Writing Exercises from Serving up a Story

Five Little Words

In a paragraph or two, write a story that must incorporate these five words:

Sparrow, lemonade, 23, imperfect, thunder

Life is such a fragile thing that's so often taken for granted. You think that everything is perfect and those bad things only happen to other people, but you're mistaken. One day you're standing outside a cafe, sipping a lemonade, talking to your mates, and the next thing you know, someone pulls out a machine gun and starts shooting into the crowd because they're gay, non-white, wrong religion, or simply human and it's for no reason whatsoever.

A bullet lodges itself into your spine, and you find yourself lying face-up on the sidewalk, watching the ominous thunder clouds roll in as though they were foreshadowing what was yet to come. You scream at your body to get up and move, run, and hide, but your body will not comply. You lay there, unable to move. You can't feel anything from the middle of your chest down to your toes. The only thing you can do is stare up into the sky and watch as a sparrow flies by. The sound of gunfire grows louder and louder. You close your eyes and cry. Your perfect little world had now turned imperfect in just a few brief seconds. The sound of sirens grows louder, and soon there is return fire from somewhere. Then everything stops, and the only thing to be heard is sobbing, moaning, and the radio chatter of first responders.

"We have a young male, approximately 23 years of age. He has a gunshot wound to the back." You feel something touch your neck. "I can barely feel a pulse. We're losing him!"

You feel weak, tired, and so cold. You just want to sleep.