Cable Rising

Marcus's first week at Metro Cable Installation was either gonna be epic or a total disaster. The other techs were mostly college guys who treated him like a little brother—or worse, the rookie who'd screw everything up.

"Yo, Marcus!" Carlos called, tossing him the heavy equipment bag. "You're on the warehouse route today. Don't mess this up."

Marcus caught it, trying to look confident. His fitted cap kept sliding off his sweaty forehead. Not exactly the vibe he wanted to project.

The warehouse job should've been straightforward: run cable through the rafters of this old industrial building. Simple, right? Except he was twenty feet up on a wobbly ladder, and the cable kept catching on every exposed bolt.

"You good up there?" Carlos hollered from below, sounding more amused than concerned.

"Yeah!" Marcus lied. His arms burned. This was pure bull—why did he have to prove himself by doing the grunt work nobody else wanted?

Then he saw it. Someone had arranged the old wooden pallets into a pyramid in the corner, probably bored warehouse workers. And sitting on top, like some trophy, was his missing hat. One of the guys had swiped it as a joke.

Marcus stared at it, annoyance bubbling up. He could climb down, get his hat back, and be the butt of every joke forever. Or...

He finished the cable run. Then he climbed down and walked straight to the pyramid.

"Yo, whose bright idea was this?" Marcus grabbed his hat, dusted it off, and plopped it on his head. "If you're gonna prank me, at least be original."

Carlos and the other guys stared at him for a second. Then Carlos burst out laughing. "Alright, alright! Kid's got some spine after all."

They fist-bumped him on the way out. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.