“We found this old box while cleaning the police station a few years ago, and we were about to break it down and destroy it. But I said to Elba: ‘If we could somehow fit inside there, we could start a puppet show.’ So that was the beginning of Lilly and Mo. We did everything ourselves. We made the puppets. We painted the stage. We gave some cake and coffee to the boys in the radio room, and they gave us a transformer. We held our first show for the kids and grandchildren of our colleagues. Our boss let us use his office. We powered everything with an old car battery. One of the puppet’s heads fell off, and the box broke so we fell through the wall, but we eventually figured it out. We’ve done about 200 shows over the last few years. Every week a kindergarten class comes to the station. And on weekends we travel to parks and squares. We’re just trying to teach basic crime prevention. Maybe Lilly will see a fire and call for help. Or a stranger will offer her a ride, and we’ll ask the kids what she should say. A lot of times we forget our lines. But the kids don’t know the story, so they never seem to notice.”
“I moved from Texas three years ago. I was way too nice at first. I was out here in New York trying to exemplify Christ, and people were taking advantage of me. I was getting run over. So I had to get more stern. Don't get me wrong-- I’m the same nice person, just more firm in my actions. Especially in the work environment. My first job was working as a recruiter for a retail company. And one day I’m on the computer, you know, recruiting people, which is my job-- when my boss comes in and says: ‘You need to get to the floor, now!’ I was in shock, so I just did what I was told. But I knew the next time I’d have to say something. My job was important to me, but respect was even more important. Because if I allowed him to treat me that way, it was just going to happen over and over. And sure enough it happened again the next week. I was in the middle of an important task, and he gave me a command. There was no question mark on the end of the sentence. There was no use of my name. So I told him: ‘If you want me to do something, you’ll have to ask me the proper way.’ He was shocked. He looked at me like: ‘I know you’re not talking to me!’ But then he asked me the proper way.”
