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AbsurdConstraints

Page history last edited by PBworks 18 years, 7 months ago

Absurd Constraints

 

Task

 

Write a three paragraph story.

 

Constraints

 

  • The protag is a fish.

 

  • The story cannot involve fishing.

 

  • The following words must appear in alphabetical order within your prose:

 

awake, bad, bent, bitter, blue, certain, cold, complete, cruel, dark, dead, dear, delicate, different, dirty, dry, false, feeble, female, foolish, future, green, ill, last, late, left, loose, loud, low, mixed, narrow, old, opposite, public, rough, sad, safe, secret, short, shut, simple, slow, small, soft, solid, special, strange, thin, white, wrong.

 

Response

 

Melvin lay awake in his coral bed. He remembered the bad dream he just had, all twisted and bent, a nameless terror haunting him. It began to fade, but the memory left a bitter taste in his mouth. He looked up at the blue ocean above him and he was certain that the currents would be cold today. He felt with complete certainty that today would be a cruel, dark day. He wouldn't be surprised to find a brother or sister dead, or a dear friend injured from the delicate act of finding food. He wondered what he could do to make this day different, to dispel the dirty funk that left him feeling dry all over. Would a false feeling of well being banish sense of feeble despair? Melvin doubted it, but he got out of bed to face the day anyway.

 

As Melvin swam around the feeding grounds, a female lionfish swam up to him. She seemed foolish at first, swimming in circles around him and then pecking his fins. His future self might have told him that she liked him, but all Melvin saw was a green annoyance with his ill state of mind. The last thing he wanted was the attention of a girl on a day like this, so he left her with the other fish to seek out his family. On his way, he accidentally brushed up against a loose pile of rocks that came crashing down around him with a loud, low rumble. Before he realized what happened he was trapped in a rock slide. He had mixed feelings as he lay there, pinned beneath a heavy stone. On one hand, his sense of dread was right because he was in serious trouble. On the other, his friends and family were safe. He wiggled and shimmied about, and with a gargantuan heave he was able to free himself from the stone. He was still trapped in a small cave, but before him, he saw a narrow gap in the rocks. It was held in place by an old piece of wood balanced on a piece of coral; one end held the rocks up and on the opposite end a rusty bucket held the wood down. He started to really panic as this wasn't a public place; he knew that nobody would hear his pleas for help. He was in a rough situation and he was beginning to feel really sad about it. He longed for his safe coral bed, which now seemed further away then ever before.

 

Melvin tried to squeeze through the gap in the rocks, but he was just slightly too big. He then remembered a secret that his father had taught him: If he exhaled out all of the air in his lungs, he might be small enough to fit through. He blew out his air as hard as he could and launched himself at the small tunnel. He could feel himself inching forward, there was only a short distance to go, however he didn't seem to be small enough to get all the way through. He was also running out of air as his gills were pressed up against the rocks, and slowly, his eyes began to shut. It had all seemed so simple. Just push really hard and escape to freedom. Now, as his heart began to slow down, a small vibration travelled the length of the piece of wood. There was a soft touch of another fish on his mouth, urging him to push on. He felt the solid beam move a little, just enough to give him some more room to wiggle. He had enough energy for one last attempt. He drew deep from that special place in all of us and gave one past push. There was a strange ripping sound as he popped out of the tunnel. Above him, the thin plank that gave him his freedom shuddered and broke, and he was pushed along by a rush of white bubbles escaping the cave in. He took a few gasping breathes and looked around to see who had saved him. There, before him, swam the girl from before. Evidently she had followed him when he left the feeding area after he felt so wrong this morning. He couldn't believe his luck. Although the day had been traumatic, it hadn't really turned out too badly after all. He gave the strange girl a great big grin, and then followed her back to the feeding grounds.

 

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