Friday

With my Hemmingway unit at an end, I’m scrambling to find things to keep my juniors interested. But I’m losing them.

My Science Fiction class would meet all summer long if we could.

My College Comp class has just finished their research papers and deserve the final three days off.

But these juniors are testing my skills.

Instead of reading another story, I decided to see how they do with a little creative writing.

Hemmingway is known to have written (maybe) the shortest short story ever written (and if you know me, you know how fascinated I am by this particular story) – just six words

For Sale:
Baby shoes;
Never worn.

Now that is brilliant. Why would they be for sale? Why were they never worn? How much could one get for a pair of baby shoes anyway?

The story itself is just the tip of the iceberg of course, but that is Hemingway’s genious.

Students have all kinds of theories. Some see it as a Romeo and Juliet kind of trajedy where a young girl falls for a young man with a bad name and her parents force her to either have an abortion or give the baby up for adoption and they don’t want any reminder of the child so they force her to sell the shoes? Some see it as a comedy: the father just bought the wrong shoes. Some see it was a science fiction tale: the baby is a mutant and was born without legs.

I had the students create a short monologue describing the events that either led up to this or the events that followed as a result.

While thinking about this I decided to see what other short, short stories I could find.

Turns out there are many out there – some maybe better than Hemingway’s. Here are some of my favorites that come from a magazine that asked several sci fi and fantasy writers to come up with a short story under ten words.

“With bloody, hand, I say good-bye.” Frank Miller
“Longed for him. Got him. Shit.” Margaret Atwood.
“From torched skyscrapers, men grew wings.” Gregory Maquire – that might be my favorite.
“It’s behind you! Hurry before it . . .” Rocken S O’Bannon.
“He read his obituary with confusion.” Steve Meretzky.
“K.I.A. Baghdad, Aged 18. – Closed Casket.” Richard K. Morgant – How powerful is that?

After reading these I decided to see what my students could come up with. So after they read the Hemingway short story and created their own little monologes, I asked them to write their own short, short stories (under ten words).

Here are some of the better ones –

“Stock market crash. Open window. ‘Where’s Dad?’”

“Son: Mom, I’m home.
Mom: Got your report card!
Son: Um . . .”

“She was too young. This was not supposed to happen.”

“With a cold star I start to say . . .”

“It’s cancer . . . wife’s tears . . . funeral procession.”

“First hunt. Family tradition. Early morning. Large buck. Gun shot. Father screaming.”