thing I know, I'm in the trunk of the car, thinking ecstatic thoughts about my new life,
but little did I know that this experience would change my life forever.

That night, I was too excited to sleep. The thought of the boy wearing me kept me up all night.
In the morning, the boy took me out of the hanger and put me and some jeans on.
He brushed his teeth rapidly, then hurried downstairs to prepare a bowl of Cheerios.
By the time he finished, I wore half his cereal! On the school bus,
I sniffed an awful stench! At first I thought it was from the cereal, or me.
But then, I realized that it must be from somewhere else, but I just couldn't figure it out.
When the boy sat down at his desk, I realized that the boy forgot his deodorant this morning! The rest of that day was a disaster:
The students complained about the boy's stench, and the boy went down to the nurse's office, where he got a note that was supposed to
be given to his mother. After I got home, I thought,"Teenage boys are always like this. I'm sure tomorrow will be all right".
I decided to give him one more chance.

Two days later, the boy wore me to school once again. He rushed to the bathroom to brush his teeth rapidly,
and he forgot to wear deodorant again! He rushed down the stairs to make toast and chocolate milk.
By the time he was done eating, half his chocolate milk was on my exterior! Nobody wanted to sit within fifty feet of him,
and the children complained about the boy to the teacher, and so the boy went to the nurse again,
where she yelled at him for not following her instructions and for not taking care of his hygeine.
I realized I was stuck with the boy for the next few years, unless I think of plans to escape.
That night, I devised a few plans to escape this predicament.
The first plan was to shrink in the wash. So when the mother put me into the wash,
I hoped I would shrink in the washer. When I got out, however,
I was still the same size. So I tried Plan B: to change color in the wash.
No matter how many times I tried to mix in with different colored shirts,
I still remained my plain white color.
Thus, I had no choice but to move on to Plan C: wait for the boy to stop liking me,or wait
until I become a hand-me-down.

After four long-suffering years of being owned by the boy, he finally left for college.
And thus, I am not owned by the boy anymore, but by his younger brother, who is now entering high school!
And I am happy to report that he takes great care of his hygeine.
Even in a cloudy sky, there is always that one ray of hope that lurke into the clouds.
And that one ray is what counts. After all those struggles, I was happy to get the carefree life I deserved.