It occurred to me that I should inform you of
the other contestants in this competition. There started off with thirteen of
us. Myself, Tierra, Victoria, Avahline, Lori, Adam, Isabel, Destini, Mckinley,
Marvin, Fiona, Stephanie G, and Stephanie U. Both Stephanies, and Fiona never
ended up submitting work for the first week and all got eliminated then. Marvin
never submitted for the second week and then was eliminated at that time. So,
during week three, there were nine of us left.
This week I found to be rather fun. The prompt
for this week was to write a parable, fable, and fairy/tall tale set in modern
time.
I already knew what I wanted to write for the
fable because I had actually started the idea about a year ago when I was in
Poetry and Short Story class. Fables always include animals and the most common
modern animal I could think of was the squirrel, which I ended up using for the
fable. The parable came to me after remembering a parable from the Bible (the
one about a boy who could pick ears of corn from a field and the father he went
down the line, the bigger they got, so he didn’t pick any hoping they would get
bigger, and he eventually ended up with nothing in the end) and then thinking
of way to make it modern. I ended up applying the stock market to it, a very
modern concept. The fairy tale was a lot harder, but I thought of the idea
after thinking about archetypical fairy tale characters. I also began to think
about Disney Channel movies and the stupid things they do sometimes to try to
add magic to everyday situations, and that’s how I eventually ended up with my
fairy tale.
I don’t have much to say about this week. It
wasn’t really hard and it wasn’t really easy either. I did end up getting third
place over all for the week challenge though, which I consider and
accomplishment. In last year’s season, I had never placed in the top three, so
I found that to be a step up for me. Lori won the week’s challenge, Avahline
placing in second, myself in third, and Isabel was eliminated.
Below are my three stories for the week.
A Nutty Situation (Fable)
In
a small suburb on a street by the name of Westfield lived a small community of
squirrels. They made their homes in the sycamore trees that grew on the front
lawns of the many houses where humans resided. When the leaves had just started
to change colors, the squirrels began to gather nuts for the upcoming winter.
On this street there lived one
particular squirrel by the name of Chester who was very smart and began to
store food for the winter months ahead of the others. His home was already
sufficiently stocked with the food his family needed, but he insisted to
continue foraging in case they had a long winter, common in the region.
One day, a squirrel with a lame leg
and a family of his own to support approached Chester and his home.
“My good friend,” he said to Chester
as he scampered up to him. “You have a massive store of nuts for yourself and
your family. Surely you can spare me a small portion of your supply. I am not
as strong as I used to be and cannot gather enough nuts to support my family.”
Chester, considered his words for
only a second. Thinking of himself first he responded to him harshly.
“No, I cannot spare any of my
supply. I must think of myself and my family before I help others.”
Saddened by his response, but also
understanding his reasoning, the other squirrel slowly scampered away back to
his own tree, wondering how he would find enough food for his family.
Many other squirrels approached
Chester in the fall season, all asking for only a small portion of his supply.
They would tell him things such as:
“Surly you can spare only a few
nuts!”
“You must think of the community as
well!”
“You’ve hogged all of the nuts in
the entire neighborhood!”
But in the end, he gave all of them
the exact same response. “I cannot spare any of my supply. I must think of
myself and my family before I help others.”
So the fall came to an end and the
leaves turned brown and fell from their home in the trees.
As Chester approached his home
from his last scavenging journey and attempted to place the last few nuts into
his home, he realized that he had collected so many nuts they had had
completely blocked the entrance to his house! He scratched at the entrance, squeaking
to alert his wife and kids to clear the entrance for him, but they could not
hear him through the immense wall of nuts blocking the way.
He traveled to each tree along
the street asking for assistance, but everyone was already shut in their houses
for the winter and would not answer him. He tried and he tried, but no one
would answer his cries for help, realizing he would have to face the cold
winter alone without the supply of nuts he had been too greedy to share.
Up and Up (Parable)
Bill
Smith was a business man who his free time playing the stock market. At his job
he envied saw his superiors with expensive watches and driving around in
Lamborghinis, and he played the stocks hoping to one day earn himself enough
money to buy the same things they could afford.
