Assignment #1 Stories

Sad Tree 

Once there was a semi-normal looking tree.  He had some roots hanging where he should have leaves, and some leaves hanging...nowhere.  He was a sad tree.  It's not that he wasn't popular.  He lived in a forest and had many friends and a loving family, and he had a deep passion for life.  But without leaves, the beating sun burned his skin, and the howling wind chilled his core.  So he was rarely comfortable, and his bark was unhealthy and rather unsightly. He wanted leaves desperately. 
 
He knew there was nothing he could do about it.  Trees don't really have the dexterity to perform such complex operations as leaf implants.  But he had seen humans do very crafty things, and drive in very fancy beasts. So he decided to enlist them. On a path where many humans walk, he leaned over as far as he could, and scratched into the dirt, 
 
'no leaves. 
hurts me.
want them. 
help!' 
 
and drew an arrow right up to his trunk. 
 
But when humans next came along, they found their nice smooth path scratched and gouged and looking like crap, with no resemblance to an intelligible message other than a clear arrow pointing directly to the unsightly, leafless tree.  (Like I said, trees lack dexterity. They also lack eyesight, and their English is a bit hard to understand.)  With the massive scratchings in the ground having the clear fingerprints of a tree, and an arrow pointing to a tree with leafless, muddied limbs, they knew the culprit.  Many in the town thought the tree was an evil demon and demanded it be torn down.  Those who didn't think it was a demon went along with the idea anyways because it was ugly, and might have a penchant for violence on their nice path, which could put them in danger. 
 
So they savagely chopped it down.  And the tree who suffered so much in the burning sun and the howling wind was turned into firewood, paper umbrellas, kites, and windsocks.  And he spent the rest of his life in a million pieces screaming a million screams of the worst agony, and his family heard him and mourned till the end of their lives.  And every piece of him, when it died, was sent to hell, because God said he didn't like what it did to the people's path.  But he really just hated trees. 
 
But the people had a great time in the sun, and with their kites and campfires.  And windsocks. 
 
Moral of the story: trees are useful and are best taken for granted.
 

Parenting

      A middle aged couple sits at a table eating cereal.  The mom is reading a book about parenting teenagers and the dad is reading the newspaper.  He points out a headline:  “Teen Gets 56 Star Tattoos on Face While Asleep.”  They laugh.  The dad says, “See, James is doing fine.  At least he doesn’t have any tattoos.” “Yet,” The mom says. “But how to do we really know?  He’s been so avoidant and secretive lately.” A door is heard opening, and the mom hides her book under the newspaper.  Their son skulks through the kitchen with a grimace-like expression.  He ignores his parents overly enthusiastic good morning greetings, and slams the door behind him.  His parents exchange knowing glances and shrug.  The mom takes out her book.  The dad begins to do a maze on the back of the cereal box.      

It is later in the day, and James' parents are settled in the living room, this time flipping through channels on the TV.   James enters the door, tip-toeing and looks carefully around, making sure that his parents are occupied.  It appears that he has something stuffed under his sweatshirt, which he carefully cradles and tries to disguise whatever he is hiding.  He enters his room, slams the door, and loud music is heard from the bedroom.  His parents turn up the volume of the television and roll their eyes at one another.  It gets later, and James' parents are tired and have slumped down on the couch.  James once again passes through the room and looks guilty.  After his third trip through the living room, James’ mother says, “That’s it!  I’m getting to the bottom of this!  Who knows what he’s up to?!” She walks with purpose towards James’ room, and knocks rapidly on the door.  James sounds worried and tells her not to come in but she opens the door anyway.  Both mother and son look shocked and horrified as it is revealed what he has hidden.  James is surrounded by a sea of baby birds.

      James’ parents are eating breakfast in the kitchen.  The father points out a headline, which reads “53 baby birds found in Colorado Teen’s Bedroom.” The mother gives him a sad smile. James is in the other room, looking exhausted, sitting on the floor as the baby birds open and shut their mouths for food.  Next to him is a book about raising baby birds.  James has a container of worms and sighs as he begins to mechanically feed each one.

Split Splat

      Two eggs were playing in a playground.  One of the eggs were wearing a blue hat and the other a pair of glasses.  The egg with the blue hat started to play on the swings.  The egg with glasses went over to join him.  The egg with the blue hat glances over at the egg with the glasses and then starts to swing higher to prove that he is better.  The egg with the glasses starts to notice this and is determined not to lose.  They both try to swing higher than each other.

