Who Writes the Best Stories?
My sixth-grade daughter or me?
My youngest daughter is 11, soon to be 12, and inherited her competitive instinct from I don’t know where. My introduction to TikTok consisted of her challenging me to make a better video than she could in 10 minutes, the result to be judged by her mother (who always lets her win).
Now that she knows of my Medium efforts, she has taken to saying she writes better stories than me, despite never having read a single one of mine.
“The Hostage — Don’t keep God in a box? Smells and Bells?”, she scoffs, looking over my shoulder. “Boooring”.
I can’t take this lying down, especially now that I feel I’m on home turf.
So, dear reader, I’ll let you be the judge, since she has been so kind as to send me one of the stories which was commended by her sixth grade teacher.
Autumn — Lost
I was walking through the woods, I could feel the leaves crunching underneath my feet. I was lost. I didn’t think it through properly. I thought it would be a good idea. A great idea even. I didn’t think I would get lost… But all those trees looked the same. They were all bare and utterly lifeless. I couldn’t believe my luck! I mean… It was a stupid thing of me to do… But it seemed like a good idea at the time! Sorry, I’m repeating myself. I’m just too nervous. I’m still badly shaken by this whole thing…
Anyway, I was walking and walking but I got nowhere… I started to lose hope. I didn’t have my phone because I had accidentally broken it the day before. I was saving up for a new one…but I only had £4.09. It was turning dark fast. But then again, it was an autumn day…What do you expect?
It was getting cold. All I had on was my school skirt, jumper and my waterproof jacket (with a shirt obviously). I always came home before it got too cold. I was in a rage with my older brother when I stormed off into the woods. I thought I knew those woods inside out but all the leaves were off the trees and I got confused, took a wrong turn and ended up in the middle of the woods, cold and alone. I was officially lost.
This was the point where I started panicking. It was getting darker by the second, I was cold, I was alone, and I was doubtful. I was getting really tired too. I had been walking for so long my legs were aching. I felt like I was going to collapse. I did have my school backpack though. It had my left over lunch in it, my water bottle (half drank) and my books. At least I wouldn’t go totally insane! At least I had some reading materials…Even if it was my geography revision books…I would be really smart at the end of all that!
I decided to find a nice big tree and make it my very own nest…Even if it had a REAL nest in it already. FINALLY, my luck decided to enter the situation. I found a hollow tree. It had a hole MY size! It was like it was meant to be! I gathered up some leaves, sticks and rocks and started making something that looked surprisingly like a fort. It was actually pretty fun! Apart from the fact that I didn’t know if I would ever be leaving. I put my survival skills to the test! I used some leaves to try and make a heat blanket. It was hard though, the leaves were all crumbly. Then I remembered that my mum had put a tin foil roll in my backpack in case I ever left the house in a rush and needed to pack it on the way to school. I never used it though, so I used THAT to make a heat blanket.
Now that I was warm. I used my backpack as a pillow. I ate a bit of my leftovers, drank a bit of water, then I kind of just drifted off. Well, I must have, because the next moment (that I remember anyway) I was in the police station! Rude much! I was enjoying myself! Somehow, they found me in the woods in the middle of the night sleeping in a tree. They picked me up and just took me to the station. I mean they could have at least asked for my permission first! I thought I was getting kidnapped!
So — the rules are clear. Only clap for this if you think she is showing me the way home. She has just stipulated, reasonably enough,that she gets any earnings from the story, so you may want to read to the bottom, leave it open, and go make a cup of tea.
If you want to see what her old man has to offer, try these:
