Tom has taken on the assignment of starting the first SR Story! His directions are on yesterday's post in the comments. Read them THERE. Then, once you know what to do, you may start your additions to his beginning...which I have reposted here to make it easier to find.
I will add more tomorrow...not time to write today, but at least I can assist with this :) I will be VERY excited to get up tomorrow morning (after battling weather again tonight...2nd time this week...URGHH).
I will get back to all of your questions about assignments, etc...tomorrow. Story below.
---story---
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES!
I awoke this morning full of life, in great spirits and ready to take on the world. If I had any idea what the day had in store, I would have stayed in bed, but then again, I would have missed out on the most amazing outcome imaginable. I had breakfast, knowing of course, that it is the most important meal of the day. Good thing I did! On my way out, I almost abent-mindedly checked the mail. AND THERE IT WAS!
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES!
I awoke this morning full of life, in great spirits and ready to take on the world. If I had any idea what the day had in store, I would have stayed in bed, but then again, I would have missed out on the most amazing outcome imaginable. I had breakfast, knowing of course, that it is the most important meal of the day. Good thing I did! On my way out, I almost abent-mindedly checked the mail. AND THERE IT WAS!
I had been waiting this FOREVER!! I was so excited I took it out and put it in the front seat of my car so I wouldn't be late. On my drive I was so excited I kept reaching over to the other seat to make sure it was real and actually sitting right beside me, I wanted to open it NOW!
ReplyDeleteSo you want us to put our stories on here??? Im confused!!! Everyone already knows my story...
ReplyDeleteBut I waited until i got to my safe house. I drove my car into the cave and went down the elevator. I grabbed the box and quickly dashed to the safe room. From there I slammed the door shut and closed all 43 locks. Nobody could get me in here. The safe room was a room with 4 foot concreet walls and a few small vents to let air in. I unwrapped it. It was beautiful, like a budists monk standing on his big toe in the Sahara destert. I coundn't belive that I finally had my own...
ReplyDeleteBUT WAIT... Do I hear footsteps?!?! Who could it be?! No one knows about my safe room with my 43 locks. As I walk to the door, I feel my heart pumping out of my chest I look out the little peephole in my door.. and i saw...No one. So I looked around to see if anything was missing or moved but everything was fine. I walked up to my amazing new....
ReplyDeletewait. Where did the box go?! My heart started pounding as I searched frantically for the important parcel. "Oh, there it is." I breathed a sigh of relief. "Right on the table where I left it. I've got to open it before I grow too paranoid." At this point, the events that made me want to stay in bed started happening. I ripped off the duct tape covering the box, followed by the masking tape, then the scotch tape (who puts this much tape on boxes!?). Finally, I took off the final layer of electrical tape sealing the package. I ripped open the side of the box, waves of anticipation coursing through me. I was just about to look inside, when all of a sudden...
ReplyDeletea knock at the door, but nobody knows were im at, scared and confused i walked to the door abandoning the box. i started to undo the 43 locks. when all of sudden...
ReplyDeleteSomething wacks me in the back of the head and everything goes black. When I woke up I was in an empty room...well except for the nasty looking toilet in the corner. All of the sudden a hidden door in the cieling opens and my budist monk standing on his big toe in the Sahara desert lowered himself into the room, but wait. he is life size...and...moving. He walks up to me and sais, "I brought you here so that I can tell you a something very important. Now please just sit back and listen."...
ReplyDeleteThat packAge wasn't what you were expecting, I'm sorry but I had to get here somehow. I've been watching you for weeks. You really must be more cautious when going to your safe room! Now, as for the reason I brought you here...
ReplyDeleteI need your help, and I confess myself to be in a great state mental agony over the situation. You see, it all started two months ago when I sat down to an exceptionally tasty dinner of fried rice and fortue cookies when my great-nephew came by - again - looking for his pet rock. It appeared to have run away, you see... chased away by the neighbor's white rabbits. But I digress. This is my problem, which I have spent many sleepless nights over. Do you think you can help me make sense of it?" And he he dropped one small, distressed fortune into my hand. As I read it, a small frown crossed my face. It read thus...
ReplyDelete"Take A Chance"
ReplyDeleteFantastic. Surrounded by what I could only assume were secure walls, my only companions a human waste recepticle and a very troubled monk, and my one glimmering hope turns out to be this? Take a chance? For what? To get out? To help my new companion? To finally find my true parcel, and obtain my rightful prize? As the questions swirled furiously around my skull, I suddenly became aware of the monk's impatient gaze on me.
"Well?" he asked, his voice marked with the slightest hint of indignace.
I had absolutly no idea what answer to give him, but, given my predicament, I figured it would be a very bad idea to say so.
"Well..." I stuttered, deperatly praying for something, anything to offer this man "Uh..."
Then it hit me, of course! I had known what to do all along! Turning with renewed confidence to my impromtu student, I replied...
"What 'Take a Chance' really means is believing in yourself. Having the confidence to know that if you take a chance, something wonderful and exciting might happen to you. You have to be willing step outside of your box or "safe room"!"
ReplyDeleteThe monk looked at me in disbelief and replied, "That is all there is to it?"
I replied, "Yes, but remember there were 43 locks on my safe room. That is where the hard part comes in. You have to be willing to unlock those locks and throw away the key in order to take a chance."
