Short Story: The Importance of Upholding Recycling Day

It’s just another sunny day in Glendale New Jersey, full of manicured lawns with white picket fences. Mrs. Bethel was out pruning her garden filled with begonias and prize winning tulips, and Mr. Johnson was outside enjoying the view, walking his black and white spotted poodle around the block. This is the norm in the sleepy town of Glendale. A place where everyone knows their neighbors name and the most exciting thing to happen is the annual bake sale at the Old Catholic church every October 15th.

As Mr. Johnson rounded the corner, passing Mr. and Mrs. Blake’s immaculately maintained lawn and spotless white picket fence, he noticed a black van with dark tinted windows speed by and park beside Mr. Welsher's garden supply and home improvement store. Puzzled, but thinking nothing was out of order, Mr. Johnson continued walking his poodle, who he affectionately called Precious, around the corner and up the street.

Several of the residents of Glendale also noticed the black van. Since nothing out of the ordinary ever happened in their sleepy town, everyone was buzzing with curiosity, peering out of windows and door peepholes at the mysterious van. After what seemed like an eternity, the drivers’ door of the van opened up and a tall man in a crisp black suit, black tie, black shoes and limousine-tinted black sunglasses stepped out, walked around the van and opened the sliding door on its’ side. Now, all the residents in view of the van started opening their doors, shamelessly curious to know who the strange man was or what oddities were contained within the van. They didn’t have long to wait. Just as quickly as the door opened, children started piling out the side, one after the other. None could be older than age ten, and all wer...

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...g over his shoulder into the parking lot across the street. The black van and its mysterious passengers were gone, and Mrs. Bentley secretly prayed that she would never see them again. Feeling his wife quiver in his arms, Mr. Bentley asked what was wrong as he carried her into the house and closed their front door. Breaking their embrace and staring into her husband’s eyes, Mrs. Bentley shakily replied, “Today was recycling day,” then walked over to the couch, collapsed, and told Mr. Bentley the whole story.

In some small town in the vastness of the United States, a midnight-black van is arriving, carrying curiously well-dressed passengers, who have only one goal; To make sure the Earth is maintained for the next generation, and people take responsibility for the waste and refuse their making right now. Somewhere in a sleepy town in the USA it’s recycling day.