One day while browsing through
the NASDAQ he came across the stock for a budding electronics company called of
L-COMP. Its stock was only valued for four dollars and ninety-six cents
currently, but it had slowly and steadily rose for the last two months. Smith
saw potential in the company and therefore bought one hundred shares, hoping
that his investment would one day pay off.
Over time the stock steadily
rose, but at very small increments. At the end of that year, a share was only
valued at six dollars and five cents, barely rising in price. Giving up hope in
the company, he planned on selling it the next day, taking whatever small
earnings he may have made.
However, Smith woke up the next
morning and went about his usual routine checking the stocks only to find that
the price of one share of L-COMP and drastically risen overnight to eleven
dollars and thirty-nine cents, almost doubling in value. Surprised and elated
by the sudden rise in price, Smith decided to hold onto the stock to see if it
would rise in price in even more.
He observed the price almost
constantly as it continued to rise up and up and up with each passing week, now
being sold for over twenty-five dollars. Ecstatic by his decision to purchase
the stock at such a low price, he put off selling his shares hoping for the day
when L-COMP would rise to its peak. Speaking to himself, he made himself a
promise, simply stating:
“I will sell my shares once it
reaches fifty dollars.”
Unfortunately, greed soon
consumed him to the point where he refused to sell his share in the company.
The day came around when the stock reached fifty dollars, but he then changed
the promise he made to himself.
“The stock is doing so well I
might as well wait for when it reaches one hundred dollars to increase my
profit further!”
One hundred dollars soon turned
into one twenty five, and one twenty five into two hundred. Wanting to make as
much money was possible, he refused to sell the stock. He became lazy and
checked the stocks less frequently, only about once a week, thinking that his
prized L-COMP stock could only rise in price.
The day came two years later when
L-COMP went bankrupt and the price of its stock fell so fast, it was down below
five dollars in only a week. By the time Smith took notice of the sudden
downfall of the company, the stock had dropped to four dollars and forty eight
cents, less money than what he had originally paid for it.
He immediately sold his stock,
losing money in the process with a heavy head. He continued to think of the
various times he could’ve sold the stock and made a great profit.
Five Dollar Wish
(Fairy Tale)
The homeless almost constantly
lined the streets of New York City, so for Courtney, it wasn’t an unusual site
to see an old woman in tattered clothes begging for money on the corner of the
street.
“Can you please spare me some
money?” the woman pleaded as Courtney walked by. She stopped for a minute in
front of the woman. She looked at plastic up in front of her which only held a
few coins. She knew the people of New York were greedy, pushing the homeless
aside often. Because of this she always liked to give a couple of dollars here
and there to people she passed on the street.
While bending down to place a
five dollar bill in the plastic cup in front of her, the woman reached out and
grabbed hold of her hands.
“Thank you so much for you
kindness,” the woman told her looking straight into her eyes. “I wish to return
the favor. Tell me, what is your biggest desire?”
“Well,” Courtney began while
still staring into the eyes of the woman, unsure of what to think. “I want to
make it into Julliard. I auditioned last week, but I don’t have the minimum
standard grades and turned in my paperwork late, so I’m afraid my audition was
valid.”
The woman smiled back at her with
a toothless grin. “What a wonderful wish.” The woman, still clasping onto
Courtney’s hands, closed her eyes for a brief moment, almost as if casting a
blessing over her. A few moments later, she released her hands and the five
dollar bill fell down into the woman’s lap. The woman picked up the bill while
still smiling at Courtney.
“You are a very talented girl;
you shall have a successful future.” Courtney smiled back at her, unsure of
what else to do as she continued her way down the street.
When she was a block away she
heard her phone ring. She pulled it out of her purse while quickly answering
the call.
“Is this Courtney Miller?” the
voice asked.
“Yes it is,”
“My name is Emma Long from the
Julliard School of Dance. I am pleased to inform you that we have accepted you
into our program for the upcoming year.”
Courtney stopped in her tracks
and brought a hand up to her mouth as she muffled a silent scream. People
pushed her aside while glancing her way, but Courtney didn’t care.
“Thank you so much!” While still
holding the phone to her ear, she ran down the street, wanting to tell the old
woman about the good news. However, when she reached the spot where she had met
her, she was no longer there, not a trace of her presence left behind.
~ K.M.D.
