Nina was stuck. Her teacher had set homework and it was to write a one-page story about anything. Nina couldn’t think of anything. It would have been a lot easier if the teacher had been more specific. If the teacher had said “Write a story about elephants” at least there would be a starting point.
Or the teacher could have said “Write a story about your favourite aunt” or “Write a story about a family picnic”. But no! The teacher had said to write about anything. Nina’s mind went blank. Did she have writer’s block?
The school day dawned. Nina hadn’t written a word. She was getting desperate. The school bus would leave in about half an hour. Nina sat at the kitchen table and began to write:
Once upon a time my favourite aunt, Matilda, gathered her family around and announced they were all going on a picnic. Such excitement! Off they went to the park. While they were there sitting on rugs and enjoying their lettuce and cucumber sandwiches three elephants escaped from a nearby circus…
On and on Nina’s story went. Such tragedy! Such passion! Such spectacle! Nina finished just in time to catch the bus.
“Dear me,” said the teacher. “I asked for a one-page story and you have written seven. You must learn to have fewer ideas.”
Weave a Web 
You just can’t win, Nina.
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I’m sure Nina appreciates your encouragement!
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Good job, Nina. Perhaps you could grow up to become a contributing author to Weave a Web.
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I only do fictitious authors.
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Like Bruce Goodman?
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Never heard of him!
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I think…I could be wrong, but I think…it’s a secret pseudonym Stephen King.
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I have been uncovered! I shall put a mask back on!
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I recall, at my grammar school aged 11 in 1961, being tasked to write a 400-word story on “Ours is not to reason why…” I started and became engrossed. Adding the words The End rounded the word count to exactly 4,000. The teacher wrote the word VERBIAGE across the front page, followed by a large, red F. That was the extent of my creative writing until I took a short course in 2013 – more than half a century later.
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It’s amazing how a teacher can destroy something in one stroke. When I was at university I got a D plus plus for an essay – to which a friend said “They could at least have given you a C minus minus” !
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D minus was probably fair lol
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Bruce, do yourself a favor and see in you tube now ‘Joe List: I hate myself”
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What a bummer of a teacher! Good on Nina! May she keep on writing!
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People are praising the excellence of teachers these days, but given critical race theory etc and few voices being raised I’d sack the lot.
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I’m with you. if the pandemic did one good thing, it showed parents the garbage their children were being taught in school.
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Was this story about anything?
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Paint with a broad brush.
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I’ll look in my basement and see what I have, but I might not be able to go more than four inches.
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I’m impressed.
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I think you should post Nina’s story. It sounds amazing!
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I post one of Nina’s stories most days!
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Oh, that’s how you manage to stay so productive. I always wondered.
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The teacher should have figured somewhere in the story, and killed in the snafu. Such wickedness!
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Ok – you win – I had to look up snafu.
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