The Strike

Five pm., and the P*lace was rocking. Kids Incorporated held the capacity crowd’s attention with an old favorite. It was a perfect place (no pun intended!) to beat the heat. Business was booming. Or so it seemed.

When the Kids left the stage, Riley, the P*lace’s soda jerk, looked on disapprovingly. The Kids didn’t notice, because they were too exhausted.

“Whew!” Ryan breathed, mopping the sweat from his forehead with a napkin. “That took forever!”

‘Yeah, even longer than last time!” said Gloria.

“You guys, I don’t think we should do encores anymore.” Renee said. “I mean, I know the audience likes them, but can we really keep up with them?”

“Well, maybe you people can’t,” The Kid bragged, “but us superstars don’t need breaks."

“Oh, well, then you can just do all the encores all by yourself, then.”

“Don’t encourage him, Renee.” Gloria warned her.

Riley was slowly losing his patience. “Break’s over, guys.” he said crisply. “Time to get back to work.  The audience is waiting.”

“But Riley, we just got here!” complained Stacy. “Aren’t we supposed to have 5 minutes?”

“And it’s past that! Now come on! These people expect to hear music! Let’s go!” And he actually took their sodas and hustled them out of their chairs.

“What was that all about?” Gloria wondered.

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it.” Ryan said. “Something’s bugging Riley.” And he was determined to find out.

Later, at the basketball court, the Kids struggled to come up with a songlist

“I’ve been back and forth to the music store 5 times!” complained Stacy, who the other Kids had unfortunately designated official song shopper.

“We’d be fine if Riley wasn’t such a slave driver,” Gloria moped

“We’re never gonna find enough stuff to please Riley.” The Kid said, voicing all their concerns.

“I know! He’s so mean lately.” agreed Renee. “It’s like he doesn’t even care about us.”

“He treats us like we’re a bunch of singing machines that you just wind up and let go.” Gloria said.

“I think somebody’s wound Riley a little too tightly.” Ryan surmised, and the Kids agreed. It looked like a good time to present his idea. “You know, we’ve been learning about unions in school. When workers get treated unfairly, they go on strike until their demands are met.”

Stacy got it. “Hey, maybe we should refuse to perform until Riley starts acting nicer to us.”

“Isn’t that a little extreme?” Renee wondered. “Maybe we should just talk to Riley.”

“Well, now’s your chance,” Ryan told her, “‘cause here he comes.”

Sure enough, Riley was storming over to them. “I knew I’d find you guys over here! We opened 10 minutes ago! Why aren’t you inside getting ready?”

“Riley, we really have been meaning to talk to you about how hard you’re making us work.” Renee began.

“I don’t have time to chat! I’ve got customers waiting!” he snapped at her. “Time is money! Let’s go!”

“But, Riley...

“Save it! Get moving!” And he actually turned his back on her.

Her face crumpled at first, but then it hardened. “No.”

Riley whirled around. ‘What did you say?”

Renee stuck her chin out obstinately and said, “We’re not going back to the P*lace. We’re on strike.”

By the end of the week, the tension was so thick, even the sharpest knife couldn’t cut it. Riley had underestimated the power the Kids had in the community. They had managed to get all of their friends to boycott the P*lace.  Combined, that was nearly 100 people.  Anyone who did show up was met by a crowd of picketing kids with signs reading, “Riley is Unfair!”, and, “Kids have rights, too!”  Somehow, they’d changed the marquee so it read, “Not Playing” instead of, “Now Playing”.

“2-4-6-8! We have rights and we need breaks! R-E-S-P-E-C-T!  We won’t sing ‘till you agree!”

They marched back and forth for hours. Finally, Riley had to admit they were really serious. He wrapped his apron around a broomstick and stuck it out the door.

“Well! Now that we have your attention,” Gloria said sharply, “here is a list of our demands.” She handed Riley a piece of paper which read:

1. 5 minute break after every set

2.Free sodas during rehearsals

3.Time and space to do homework

4.Discounts on ice cream

5.Only one encore per set

Riley looked from them to the paper and back. “And you won’t come back to work until these demands are met?”

"We’re willing to negotiate a compromise.” Ryan said.

“Look, why don’t you come inside and we’ll talk this over.” Riley pleaded. “I don’t want to seem totally disagreeable here.”

The phone was ringing as they walked in. Riley picked it up. “Hello? Oh, sir! Y-Yes, sir. I’m well aware of that, sir. What? Oh, yeah. We’re negotiating. Well, they do have a couple of good points, sir. Yes, I know they’re only kids, sir, but - well, no, they’re good kids. No, sir. No. I understand, sir. Thank you. Goodbye.”

“Are you in trouble, Riley?” Stacy asked.

“I don’t know, Stace. The owner’s not happy with all the negative publicity the strike’s causing. See, he’s business minded, and he doesn’t stop to think about the little people who make a business work."

“He’s been pressuring you, hasn’t he?” Ryan suddenly realized.

“And that made you take it out on us.” Gloria concluded.

“I’m sorry, you guys.”

It’s not your fault.” they reassured him.

“So, does this mean the strike is over?” he asked them.

“Well, we still want more breaks...” Ryan pointed out.

“Someone should just tell that owner what we think of him!” The Kid griped.

“Hey, Kid, that’s a great idea!” Ryan cheered. “Why not take the strike to him?” Everyone agreed.

Except Riley. “You sure you wanna do that?” he asked.

“Why not?” said Gloria. “We may be little people, but we can make a big stink!”

Three hours had passed, and still no word. Riley was beginning to get worried. He knew it had been a bad idea to send the Kids to meet with the owner by themselves. Just then, he heard laughter coming his way.

“WE DID IT!”

“Riley, guess what? We got the owner to give in!” Stacy said triumphantly.

“Really?”

“Well, not totally.” Ryan explained. “He refused the free sodas. But he did say we could run up a tab if we need to. And if you say the word, we can have all the space we want for homework.”

“That’s great, guys. I knew you could do it.  It just goes to show you that kids can change things, sometimes even better than us adults.” He looked at his watch. “Oh, hey, look what time it is! Time for your next number.” He looked at all of them in turn. “That is, if you want to.”

The Kids all looked at each other for a moment. Then they smiled “We want to!” they all said.

“All right, guys and girls! Are you ready to rock and roll?” Riley yelled as the audience cheered its answer.  “Then put your hands together for the best bunch of kids you’re ever gonna see: The P*lace’s own, Kids Incorporated!”

The End