Parts of Speech Assignment Story -- Dec 19, 2021

 

Parts of speech assignment story….

BY: Carrie Keiser

Marci looked down at her paper, knowing the words weren’t there but hoping inspiration would hit her.  It shouldn’t be this hard to write a short story for her English assignment.  Marci loved writing that’s why she had taken the creative writing class. The hard part was, for this assignment they had to include a list of words provided by her classmates.  Easy enough, right? Wrong! The words were so random how was she supposed to include them all in under 400 words?  That seemed like a strange limit, short stories shouldn’t be limited by the number of words.  

Closing her eyes, Marci was caught up in the moment speculating on how this was supposed to work, when her phone went off and gave her a start. She lurched up and clumsily reached for it, resulting in the phone falling under her desk. She must have hit the answer button, because she could hear someone faintly calling her name. Great she thought, calling out to whomever was on the other end, “Hold on! I’m coming. Dropped the phone.” She got down on her knees and felt around under the desk in search of the errant phone. Marci’s hair was in her face like sticky spiderwebs, that was not helping the situation. Swiping at her face in an attempt to clear it of the stringy mess. “Seriously, this was not my day! Horse-feathers!” She cursed as her fingers brushed the edge of the phone. Stretching for all she was worth, finally Marci was able to grab the phone.  Fumbling it up to her ear, she heard the voice on the line, “…handed him my pocketknife, to cut the ties loose.”

“Wait, wait, wait! Who is this? I dropped the phone and I missed everything you said.” Marci informed the person on the phone. 

She heard a long expulsion of air, and then a startlingly familiar voice say, “ Honey, what are you going on about?” Since when did Jake Jensen call her?  She’d had a crush on him since Freshman year, but was pretty sure he didn’t even know she existed let alone have her number! Marci must have hit her head when she was searching for her phone, that was the only explanation. Fantastic! She had lost her mind. The stress of college had gotten to her for sure. Marci hit the speaker button and set the phone down.  Jake Jensen was the star pitcher on the baseball team, scouts had been watching him since his senior year of high school and he’d been recruited by one maybe two pro teams recently, but he hadn’t made a decision as far as she knew. Why had he called her and acting so familiar with her?  He was the whole package, smart, kind, irresistible smile, athletically gifted: brains, braun and good looks! Why was he calling her? 

From the phone she heard, “Babe, should I come over, you’re starting to worry me?”

Marci’s heart fluttered, ‘babe’, really?  “Ah, yeah, please come over, I’m a little worried about me too.  I may need you to auscultate me.”

“I’ll be over in 5. Love ya!” Jake stated and the line went dead.

The phone fell from her hand, yes something was not right here, maybe she’d entered the Twilight Zone. Marci assiduously assessed her life over the last 24 hours.  For the life of her she could not recall how she had gotten to this moment. She walked over to her bed, carefully sat down placing her head in her hands and closing her eyes.  She jerked awake, with the insistent knocking on her door. Quickly standing up, she got a little dizzy. She took a moment to settle herself and walked to the door, looked through the peephole and saw, Jake. So, it hadn’t been a dream after all.  

Story Slingers

December 19, 2021

Myrna Flynn

Anna Nad Don Whitney knew and expected a multi-birth. They were looking forward to twins, but were surprised by triplets. If that was not startlingly enough it was not three boys or three girls, it was 2 boys and 1 girl.  Luckily, they had names for both sexes picked out. Out of their choices of names, they decided on Joshua and Joel and for the girl Jennifer.

It was fascinating, fantastic more than a full time job raising triplets. Anna and Don were enthralled watching their very different personalities develop. All seemed to go well as Joel, Joshua and Jennifer flew through their childhood and into their teen years.

Joel started having heart and breathing problems. they took him to his pediatrician. Dr. Bell listened closely to Joel's heart and lungs. He heard a flutter in the heartbeat and some rattling in the lungs.

He told the Whitneys that Joel needed to be admitted to the hospital for auscultation. He referred them to Dr. Nelson and Dr Renlund, who specialized in heart and lung conditions.

