A Brave Girl

• Hannah Chatelier, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2011

Alice was setting up her small, tidy office one morning when she overheard the man in the next office talking on the phone. He was saying something about changing computer files so he could take over the company. He would make himself look good and the current boss look bad. Alice was shocked! She liked the boss. He was kind-hearted and listened to what others had to say. Alice would have warned him right away, but she knew the rule. If anyone accuses someone else of doing something really bad, without evidence, he or she would be fired.

Alice was a well-respected person at her work and she knew the boss trusted her. But she needed evidence. She had a good position at work and didn’t want to get fired.

Later that day, Alice was walking down the hallway and saw a folder on the floor. She picked it up and saw it had no name so she looked inside. There was nothing interesting, just paperwork. Realizing it was time for her meeting, Alice shoved the folder into her bag. She would hand it in later.

The rest of the day was quite busy for Alice and she completely forgot about the folder. When she arrived home, Alice called her cousin Ben to tell him what she discovered. Ben also worked at the same company but in a different section. He told Alice that he too had heard about the scheme and that the man was planning to make it look as though Ben had done it.

Alice was worried for her cousin and knew he was in trouble. Ben also said he had overheard the man saying something about having a folder with hidden plans in it. That reminded Alice of the folder she had in her bag. She grabbed it and carefully flicked through the pages until she found it...the plans. They were scattered throughout the folder so it took a while before Alice found them all. Then she read them aloud to Ben.

Ben encouraged Alice to tell the boss now that she had evidence but Alice was a very shy and quiet girl and was scared of what might happen. She enjoyed her work and didn’t want to stir up trouble. But soon she felt confident enough to go to the boss.

The next morning, Alice timidly walked down the hallway to the boss’ office. She clutched the evidence in a nervous grip as she entered. The boss seemed quite happy to see her and asked her to take a seat. Alice explained everything - what she had heard and what Ben had heard. She also showed him the folder of evidence. He was very shocked but knew what Alice said was true. The boss looked further into the situation, just to be sure, but in the end Alice was right.

The scheming man and those involved were confronted and fired and Alice and Ben still had their jobs. Alice was glad she had been brave.