***Note that the following stories are flash fiction genre, with approximately 400 words and a surprise ending.
“Have you thought about
becoming an ambassador?” asked Zack, a young, history major at the local
university. He was watching breaking news on television. “That country
is making history, but they're on the verge of political disaster and need
an ambassador.”
“Maybe someday, Zack,” replied
Gail, his girlfriend. “Perhaps I’ll be a peace keeper too, but first, I
have to graduate.”
“You’re majoring in English and
write well enough,” Zack reassured her.
“Sometimes I do, but my
thesis statement is due tomorrow and my mind is drawing a total blank.
Maybe my muse has gone on strike?”
“Creating a new constitution
for a country would be like writing on a blank slate,” offered Zach, who was
ready to graduate. “Imagine being the person who had to compose it from
scratch, like creating a tabula rasa. What a challenge! Consider the possibilities.”
“I wouldn’t know where to
begin,” Gail responded, gazing at him with amazement. “How would you go about
it?”
“First, I’d gather all the
university students together,” replied Zack. “Then I’d do some brain
storming with them and hand each one a blank sheet of paper and ask them to
write one word.”
“What kind of word?”
“Like different forms of
government, for example, anarchy, theocracy, autocracy, dictatorship, democracy,
etc. There are a lot of options.”
“That’s a great idea.
Would it work?”
“That would be a start,”
replied Zack. “Then I’d ask them to compile the data and draw up a tentative
proposal for the politicians.”
“You are a university teacher
and a politician at heart!”
“Maybe I could become an
ambassador, too?” Zack replied. “Then, we could travel the world together and
bring peace to troubled countries.”
“That gives me an idea,” said
Gail. “Thanks, Zack. That’s exactly what I needed to start my thesis statement,
just one word.”
“What word?”
“Peace,” replied Gail. “Maybe I
should go further and begin with world peace.”
No comments:
Post a Comment