Gajeena R, a gifted storyteller at Goodness Gift social enterprise, brings to life 'Haoyu's Job on the Moonbase.' This story, set in a distinctive retail store on the Moon, delves into the lives of two part-time employees with disabilities, showcasing their unique experiences in an extraordinary workplace.
On the table is where the large white box is placed. Hands that have been healed of blisters are used to fold the box along the lines of the lower section. After starting from the middle section, the hands fold along the lines inward until they reach the middle of the upper section. The two portions are held in place by one hand, and the longer side flap is wrapped over to tuck the edges into two slots. He repeats this step on the opposite side and finishes the base.
This hard-functioning associate who is packing a box is Haoyu Chan, son of Phoebe Del Oro and Dennis Chan, stepson of Sanjay Chan, the eldest of triplet siblings Hoshi and Dolores and Naseem Chan, his half-brother. A member of The Goodness Gift on the moon – one of the many Mewni moons to be precise. The Goodness Gift accepts everyone; both aliens and Mewni monsters from the autism spectrum get employment both by working at this enterprise and finding employment through its connections. Olivia Darwin, the Job Coordinator, who made a deal with The Plumbers, has made it
possible for them to have a second location on the moon. This is the fifth ‘Across Canada’ box he has made, and the last box to be made.
There, now for the crinkled paper,” says Haoyu.
He picks up the box, then gets off the edge of his seat and goes over to a large cardboard box containing a large supply of crinkled paper. He grabs a small chunk of paper and places it inside the box. He makes sure to smooth it out. Haoyu proceeds with his next task of arranging the products in the box. He goes to the stock to get a packet of Wild Smoked Sockeye Salmon, Flash Fuel Organic Coffee, Prairie Berries’ Saskatoon berry spread, Tomahawk Chips Fire potato chips, a tote bag, a jar of Gourmet Sauvage mustard, Wabanaki maple sugar, Peace By Chocolate’s Welcome to Canada chocolate bar, and a small plastic container of Cow Chips’ chocolate covered potato chips.
He and his co-workers from the afternoon shift finish packing the twenty-five ‘Across Canada’ boxes. Haoyu places the last ‘Across Canada’ Box into a wagon, and Haoyu pulls the wagon to take the gift boxes to the ‘To Be Mailed’ Room. The gift boxes will be quality checked by a gem named Pearl, who’s already in the room quality checking other gift boxes. The gem with an irregular non-spherical gem on her forehead is sitting on a chair analysing a ‘Welcome Home’ box. The gem lets out a sigh and looks at her and Haoyu’s job coach, a South Asian Canadian, Bhanupriya Thirumugan.
“It looks like this,” said Pearl.
She makes a holographic image of the product; however, it glitches and shows the image in poor quality graphics. The gem frowns and turns it off. “Um, I will show you a comparison of the products physically instead.”
Pearl demonstrates the comparison by opening two customised ‘Sweet and Savoury’ boxes; each placement is different from the other’s.
“Okay, thank you Pearl,” said Bhanupriya, the job coach, “Oh, and also Pearl, you should take a break”, the job coach added, seeing her mulling over how her ability is defective because of her disability. “You should not strain yourself mentally and physically,”
Pearl looks at the job coach in utter silence for a small moment; she finally answers with acceptance in the form of a small movement. A nod. Pearl walks out of the delivery room, passing Haoyu, holding a cart of the ‘Across Canada’ boxes. Haoyu takes a brief moment to look at her. Pearl is probably heading to the break room to unplug herself. The downside is: who is going to quality check all the twenty-five ‘Across Canada’ boxes?
“Bhanupriya,” Haoyu replied to his job coach, getting her attention. “The order for twenty-five ‘Across Canada’ is done. It’s ready for a quality check.”
“Oh, thank you for telling me, Haoyu,” said Bhanupriya. “There is no one else here, but since your task is done and you are here, would you like to quality check them as your next task?”
Haoyu does not show any negativity when given the task of quality checking the boxes. “Gladly,” said Haoyu, with his eyes closed, walking to the ‘To Be Mailed’ room and parking the wagon in the corner. He picks up a few ‘Across Canada’ boxes and heads to the table to sit and evaluate the boxes using two senses, sight and touch.
Suddenly, Haoyu’s phone plays the song ‘Space Unicorn’, his phone alarm which Haoyu had set up for whenever his shift was over or when his fifteen-minute break starts or is over. It has helped him manage his day-to-day routine. Haoyu retrieves the phone from his purple hoodie pocket. Haoyu sees the notification on the lock screen of the phone. The notification says: Afternoon Shift Ended 5:00 PM. Haoyu gets up from his seat, then looks his job coach in the face.
“Bhanupriya, my shift for today appears to be over.”
“Okay, then I will have the morning shift do your task for you tomorrow,” says Bhanupriya. “Have a wonderful day, Haoyu.”
Haoyu exits the room and goes down to the next room to retrieve his backpack from the closet. Next, Haoyu leaves this room to go to the front office where he grabs a pen to sign out on his sign-out sheet in the binder on the Job Coordinator’s desk. He then steps onto the glowing podium of the warp pad exit of the moon base. Haoyu will be sent through the portal, taking him to the SAAAC Center on Progress Avenue.
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References and Credit Page
- The Cappyverse is owned by ej-cappy-universe (Tumblr)/EJthe24th (Deviantart).
- Phoebe del Oro and Dennis Chan are from a Canadian animated series, Kid Vs. Kat, created and co-directed by Rob Boutilier, developed and produced at Studio B Productions, in association with YTV and Disney XD.
- Sanjay is from the American animated series, Fairly Odd Parents created by Butch Hartman, developed and produced at Nickelodeon.
- Naseem Chan, son of Sanjay and Dennis Chan belongs to my online friend in the same arts and writing Discord Community, cooltmoney95 (Tumblr).
- Mewni Moon is from Daron Nefcy’s Disney Star Vs. The Forces of Evil.
- The gems, a race of my original character, Pearl, is from Rebecca Sugar’s Steven Universe for Cartoon Network.
About the Author
Gajeena Rajeswaran is the author of “Haoyu’s Job on the Moonbase”, a fanfiction story that is set in a big cartoon crossover universe made by her writer friend from Tumblr and other social media platforms. She graduated from Centennial College to get her diploma in Biotechnology. During her first year of employment, she was employed by the Goodness Gift.
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