      The egg with the blue hat then leaped out of his swing and landed with a ‘tadaa’ pose.  He drew a line where he landed to mark how far he jumped.  But the egg with glasses jumped a little farther and looked back at the egg with the blue hat with a grin.  Each time the egg with the blue hat made a new record, the egg with the glasses managed to jump further.

      The egg with the glasses started to swell with pride that he was better than the egg with the blue hat.  He launched his self out of his swing to jump farther than ever, but lost his balance and landed on his face.  The egg with the blue hat ran over and discovered that the egg with the glasses had cracked.  He started to snicker and gloat over the egg with the glasses’ misfortune. 

      But the egg split open and out popped a chicken with glasses!  The chicken gleefully ran over to the swings.  It swung up high and flew far into the air and fluttered down gracefully to a perfect landing.  The egg with the blue hat jealous as ever went back to the swings and started to swing so high that the swing set started to lift off the ground.  The egg with the blue hat is shot out of the swing at great speed that he passes the borders of the playground sandbox.  He fell on the sidewalk, cracking open with a splat.  Out came the egg yolk and whites, sizzling on the sun warmed sidewalk.  He became a sunny-side-up egg.

Untitled Short Story 

      There once was a worm who dreamt of being something other than a worm.  He looked himself in the mirror and cried out to God complaining of his appearance.  One day God showed up to the worm and decided to hear what the ruckus is all about.  Then he replied, “I will grant you any form you wish”.   Many thoughts went through the worm’s mind.  One thing that bothered him the most was the fact that girls would scream “EWW” or “Gross!” when they see a worm.  He wanted to be loved by everyone.

      The next day, he wished to be a dog to God.  God replied, “As you wish” and ‘poof’ he became a dog.  The worm was happier than a parent who has just found his/her missing child. 

      Time passed by and he eventually fell in love with another female dog.  Soon he was about to become a father.  Strangely his puppies were not puppies at all.  They were worms.  (dun dun duhh!~)  So the worm cried out to God again, moaning for help and demanding answers.  God appeared in front of him once more and asked “What is it you seek now?”  Worm answered, “Why do my children look like worms?”  God replied, “Because you are still a worm.  Even though your physical appearance has changed, it will never change who or what you are in the inside.”  The worm was furious and told God he would rather be a worthless worm than a phony.  So God changed him back to his original form.  The worm said to God “I am very upset and do not wish to speak to you or see you ever again!”  Then he dug into the dirt and never came out.   Only during rainy days when God is supposedly ‘sad’, the worm would come out to enjoy God’s suffering.   

The End

Patience is a Virtue 

      A man is walking to a table with a happy bounce to his steps. He has just bought a new bag of seeds for an “amazing flower.”  He excitedly sets down a pot and fills it with soil.  With great care, the man plants the seeds and dreams about how beautiful his flower will be. 

      Day by day, the man diligently waters the plant and makes sure that there is enough sunlight.  Everyday he peers intently to see if there are any signs of growth, poking and probing at every angle.  After months have passed, only a tiny, little sprout shows.  Frustrated by such a small reward for his constant care, the man raises his arms and takes a deep breath, ready to launch into a tirade. 

      The man begins screaming and yelling at the plant, poking the tiny sprout with a finger, demanding that it grow faster.  He waves the seed packaging in front of the plant, pointing to the image of the flower in full bloom as if it would encourage the plant to grow.  

      Suddenly, the plant begins to grow rapidly.  The man puts his hands on his hips with satisfaction on his face.  But, soon that satisfaction turns to dread as the plant continues to grow to a tremendous size.  The plant then starts poking and whipping at a now fleeing man as if it was intent on asking him, “Am I big enough now?” 

      The man escapes out of his house and stares in horror that his house is completely covered by the plant.  The man attempts to use hedge trimmers, saws, chain saws, or whatever else he can get his hands on to beat back the ever expanding plant, but all to no avail. All seems hopeless, but we suddenly return back to the man standing over the plant with his arms still raised for all that just happened was only in his mind. 

      The man quickly lowers his arms and gives the plant a little water.  He will patiently wait for the flower to grow at its own pace and just a few months later he is rewarded with a fine looking flower. 

      Proud of the flower’s beauty, he begins showing it to everyone and taking it everywhere he went. As the man soaked up the praise for what a fine job he did with the plant, he forgets to water the plant and it withers before his eyes. The man might have learned patience, but he still has much to learn about humility.

A cloudy evening sky that really illustrates her feeling today.

