Welcome to the fifth week of the Spring Writing Challenge!
You all did so well with your stories last week! There were so many interesting and unique ways you interpreted the prompt. It’s now the fifth week, so it’s time to do it again! Will your story have fairies? Time travel? Ghosts?! Whatever you decide, we can’t wait to see what you come up with.
So, without further ado, here’s your next prompt!
Week Five Prompt – The Sentence Prompt
Write a story that includes the following sentence:
Needless to say, this wasn’t the first time…
Wait…what’s a sentence prompt?
A sentence prompt is a prompt that uses a particular sentence. It doesn’t matter where your story takes place, who’s in it, or what’s said. The only thing that matters is that your story must include the sentence, “Needless to say, this wasn’t the first time.”
Before you start writing, we have some important rules for you to follow.
Writing Rules
1. Please keep the content of the stories you post to a PG rating. Please avoid real curse words. Violence/fighting should be limited and purposeful. Please do not include any spice.
2. Your story must be 1,000 words or less, and must contain the prompt to be counted for the challenge. You’re not required to post it in order to “win” the challenge, but if you want it to count for your team, your story must be posted by Sunday at 11:59 PM ET, and you must include your team name.
Remember to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and post your story as an “answer” to this question, not a “comment”. 🙂 You’re all doing such a great job! I’m so proud of all the stories you’ve posted.
Happy Writing!
Team 1
“Julio! Stop wandering off!” Mr. Gaby took a deep sigh as he corralled the children back together and stopped them running off in every direction.
As the aquarium director began their tour with a short introduction, he looked up at the thick glass separating the sea creatures from the aquarium lobby. They looked so blissfully oblivious to the chaos below. Must be nice to be a fish, he thought.
As soon as the group started moving again, the murmurs and giggles started bubbling up. “Mr. Gaby! Mr. Gaby! Look, it’s a shark!! Wow, that fish is SO orange!! Why isn’t the shark eating the fish? Do you think they’re friends like in Nemo?” Julio said in one breath, eyes widening in wonder.
“Yes, Julio. Like Nemo,” Mr. Gaby said absent-mindedly as he moved Julio along with the group. Two chaperones were absent, and so he was preoccupied. His eyes flitted back and forth as he accounted for every child. “Thirty-one, Thirty-two… Forty,” he whispered to himself. Satisfied, he stood in the back of the group as the children freely explored the dimly lit hallway.
Needless to say, this wasn’t the first time he led a field trip. In fact, this was probably the hundredth time. He took a deep breath. It was now time for Mr. Gaby to disengage with his steel cup of coffee while the kids ran around. But Julio was persistent.
“Oh, Mr. Gaby! Look, it’s a baby seahorse!” Julio held Mr. Gaby’s hand and began dragging him to the next column of sea creatures.
“Yes, Julio, wow! It is,” Mr. Gaby said in that sing-song way adults speak to children, praying that Julio would stop bringing him along and let him be.
By the second hour, Julio was also beginning to lose steam. Instead of running to and fro, he simply looked with wordless reverence at the sea creatures. His nose was pressed against the glass. Eyes still shining, he looked around to find Mr. Gaby who had lost his pretense. Mr. Gaby had crawled to a bench and waved to Julio to continue without him. He was so exhausted but didn’t want Julio to lose his enthusiasm.
Relentless, Julio sat next to him swinging his legs as they sat in silence.
“Julio, why don’t you go with your friends?”
“Nah, they don’t get animals like you do, Mr. Gaby.”
“What do you mean?” – Mr. Gaby tried to think back to what Julio meant. They didn’t have a class pet or any animals in the classroom. He had just told his own kid that she couldn’t adopt a dog.
“You remember when I showed you that caterpillar, Mr. Gaby?”
Mr. Gaby shuddered slightly. He remembered. Julio had brought a fat green caterpillar and offered it to him during recess. It still disgusted him to think of how it enveloped Julio’s hands.
“Oh yeah, Julio. I remember that.”
“Yeah. Kelly got too close to it, and she sneezed, and it just disappeared… I think it might’ve been me – I think I dropped the caterpillar and lost him – it was my fault…,” Julio started to a get a bit teary. Alarmed, Mr. Gaby tried to think of ways to comfort the child.
“But then you said that he was just going back to where he needed to go. He was on his way to become a butterfly.”
“I did? I did.”
“That’s when I knew – you really know about animals. You really get them.” Julio looked up at Mr. Gaby and smiled.
Mr. Gaby stared curiously at Julio, confronted by the fact that he had no recollection of this moment. He wondered how he had thought to say those words then and what to say now. Just as he was carefully molding his words, Julio interrupted.
