Hallie<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most people don\u2019t know this, but traffic cones have personalities,
you won\u2019t catch one chatting on the sidewalk, but they still have ways of showing who they are,
Some are bold, some lazy, and one in particular was always early.
Her name was Carlette.
Carlette was the earliest traffic cone in all of Department number 67, Every morning at 4:00 a.m. Carlette would roll out of the supply shed, and check the day\u2019s construction schedule. And so Carlette always arrived before the jackhammer operators, even before the first confused jogger.
One morning, however, something strange happened\u2026
Carlette rolled out at 3:59 a.m. instead of 4:00.The yard was quiet, too quiet. When she reached the intersection leading to Department number 67, she saw something that made her little cone body shake in fear, the street was already blocked off\u2026
By cones. Dozens of them, Perfectly aligned, All identical. All facing the same way,
All. facing. Her\u2026
Carlette rolled closer, \u201cExcuse me,\u201d she said politely, \u201cThis intersection is on my route.\u201d a Older. More scuffed cone responded. Its orange had faded to a soft, tired peach.
The old cone didn\u2019t move,
\u201cYou\u2019re early,\u201d it said.
Carlette paused. \u201cI\u2019m always early.\u201d
\u201cNot this early.\u201d
\u201cWho are you?\u201d Carlette asked
\u201cWe\u2019re replacements,\u201d said the old cone.
\u201cFor what?\u201d
The old cone didn\u2019t answer right away.
\u201cHave you ever wondered,\u201d the old cone said, \u201cwhy the schedule never changes?\u201d
\u201cNo,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just\u2026 the schedule.\u201d
The old cone sighed, Carlette felt a strange feeling of fear
\u201cI\u2019m not that early,\u201d she said.
\u201cYou are today.\u201d
\u201cWhat happens now?\u201d she asked.
The old cone rolled aside a few inches, there was a gap in the perfect line. Just big enough for one cone.
\u201cYou can take your place,\u201d \u201cYou won\u2019t need a route anymore.\u201d
Carlette stared at the empty space. It was\u2026 comfortable-looking
Carlette looked at the identical cones again. For the first time, she noticed something strange.
None of them had names.
She rolled backward.
\u201cNo,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m early because I like being early.\u201d
For a moment, nothing moved. The city held its breath.
Then, far away, Carlette heard it.
The supply shed door. Opening.
Behind her, the city began to wake up.
And for the very first time in her life\u2026
Carlette was late.
Something inside her felt wrong
For once no one needed her to do their jobs,
She wasn’t necessary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hallie Most people don\u2019t know this, but traffic cones have personalities, you won\u2019t catch one chatting on the sidewalk, but they still have ways of showing who they are, Some are bold, some lazy, and one in particular was always early. Her name was Carlette. Carlette was the earliest traffic cone in all of Department […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-202","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbewriteback.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbewriteback.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbewriteback.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellbewriteback.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellbewriteback.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wellbewriteback.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203,"href":"https:\/\/wellbewriteback.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/202\/revisions\/203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellbewriteback.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}