by Charmie Gholson
originally published in Current Magazine, June 2004
In 1996, I was managing at Whole Foods Market. I liked my work, liked my co-workers, but I was not a spectacular bakery supervisor.One day, my favorite teacher from high school came in. I was carrying a story with me, obsessing about it, working on it during breaks. I asked him to read it. He said sure. I was elated.
He was back the next day. "What are you doing behind this counter?" he asked. "You need to go back to school and make a living with your writing."
"I can't," I told him as I handed a customer their bread. "I'm a single parent. I work."
