Adam Johnson, who was a graduate of McNeese State University, is now living in San Fransisco with his wife. He is currently a Jones Lecturer at Stanford University and is working on his first novel. Many of his stories have appeared in various columns of popular magazines and newspapers. One of his many stories that caught my eye was "Trauma Plate". It is a story about a husband trying to run an unsuccessful business of selling bullet proof vests. His wife and daughter seem to be behind him 100 percent, but are getting the feeling the business is going nowhere. The husband, Bill, is obsessed with his business and keeps an open mind that it will someday boom while the other two believe its nearly hopeless. .
The way the author changes the narrator from Bill, the husband, to himself to the daughter, Ruth, lets one to know the different points of view of each character. At the beginning of the story the first narrator is Bill. The author portrays Bill very well as the "optimistic" one of the family. His bullet proof vest shop does not have many customers coming through the door but he still keeps and open mind. In the first line of the story Bill says, "The Body Armor Emporium opened down the street it's killing bullet-proof vest shops like ours." He goes on to say how they have tried every solution to get their vests to sell over the Emporium's and the many other downfalls that aren't helping his vests sell. But even so, Bill is still looking forward to the State Fair two weeks away which he thinks will turn things around. He is also continuing to work on a bullet proof baby carriage hoping that will make the sales chart sky rocket. Even though he doesn't sell the vests he has now, Bill constantly believes that all they need is something new and improved to get it going again. To help sales and to protect his wife and daughter, he also tells them to wear their vests to show how important it is to "have your protection".