“Thanks, Mr. Gaby.”
Julio ran off, and Mr. Gaby sat in awe of the moment. As he looked at the jellyfish slowly bobbing up and down while the children ogled at their tentacles, he was suddenly glad that he wasn’t a fish.
“Julio, wait for me!”
This was a cute story, great job!
Thanks for sharing this week. This is a sweet story about how impactful the words of children can be. It recalled for me, the scripture about coming to the Father like children. 🙂
TEAM A
SUSAN BY ADELAIDE RIGGS
Near the local dirt road in a lush field, there was an abundant variety of grasses, wild flowers, and small creatures. All who dwelled here lived their lives with simplicity and gratitude. This included Susan, a beautiful flower whose color reminded everyone of a ripe summer lemon (but she was not quite so sour).
One morning, Susan was in the clearing enjoying a soft breeze when suddenly the air rapidly changed direction. Fragile as she was, Susan fell on her face, unable to get up. Panicking, she tried calling for help but the ground muffled her voice. Susan was helpless.
Just a minute later, a tiny, round old woman wearing a bright red cloak with black polka dots came into the clearing. It was Mrs. Dotty! She noticed the girl laying on the ground.
“Oh my!” exclaimed Mrs. Dotty as she hurried over to Susan. “What ever happened to you, dear?”
“I fell and ca-can’t move,” replied Susan quietly. “Could you he-help me?” Then she began to cry.
“Yes, yes of course! Be patient my dear. I’ll go as fast as I’m able to the house of Dr. Chippy.” And with that, Mrs. Dotty turned and quickly scuttled away, her red cloak fluttering behind her.
Susan was alone again, and very anxious. She wondered if she would never rise to see the blue sky again. Despite these thoughts, she tried to focus on her respiration. After what felt like months, she heard a pitter-patter, and out from the tall grass appeared Dr. Chippy with little Mrs. Dotty riding on his back.
“There she is, Doctor!” said Mrs. Dotty, pointing with one hand while the other five hung on tight. Needless to say, this wasn’t the first time he had been summoned, however this was the first time he had dealt with little old woman riding on his back.
“I see, I see! Please do not yell, you’re already near enough to my ear!” replied the doctor. Dr. Chippy was tall, dapper, orderly man, with a decent amount of good humor. They approached Susan.
“Hello?” asked the girl.
“Hello! So sorry about your condition. I’m Dr. Chippy, and we will help you get up.” These words made Susan feel better.
“Pardon, but where is the other one?” inquired Mrs. Dotty.
“Well, Perk should have been behind us. Excuse me for a second.” The doctor filled his cheeks and gave a couple sharp whistles.
In a moment, a boy appeared next to them. He looked rather lofty, and had a smirk on his round face. Mrs. Dotty jumped up and landed in a ball, her arms and legs tucked in.
“Perk!” said the doctor sternly as his son began to laugh. “This is a serious matter. I did not ask you to come along to play games!” Susan thought it was quite funny, but would have enjoyed it more if it weren’t for the condition she was in.
“Ok, let’s get to it,” said the motivated doctor. “Madam, you fetch some water from the brook and grab some witch hazel on your way back. Perk, you’ll need to climb onto my shoulders so we can lift this poor girl up.” Immediately Mrs. Dotty flew down the hill to complete her orders.
Just as Perk was about to climb upon his father’s back, Dr. Chippy noticed a break in Susan’s back. “Oh my, we will need some long grass to bind that wound. Got it, Perk?” “Sure, dad!”
Overhearing the doctor’s concern, Susan’s nerves were on the rise. “A-am I going to be OK?”
“I believe you’re going to be just fine,” consoled the doctor.
Perk made quick work of gathering some long grass and wasted no time in hopping up onto his father’s shoulders. They worked together to lift Susan up off the ground and stand her upright, Dr. Chippy encouraging Susan throughout the process.
Mrs. Dotty arrived not a moment too soon with the water and witch hazel, the latter of which was applied to Susan’s fracture.
In a jiffy Dr. Chippy had bound her wound with the green bandage and all was well.
“Oh, thank you all! I feel so much better, except it feels like my eye might be bruised,” said Susan.
“Well miss,” Dr. Chippy responded, “it does look pretty dark.”
“Black, I’d say,” added Mrs. Dotty.
Dr. Chippy applied the witch hazel to Susan’s bruise, but it did not seem to work.
“I’m sorry, but there is not much else I can do. What’s your name, miss?”
“Susan.”
“Susan,” Dr. Chippy looked her in the face. “Your black eye is beautiful.”
“Black eyed Susan.” said Mrs. Dotty….