Joel was admitted. He was set up for all necessary tests. After the results came in and a regimen set up, it was decided to keep him under obsveration and speculating for 2 weeks. If things worked out as well as the doctors expected and he followed all instructions, the doctors told him that he could try out for pitcher on the school's baseball team. 

Joel was overjoyed. He had dreamed about becoming pitcher and his brother becoming his catcher since he was 5 years old. When his troubles happened, he was sure that he would never have that come true.

His siblings were hoping their dreams would come true for them also. Besides being a catcher for Joel, Joshua was studying hard, working towards receiving a scholarship from any high ranked medical school. He had visited with Joel in the hospital and knew he wanted to be a doctor.

Jennifer was also considering either a medical career or an interior decorator. Right now though, she was more interested in winning the pocketknife throwing competition, becoming irresistible, and getting picked as a cheerleader. She knew how clumsily she moved at times but Wass sure with coaching that could be remedied. Only real horsefeathers could ruin her dreams.

Story Slingers Prompt

Use the following words in a story:

fantastic, assiduously, auscultate, pitcher, speculating, pocketknife, irresistible, flutter, hair, clumsily, horse-feathers, startlingly

12/15/21

Daren Flynn

CLYDE

Clyde Wilson was an all around athlete, had been chosen as the most valuable player by his team members on both his high school football and baseball teams in his senior year. They all agreed that he was a fantastic quarterback and an outstanding pitcher and the reason they had been undefeated in both sports.

Following his graduation from Central High, Clyde began speculating about his future. He considered many options and assiduously studied the pros and cons of each. Some of his deliberations included the medical profession (Doctor, Dentist, Chiropractor and others), Engineering (electrical, mechanical), Education (teacher, coach, administrator), and the trades (plumber, electrician, welder, mechanic).

Clyde was not one to make hasty decisions, so he considered all of the aforementioned options, thoroughly studying all aspects of each while working at odd jobs for the next two years. Then, having no irresistible inclination toward any one of them, Clyde decided to spend some time in the wilderness alone to see if anything would inspire him as to what he should do with his life.

He began making preparations for an extended stay in the mountains as he was not sure how long it would take him to come to a decision. He began making a list of the things he would need to survive in the wilderness. The first on his list was the trusty pocketknife which he always carried. Some other items he considered necessary included a hatchet, a saw, a shovel, cooking pots and pans and utensils. Also in the list he took to the Army Surplus store included warm clothing and boots as well as a tent, sleeping bags and blankets. At the surplus store he was able to purchase a backpack and a large duffle bag.

When he was satisfied he had acquired all that he would need for his stay in the wilderness, he contacted his best friend from high school and asked him to take him to the Bob Marshall Wilderness and drop him off at a trailhead, from which he planned to hike to a remote lake where he would set up his camp. When they arrived at the trailhead, Todd, his pal, helped him unload his gear from the pickup and load Clyde down with all of it. Then, after asking Clyde if he was sure about what he was doing, Todd drove off and left his buddy standing there contemplating the long hike ahead of him. Then he started up the trail clumsily under his heavy pack. And that was the last anyone had seen or heard from the former high school star athlete, the one everyone thought would make his mark in the world and of whom they could proudly say, "I knew him when...".

Five years later, Todd was serving as Scout Master and loving every minute of it. His scouts had been after him to take them on their fifty miler in the wilderness which he had promised he would do. Planning the hike was the focus of six months of Scout Troop meetings and their excitement grew as the plans came together and all the necessary items were assembled into the Troop's meeting place. At last it was time to begin the big adventure and all was loaded into the sponsor's large van and they were soon on the road.

At the trailhead, the same one at which Todd had dropped Clyde off five years previously, the Scouts shouldered their packs and headed up the trail with much enthusiasm. It was the fourth day of their hike that the boys of Troop 17, led by the one Eagle Scout among them, emerged from the thick timbered trail they had been following, into a small clearing through which a small stream ran. As they looked around, thinking they had found the perfect spot to set up camp, they realized someone had already claimed the area and had a camp established.

It was at that moment, that the young scouts got the fright of their lives. Out of the trees on the opposite side of the clearing a large hairy creature startlingly emerged, looked straight at the boys and began lumbering toward them. The boys turned, ran back down the trail and scattered the rest of the troop shouting, "Sasquatch! Sasquatch! Run! It's coming! It's going to eat us! Hurry! Hide!"

