32 unread messages. Susie put down the phone, frustrated. How would I get through the next few days? Looking for answers, or distraction, Susie picked up the phone and started watching videos. One video caught her eye. A remarkable individual, talking about something religious or spiritual. Susie couldn’t quite make it out, but she was interested and found something impressive, maybe admirable, about the person. So, Susie continued watching and started to sense she was feeling something like envy and then ashamed of herself for feeling this way. How come this person has it so together and is able to have the freedom and the confidence to be outside smelling flowers, hugging trees, foraging wild garlic, AND making videos about it? They seem so self assured, not even a hint of anxiety.
She puts the phone down again, but this time it’s more definite, sod those people in the videos, sod those people on the other end of the messages, sod the phone! Susie, looked out the window, it was a bit cloudy but a relatively pleasant evening. Maybe I’ll go for a walk, Susie said to herself in her head. She often went for a walk in the evening. Gathering her bits, she naturally went to grab her phone so she could listen to music, but this time she hesitated. Was it possible to go out without a phone? People used to do it all the time.
The idea of going out without her phone scared her, what if something were to happen, she could get lost, or kidnapped, or witness a horrific crime. Pushing these thoughts out of her mind, she rushes out the door before she could change her mind, before the unread messages could consumed her.
At first it felt weird without the usual weight in her pocket. Susie felt exhilarated, like she was doing something edgy or naughty. Could people tell she didn’t have her phone on her? Once the adrenaline had warn off, she started to hear her surroundings. Evening bird song was the loudest and most obvious, were they waking up or going to sleep she wondered. This made her smile. She was on her usual route, which goes through the park, and in this park there’s an area of woodland – a stand of ancient beech, with hazel and holly in the understory, when she heard a rustle and a grunt from within the holly bush. The grunt became a voice “you, you there, hey you”. Eh oh, this was it, this was how it would end. She could imagine the news headline “girl found dead in park with no phone”. The rustling grunting figure showed itself and Susie recognised the rotund shape and distinctive white stripes to be that of a badger. Feeling a bit awkward she tentatively said hello to the badger, it was the badger that initiated the conversation after all. The badger replied “good yes I was after a second pair of hands to help me clean the lavatory, do you have a sec?”, “Urm well I guess I do, I was just out for a walk and well I’m trying this thing where I don’t have a phone”. The badger, ignoring Susie’s statement, mobile phones aren’t of interest to badgers, led the way through the sett, apologising for the mess even though it was too dark for Susie to see anything. They chatted as they worked and through doing this they felt at ease with one another. Susie learnt where the badger was from and how they came to be where they are, what they do day to day, what interests them, and so on. Susie hadn’t chatted like this in a long time, it was fun learning about someone new. After the task was complete they shared a drink of dandelion wine, the badger thanked Susie and said she should pop by again. Susie left.
Susie got back to her house, her phone was still there, now showing 35 unread messages, only this time she didn’t feel frustrated. She decided to tackle some of them and check in with her friends. Susie looked forward to seeing the badger again.
This story was submitted as part of the King’s Study Phase of the Gen Z Role Models Project. Added April 2026.
“and started to sense she was feeling something like envy” (S193) © 2026 by The Gen Z Role Models Project is licensed under CC BY 4.0
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