Naomi Ko
She stages.
Metal doors sing a cacophony
of screeches as they open,
chubby feet already toddling forward, kissing
the ash carpet of Floor Five. The mother falls
behind, novels from a trip to the stacks towering,
sweating sentences.
(It is too late.)
Stubby fingers stun the length of
an eggshell wall with grease and grime,
pillowy mire caked under ragged nails.
And it’s there, in the distance:
a minute, scarlet box mounted neatly
at the very end of the hallway,
a shiny silver lock, the cherry on top.
As the tot teeters forward
in pursuit of the crimson enigma, realization
dawns: there are letters on the box, and they have
meaning. Always a rule-follower,
she obeys the words.
Three firemen and fifty-two disgruntled evacuations
later, she learns the significance of
“Pull Here.”
Naomi Ko is a freshman from San Francisco, California majoring in Psychology and Economics. She loves creative writing and is also involved in acappella, A&O Productions, and scouting Evanston for the best matcha in town!