After they were all scrunched down in their hiding places, Scout Master, Todd, did his best to calm them and find out just what they had seen. They described the creature, saying it was really big and hairy and they were sure it was going to kill them all and eat them. Todd listened and wondered. He didn't really think there was such a thing as a Sasquatch or Big Foot, but the boys obviously had seen seen something. "Nothing had come down the trail after them, so--- no wait a minute", he said to himself, "one of the boys is missing".

"Okay boys", he told his frightened charges, "you all stay here while I go looking for Billy." Then he went up the trail to the clearing, which he cautiously entered, for he didn't know what to expect. What he saw was the creature that looked as the boys had described it, bent over the still, prone form of Billy.

Todd delt an enormous adrenaline rush, the likes of which he had never experienced as a halfback on the football field or at any other time in his life. He grabbed a called limb and ran to the Sasquatch preparing to club it and get Billy away from it. As he approached the master and raised the club, it turned around stood up and said, "Todd, this boy fainted when he saw me. I guess he thought I was going to hurt him. He is okay. I thought I should asuculate him to make sure, but I had no stethoscope so I put my ear next to his chest to listen for his vital signs. That is when Billy rose up and saw his Scout Master  talking to the supposed Sasquatch and realized it was only a man who had let his beard and hair grow really long and was not so scary after all.

Todd asked Clyde if, after five years, he had come to any conclusion about the course his life was meant to take. To which, Clyde answered, "I've thought long and hard every day out here in the wilderness speculating about the course my life should take and I've decided this is where I belong. I have decided to stay here and become one with nature. I've made friends with the animals and I'm the happiest I've ever been."

They said their goodbyes, Todd and Billy turned and went back down the trail reunite with the rest of the Scout Troop.At that momenta large Bald Eagle flew into the clearing and landed on a perch that Clyde erected. The Kingbirds settled on the perch with a flutter of feathers as his friends and companions, Clyde, approached and gently stroked its royal head.

When Todd and Billy got back to the others, they all wanted to know what had happened after they left. They wanted to know if the Sasquatch had hurt him and was it gone now. "Weren't you scared?" They asked.

"Oh Horsefeathers!" Billy said braggadociously, "I wasn't afraid."

Then Todd told the boys that the scary creature was not a Sasquatch or Big Foot or anything like that but was his old high school pal who had decided to live his life in the forest.

A Fantastic World 

By: Leyla

My world is fantastic. My family is wonderful. I make my family proud. A blutter. What was it? A butterfly! What a sprise. This world is a wonder.

By: Hosanna Tabor

“It’s time for another fantastic adventure,” Lita thought to herself as she poured a glass of orange juice from the pitcher on the table. She took a big swig of her juice, and then she proceeded to sweep her curtain of dark hair up into a bun and secured it with a set of pretty black and silver chopsticks.

Her sister glanced up, watching Lita through startlingly bright emerald eyes noticing the excited air around her. “What are you up to now?” she asked Lita.

“Oh, well, you know. I’ve been contemplating the great, wide world and its many mysteries and wonder,” Lita responded vaguely.

“Enlightening, as always,” her sister said drily. “Care to elaborate?”

Lita chuckled and said, “Fair enough, Mila. Do you remember when Uncle Min visited last week? He mentioned finding horse-feathers at the bottom of his stairs. I keep wondering if it’s possible they still exist.” 

“The horse feathers he claims he found?” Mila asked.

“No silly. Hippogriffs!” Lita exclaimed excitedly. Ignoring Mila’s skeptical look, Lita plowed on. “The last place legend mentions them being is in Kiribati, although I think that is probably just a fanciful thought meant to construe that they retreated to somewhere remote and isolated. Kiribati just seems a little too far fetched as the climate doesn’t seem ideal for them.”

“Right…Kiribati being their final refuge is the far fetched idea, not the idea of the actual existence of hippogriffs,” Mila said with a cynical raise of her eyebrows.

“Mock me all you like,” Lita countered, “But I’m going to investigate. It’s far too irresistible an intrigue. And I’m nothing if not irresistibly intrigued by something no one else believes possible.” And with that, she picked up her pocket knife that had been laying on the table and placed it in her pack next to her chair and headed to the door.