Suddenly, the monk started to chant. The doors to the room I was in started to shake. Fear started to grip me as I looked up and saw...
...The mythical utopia of Shangri-La. "Dude..." I thought, "This place actually exists?"
ReplyDeleteMy monk looked puzzled. "Shangri-La? What can this mean?"
"You took a chance and found paradise. What more can you want?"
"My home."
"This isn't it?"
"Not all monks live in mythical paradises you know. That's a stereotype."
So this isn't what he wanted to find, but if this isn't it, why are we here? I take a chance of my own, and step out to investigate. I gasp at what I see standing before me...
It was a boatman in a black robe and hood. He motioned for us to get in to the boat, a gondola-like vessel floating on a river that looked pure black with streaks of silver. We could not see his face and it was clear he was not going to speak, much less answer questions such as "Where are you going to take us?". The words "Take a Chance" and "Face your fears" were obviously meant to prompt us to accept his offer. We rode in silence until we arrived.....
ReplyDeleteto this island of trees, its kind of foggy and we didn't know what to expect. but we kept an open mind as we continued the boatman pulled up to the shore and got off we followed. he pointed to this log cabin hidden behind a few tree's he said go. scared theiy went and knocked on the door. when a magical flying monkey made a weird chirping noise. the door flew open and...
ReplyDeleteand suddenly, I couldn't take it. I turned back to the boat man, one thought on my mind. Whatever was in the cabin... I didn't want to see it. I wanted my safe room and my 43 locks back. Now.
ReplyDelete"Can't you just bring us back? Please?" I asked the hooded boat man, though I didn't really expect an answer. As he shook his head, an old phrase came into my head, likely born of the Greek mythology I'd studied so ardurously in my youth: save yourself a penny for the ferryman...
When I did not immediately turn back to the cabin, the boatman raised his arm and pointed wordlessly to the door. What would happen if I refused to go, I wondered? But the monk took that matter out of my hands. Quite unexpectedly, he took me by the arm. "Come on," he whispered. "He's not the messenger; he won't tell us what we came for. Let's go."
Inside, they find a young girl laying on a cot. She is out of her mind with some sort of fever. "Now what?" I ask the monk? He looks at me and shrugs. "Well, we can't just leave her here like this . . . Go get me some wet towels," I tell him. As he goes to get the towels, the girl is mumbling something to me. I lean in closer to hear what she's saying, and hoping that I won't catch whatever it is she's got. She is breathlessly, she is mumbling something that sounds like "Nay, forgive hop." I ponder about what that could mean? The monk comes back with the cool, wet towels and we place them on the girl hoping to get her fever to break. In the meantime, I ask the monk if he has any idea what "Nay, forgive hop" could mean?
ReplyDeleteI sat there worried and the only thing I could think to do is pray. Then all of a sudden, I forgot what I was doing. I sat there dazed and confused, and then a voice in my head said "Pray",So, I did so. I asked for a sign, anytihng! As I sat there, the phrase "Never Give up" popped in my head. I jumped up and the monk gave me a smile. I went to the girl and she looked at me and mumbled something even more strange. She said "od revetahw ti sekat." Now what I said to the monk?
ReplyDelete"Wait! Is it just me or did she say,'Do whatever it takes!'" The monk looked at me with a curious smirk. "This is starting to sound like a motivational video or something! Take a chance, never give up, pray, face your fears...You know, for some reason, this is all sounding familiar to me." As I contemplate my latest revelation, the girl jumps to her feet and gives a good yawn and stretch. "Wow! What a wicked dream that was! It was so real. What's with the monk, wet towels and..." Her voice trails off as she turns her head and notices us standing there.
ReplyDelete"Um...Hi," I say. "Quite a dream you were having there." "It sure was!" The girl exclaimed. "I thought I would never wake up! First I was in a cave, when I came across a door with 43 key holes in it." I gasped as I remembered the knock at the door. "After I knocked on the door, but couldn't get in, I suddenly found myself in the Sahara desert, and I saw this guy standing on his big toe, He seemed confused, so I gave him a fortune cookie and told him to remember to be a friend--" "That's it! That's what I had forgotten! I thought it was a mirage so I didn't listen, but it was really you!" the monk exclaimed. "I had been standing in the desert, trying to remember what all the steps of success were, but all that came to mind was 'take a chance' because of the fortune cookie I had found in my hand. That's when I came to find you!" my monk friend said to me. "Thank you so much!" All of a sudden, the monk faded away, a haze of contentment and happiness. "Thank you for helping me," The girl said as we watched him disappear. "Here, I believe this is yours. Take it, and remember all you have learned from this journey." There was a flash of light, and I found myself outside my vault, all 43 locks broken and the door in a dust heap on the floor, with the package in my hand. Finally, I opened the package. Joy filled my heart as I finally laid eyes upon the item I had been waiting for for so long...
ReplyDeleteA cool pair of light-up drum sticks!!
ReplyDeleteYou Guys! What a GREAT story!! You worked well together, and I will be posting a new beginning for you to work on...though this time with extra "directions" and "rules" as we get ready for some serious "team writing" for the real book. Regardless...what a fun story to read!!
ReplyDelete