It was a typical day for Concurring Cleo. In the morning, her dog, Buddy, woke her up with kisses on the face. “Good Morning Buddy!” Concurring Cleo exclaimed. Buddy barked at her happily, and Cleo gave him a pat on the head. Then she went to her closet to get some clothes. After she was dressed, she went to the elevator, ready to have some breakfast.

The apartment she lived in always had the most wonderful breakfast. But when Concurring Cleo was about to press the lobby button, Belligerent Bethany (who was always looking for a fight) stepped in. “Hey! I need to go to the tenth floor,” she said, aggressively.

“Okay, that sounds like a great idea,” Concurring Cleo answered, even though she wanted to get to breakfast. When they got to the tenth floor, Mr. Piqued (who was always annoyed) got in.

“I need to get to the fourteenth floor,” Mr. Piqued told Cleo.

“I would love to, but I also want to get to breakfast…” Concurring Cleo trailed off.

“I said, I need to get to the fourteenth floor!” Mr. Piqued said again, getting rather annoyed.

“Oh, yes. Alright then!” Concurring Cleo answered, concurring quickly.

This went on for a few minutes. Concurring Cleo kept helping people get to where they needed to go by going along with their plans. After a while, Concurring Cleo decided to take the stairs. “I can’t take this anymore. I have to get to breakfast,” she thought. Concurring Cleo took the stairs down to the lobby and finally got her breakfast.

“You should try the eggs,” one of the workers mentioned, “I helped make them.”

“Okay, that sounds good!” Concurring Cleo replied, eagerly agreeing with the suggestion.

After her breakfast, Concurring Cleo went back up to her room to get her purse, and to say goodbye to Buddy before she went to work. “Bye Buddy!” she said to her fluffy little dog.

“Woof!” Buddy answered

Concurring Cleo got into her car and drove to Dissenting Dan’s Hot Dog Drive-through, where she worked. When she got there, she took her place in the kitchen and started to pack hot dogs into bags.

Later, when Dissenting Dan came to check in on everyone, Concurring Cleo told him, “I think we should make a logo and create some of our own bags.”

“No no no. These regular brown paper bags are fine. Besides, it’s what is inside that counts,” Dan replied, completely disagreeing with Cleo’s idea.

“You’re right,” Concurring Cleo responded, feeling silly that she even mentioned the idea. “It’s what is inside the bag that counts.”

At the end of the day, Cleo drove home, and after a few minutes, she was fast asleep on the couch. The next day, Concurring Cleo came to work and saw the place in chaos.

“Belligerent Bethany is going to buy this plot of land!!! And she is going to put one of her bubble gum and candy shops here!!!” One of the workers yelled.

“Okay! Thanks for telling me,” Concurring Cleo said, turning to leave. “A candy shop sounds like a great idea.”

“No, not okay!” Dissenting Dan yelled. “You won’t have a job if she takes this away! Don’t you understand?”

“Oh. Then I am going to stop her!” Concurring Cleo said, confidently. Everyone in Dissenting Dan’s Hot Dog Drive-through cheered. At that instant, they saw a car pull up.

“There’s Bethany,” Dan mumbled.

“You can do this, Cleo!” the workers yelled encouragingly.

“I don’t know about that,” Dissenting Dan said, doubtfully. “But no one else will do it, so good luck.”

“Hello everyone. I have come to take this silly hot dog place away, so deal with it!” Belligerent Bethany said with a threatening smile spread across her face.

All of the workers looked at Concurring Cleo, waiting for her to stand up for them. Cleo knew she had to stop Bethany, but she just couldn’t help but agree that a candy shop was much better than Dan’s drive-through.

“Okay! I wish you the best of luck with your business,” Cleo said.

Bethany smiled her smile again. “Thank you, Cleo. I will be here at 9:00 a.m to tear this place down.” Then Bethany walked away. Every single worker was quiet. They just stared at Concurring Cleo.

Dissenting Dan broke the silence.  “You were supposed to try to convince her to put her store somewhere else! Now everyone here has lost their job!”

“I’m sorry. I tried to stop her, but I just couldn’t.”

“You did NOT try to help. You wanted us to close so you could fill up with gum and candy. I knew you weren’t someone to trust! Leave!” Dissenting Dan shouted.

Concurring Cleo walked away and got into her car. She drove to her apartment and collapsed on her bed, crying. What have I done? She thought to herself. I lost my job, and now everyone there hates me! I just want the best for everyone, and now look what happened! Concurring Cleo kept crying. Buddy came over and whimpered. He did not like to see his owner crying.

Cleo cried so much, that she fell asleep. In the morning, Concurring Cleo woke with a start. She had a dream that she saved the drive-through, and now she was going to make that dream true. She was going to get to Dissenting Dan’s Hot Dog Drive-through before Belligerent Bethany got there, and she was going to convince her to put her store somewhere else. You can not give in to whatever she says. Cleo thought to herself while getting clean clothes on. You have to stick with the plan and believe in yourself.

Concurring Cleo got there at 8:30. The Drive-through was bare. No one was inside. I guess everyone lost hope Cleo thought. She waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, Bethany came with a big truck.

“Oh, hello Cleo, She sneered. “What are you doing here? Don’t you remember I am taking this useless hot dog place down?”

“I did not forget,” Concurring Cleo answered firmly, “And I am here to tell you to find a different place to put your candy shop,” she said in a very “non-concurring way.” Bethany was surprised that Cleo was trying to stand up for her company, but she knew that she could convince her that her shop was better.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Bethany told Cleo. “If you let me build my store, then I will let you have a bag of free candy.” Cleo smiled, thinking of the bag of candy, but she persisted and stuck with her plan.

“No, I don’t care about the candy. You WILL move your store somewhere else.”

Belligerent Bethany was shocked that Cleo didn’t fall for the candy. She thought of more ways to bribe Cleo, but they all failed. Finally, she gave in.

“Fine. Enjoy your silly little drive-through,” she said and drove off.

Cleo smiled. She had saved her job and the jobs of many others. News of her act spread across the town. Cleo felt good. She felt freedom like she never felt before. The next morning Concurring Cleo got up, and drove to her new job, working as a coach of the swimming team.

“Good Morning team,” Cleo said, as she walked into the gym.

“Good Morning Concurring Cleo!” The class responded.

“Actually, I go by Conquering Cleo now,” Cleo responded with a big smile.