Directions: Below are three sets of words. Use all the words in each set to write mini stories in 300 words or less.
Set 1: paperclips, principal, lunchbox, swing, girl in pink ribbon.
The girl in the pink ribbon had always been creative. Just before lunch she grabbed a handful of paperclips from her teachers desk. In the cafeteria, surrounded by all of her friends she asked, "Wanna see something cool?" "Yeah!" her friends exclaimed. Linking the paper clips together she made two paperclip chains. She then attached those two chains to either side of her lunchbox. "It's a swing," she said. "Does it work?" asked one of her companions. "Of course it does. Watch!" she replied as she took a chain in each hand. She began to rock the lunchbox back and forth increasing the speed with each swing. Noticing that there was a growing stir in a corner of the cafeteria the principal went over to see what all the commotion was about. "What's going on-" he began but was cutoff when a tuna salad sandwich hit him squarely in the face.
Set 2: biology, class card, foreign student, leaf, blood sample
A leaf that had blown in the open window settled on the class card of the foreign student. It was blood sample day in Biology and each of the students had to put a couple of finger prick samples on their class card for analysis. "Place your cards in the card container and pass them to the front," the teacher instructed. It was then that the foreign student noticed the leaf on his card. Thinking nothing of it, he removed the leaf, placed the card in the holder, and passed his holder to the front of the class.
A couple of weeks later, the Biology teacher announced, "Your results are in! The results tell you your blood type and the different ethnic backgrounds that are strong enough to detect." Excitement rose in the classroom as each student began to receive their results. "Let me see yours!" a couple of students exclaimed to one another. When the teacher arrived at the foreign student he asked to speak to her privately. "You results were most fascinating! It seems you have some traces of Arborean in you. This is quite the discovery, because until now most people believed the ancient tree people to be a myth!" Wanting to poke a little fun with at the teacher the student replied, "Yes, in my country there is an indigenous culture that is directly descendant from the tree people and have the most pure form of the bloodline. My grandfather was one of them." "Oh my, this is very good indeed!" said the teacher excitedly as he rushed out of the room.
"When are you going to tell him you were joking?" a student near the foreign student asked. "When the reporters come," she replied.
Set 3: typewriter, filing cabinet, puncher, clerk, carbon paper, janitor
"Can you put the typewriter on top of the filling cabinet when you are done cleaning it off?" the clerk asked the janitor. The janitor noded. "Okay, well I am leaving for the night then. Don't forget to lock up when you leave!" the clerk yelled out as she exited.
"Don't forget to lock up when you leave!" the janitor muttered mockingly. "When have I ever forgotten to lock up before I left? and when did it become my job to move things around for you?" he continued bitterly. The janitor grabbed a stack of papers off the clerk's desk and wrote on the top sheet, Dear Clerk, I have put up with your nonsense for 15 years. Now its time that I let you know that I know what you do in here when no one is looking. I have been keeping a long list... The janitor then began to enumerate the many embarrassing things about the clerk that he had been privy to over the years. He finished it with Consider this list the next time you ask me to do things outside of my job description!. "Oh how I'd love to leave this waiting for her when she returns in the morning," he said out loud. He then took the top sheet and put it through the shredder. "One day soon she'll get her comeuppances," he sighed. He then moved the typewriter to the filing cabinet and locked the door behind him as he left.
The next day, the clerk instructed the intern to take the blank paper from her desk. "Print the equipment on them. Save the top copy, use the puncher to put holes in them and place them in a notebook. Send the carbon copy out to corporate," she instructed. Doing as was instructed the intern sent the carbon copies off to corporate. Unbeknowst to anyone, the paper the janitor had used the night before was the same paper that was sent to corporate. Later that night, when the janitor went to clean the clerk's office it was empty. "Did she move offices?" the janitor asked the intern. "Oh, you didn't hear?" the intern asked. "She was fired."Smirking, the janitor shut the office door and left it, for the first time, unlocked.
This was fun. It felt good to be creative again, even with silly things. One down 19 to go!
