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One

Julia

“Are you serious? Nobody said anything about bulls when I took the job” I sigh loudly to let my producer know I’et out of it?”

“No Anyould you want to? One week in Montana surrounded by the toughest, hottest as for the finals, where again, you’ll be—”

“Surrounded by the hottest men on the planet I know the line, Teresa You say it every time, and every time I remind you, I don’t like sweatyto be interested in a bunch of insane ”

Teresa, who is turning forty this year and rele, rolls her eyes “You’d think I’ you to donate a kidney It’s a teek trip, then you’re back in LA where you belong”

“I’et on a bull” I fold my arms across my chest

She looks down at her clipboard to avoid eye contact

“Seriously, Teresa I draw the line at riding a bull Do you kno dangerous that is?”

Risking a glance in ives erous bull We’ll find one that’s like, ten minutes from death”

I groan and shake my head “This is ridiculous I need out of this contract”

An hour later, I stalk out of the studio and clien Beetle It’s not as and has a soft-top, so theoretically, I could let et some sun on a nice day, which in LA is pretty h because I’m of Irish-descent, so UV rays and I don’t exactly mix I climb in the driver’s seat and prepare for the two-hour commute home to my small studio apartment in Pomona

As I pull out of the parking lot, I think about where I ao, alree in journalisest sports network in the USA My uncle, who golfs every ith the head of the network, got me the interview When they offered et my foot in the door for what I really want to do—which is to be a real reporter, reporting on important world news I want to sit behind an anchor desk at a respected news network and help analyze and explain world events to people everywhere

But instead, I travel the country to intervieeat-drenched athletes, asking the to their same canned answers over and over “I’ht our A-game, and we proved we're the better tea while they say nothing of any substance whatsoever and drip sweat on me

I know it’s a good gig I do Most journalisive their left ovary for a shot at national news of any kind And it’s a great way to cut my teeth in the industry, but there’s one problem I hate sport

s Hate with a capital H Ever since I suffered the huing into those shorts and the T-shirtdown at the sound of the groans froo to their team No matter how hard I tried, I was always the weakest link Let’s just say, these hands were for holding books, not balls So, when I donned own at the end of senior year, I proain (Well, not those balls I figured, I’d probably handle those without incident when I was ready)

I ed to keep ot this job Then someone at the network realized how funny it would be to irl’ handle the balls (just the sports ones) And bats And jump on the trampolines And jump off the ten-meter platform at the Olympics So, now, I have to try my hand at every sport because I’m so wildly uncoordinated that the viewers find it hilarious So, as soon as I heard Bull-riding World Finals, I knew exactly what they had in mind My stomach churns I do not want to die on top of a farm animal

I sit at a set of stoplights on Hollywood Blvd that I know take exactly twoand call my mom, a Harvard professor She’ll be finished with dinner by now and will be curled up in her favorite ars when I hear her answer the phone

“Julia, sweetie, I was hoping you’d call”

“Hi, Mo?”

“I’ man who doesn’t know the difference between there, they’re and their” It’s a pet peeve of hers, along with iiene and lazy posture

I can’t be too sure, but I h standards froet into Harvard?”