Mila watched her go with a feeling of exasperation mixed with a little trepidation. Lita tended to attack a mystery head-on with something that seemed a lot like reckless abandon. Mila worried about her, but she knew if she tried to express her worry it would come out clumsily and sound high-handed and superior. So she kept it to herself. Hopefully, this time Lita would be more prudent than usual.

Lita headed dow the street from her flat towards the bust stop, speculating more on possible locations to search if Kiribati proved a bust, as she suspected it might. She really thought Greenland and Siberia to be likely candidates, give their remoteness and the cold weather. So absorbed on her thoughts as she, that she didn’t notice the bicyclist careening down the hill towards her, clearly out of control.

The bicyclist managed not to hit her head on, but clipped her forcefully enough to send her stumbling out into the road where a car aws headed right at her, a collision seemingly imminent. Lita stood like a deer in the headlights, too stunned by the bicycle clipping her to realize that she was about to get by a car too. Then something knocked her back to the ground on the sidewalk, just as the car drove by. Lita registered a pair of eyes with the blue sky behind them before everything went dark.

As she lay on the ground, she felt a flutter of activity around her as her eyes briefly opened and closed. Everything felt far away and muted, and then she felt herself being lifted onto something and rolled away. The next thing she registered was the feeling of slight pressure on her chest. She opened her eyes again to see a head bent over her chest, apparently using a stethoscope to auscultate her heart. Her eyes closed again.

Next time her eyes opened, she was laying on a bed with an IV sticking out of her hand. Glancing around, Lita noticed a man sitting na chair to her left who seemed to be assiduously studying the life lines on his palm. She didn’t recognize him at first glance, so she decided to try and get a better look. His head was pointed downwards and not towards her, and she tried to unobtrusively peek up at his face. But in so doing, she unbalanced herself and gave a little yelp as she felt herself slipping sideways off the bed. The man quickly reached out and grabbed her. He gently resettled her on the bed, and as he leaned back into his chair, she finally got a good look at his face.

She definitely did not recognize him. He had hazel eyes with a light green ring around the edge of the iris. His hair was short and really dark auburn, slightly unkempt as if he’d rolled out of bed and rubbed his fingers through it a few times. His features were regular and unassuming, thought there was evidence of a regular smile around his eyes. He look at her now, expectantly, obviously waiting for her to say something. Lita thought this was odd, as she was the one who woke up to a stranger in the room and felt he ought to be the one to explain something first. He continued to look at her with that expectant air about him, so she sighed and said in a slightly croaky voice, “Apparently, I’m in the hospital. With a stranger.” She speared him with a look she hoped would make him feel a bit guilty and explain his presence in her hospital room. He remained silent though, so she pressed on trying to get him to tell her who he was or about what happened, anything really.

“I remember a bicycle hitting me. I guess it knocked me down. Were you the bicyclist?” she asked him.

“No,” he replied.

“Oookay….then, you aren’t the bicyclist, I guess… You don’t appear to be a  nurse or doctor either,” Lita said with another questioning look at the man.

“No,” was his monosyllabic response.

Lita started to wonder if maybe something was wrong with him and looked around for a call button for a nurse, when finally he spoke.

“You didn’t fall when the bike hit you. You fell when I knocked you out of the road after the bike pushed you into the road,” he said.

“Ah. I vaguely remember that, now that you mention it,” Lita said thoughtfully. “So, you saved me, then? And also caused me to be hurt enough to  warrant a hospital visit? Bit ironic that.”

“I suppose it might look that way to someone cynical. I only stayed to make sure you were okay. As it appears that you are and my presence is no longer required, I’ll be goin. My apologies for hurting you, “ he said as he stood to leave.

Surprised by his abrupt leave taking, Lita blinked rapidly trying to figure out if she’d offended him before saying, “Wait! Don’t leave. I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to break the ice. Badly, it seems.” 

He stopped at the door and turned back. “Do you need anything? I can get the nurse on my way,” he asked.

“No, I just…I hoped you’d tell me who you are,” she said, somewhat lamely.