A girl who just experienced a broken heart and a betrayal at the same time because her best friend took her boyfriend was walking on the street holding her tears of sadness.

Arriving at her apartment with no people inside, she finally cried because of all the grief combined together that she felt.

She cried for so long until the rain have started to falling down..

While she was crying, all of sudden a big thunder hit a tree in front of her apartment.

She was shock and tried to calm herself until suddenly she heard someone screaming "Wahhhhh... how come there's a girl inside my mirror."

She startled and looked at the back where her mirror hanging on the wall.

Surprisingly, there's a guy inside her mirror; a pale guy that looked shock due to what he saw.

Same here where the girl fell down and sat because there's guy over there, inside the mirror...

Both of them approached their mirrors and made sure what they saw by waving their hand fast and moving around.

The strange part was their mirror became other people's reflections, not their body.

The guy started the conversation "hmmm.. hi there!! can you hear me?"

With confused face the girl just nodded her head.

The guy suddenly changed his face because amaze with what just happen, and said "This is great, are you people from other dimension? where are you from? How come are you inside my mirror?" (touching his chin) "is there any webcam or what?"

... keep talking with exciting expression

The girl still confused but started to talk "aaaa...." (try to communicate with the guy)

... the guy keep talking with himself until he realized that the girl tried to say something.

He approched the mirror and replied "yessss?" "upss, sorry I kept talking by myself, I didn't try to ignore you though. I just feel so excited"

The girl felt shy and said "How.. how can you be inside my mir..ror? unbelievable~~." still sat in front of the mirror

Then, the guy suddenly realized that the girl's face had some mark because of the tears.

He said tenderly,"I'm Hiro.. what's you name?"

The girl said, "I'm Chizuna.."

Hiro said "Chiiii.... did u cry before?"

Chizuna suddenly touched her eyes and tried to wip her tears that remain in her eyes (speechless).

Hiro asked her politely "do u want to share your sorrow?"

Chizuna hesitated to share her feeling then she said "nothing...." (looking down)

Hiro be quiet and had no idea what he should say...

(silent)

Chizuna felt that she was in a weird atmosphere then finally she shared her feeling to Hiro.

Additionally, Hiro just became a good listener..

... day after day ... they felt closer and closer~~

Until another big thunder hit the tree in front of her apartment again.

Before the thunder came, Hiro and Chizuna had been talking about their interest until the time when they planned to meet each other... The thunder came and make each relfection almost disappear..

Hiro asked Chizuna "Where do you live?" Chizuna answered it but Hiro couldn't hear anything..

Hiro kept asking until Chizuna's reflection gone; same there in Chizuna's mirror, Hiro's relfection also gone.. 
 

The next day~~ in the sunny day,

Chizuna wanted to go to school; she got out from her apartment and was going to close her apartment's door.

(sound of someone also was closing the door) Chizuna looked at her left and figured out that Hiro stood right beside her...

The End 

Goin' Fishin'

A teenage boy closes the hood of a fancy truck with satisfaction. He walks to a pile of new fishing gear with pictures of him and his father fishing on the shelf above. He remembers being impatient as their father slowly drove his rickety pick-up to the lake. The boy finishes loading gear into the new truck as his father hands over the keys. With sheer joy, he starts the truck and speeds off to the lake. The last turn by the lake is very sharp, and the truck slides into the lake. As the father and son struggle for the shore, the truck and gear sink behind them. The next day they try again, using older fishing equipment and a pair of dusty 4x4's. The father leaves first at a reasonable speed, but the son speeds recklessly ahead. The boy hits a rock, jostling him into opening the throttle wide, and goes careening off the road bank. He waves dazedly back to his father, who calls paramedics while peering down from above. The next day the father is waiting outside on a bike loaded with repaired gear. his son comes out of the garage in a motorized wheelchair with a leg cast on. Repaired fishing equipment is strapped to the back of the chair, and you can see an extra car battery below. They start for the lake at a slow pace, then the boy flips a switch poorly bolted to the control stick, which sends the wheelchair speeding and shorts-out the controls. The wheelchair, boy and gear go smashing straight into a tree. The boy wakes up in traction with one free arm. His dad enters the room, slowly carrying a bucket of live fish and holds a more-broken fishing pole just out of reach. The boy lunges for the pole quickly and winces in pain. he tries again, slowly and carefully, and this time the father hands him the pole with a wink.

– After everyone has left, the boy notices the bed is motorized. With his one good hand, he tweaks the motors. He then goes racing down the long hospital hallway, howling with excitement.