Story of a House

In the creative writing course taken by Bruce Holland Rogers last week, we were confronted with this: "Write a story in five minutes about... a house. Start now!" This is what came to me:

"There was an old, historic house in the middle of a forest. The house was made of wood from trees of that forest. It was made of the life of that forest. The house had a life.

Many people visit that house, and everytime a person comes in, the house gives some of it's life to that person, when she doesn't expect.

Everytime the person leaves the house, goes with a part of it, and the House slowly dies."

This was made under a certain "pressure", but I think it's quite understandable. I hope you like it.

Mini-saga

Mini-saga - adapted from Natasha´s story

It was time to go. I saw dozens of tearful children and theirs mothers. Last kisses, last hugs, last goodbyes. I felt small children’s hands on the window that separated them from their parents. Just the only girl on the back coach seemed happy. Hopefully, she was looking straight ahead.
I closed the doors.

Bus

A note from Natasha

Dear Ms. Zoric,

I'm writing to thank you for having let Michael adopt me. He and his family are very caring.

I was both happy and nervous when I left the orphanage. It was surprisingly easy to leave Bosnia and to get into England.

I've been blessed with a family!

Love,

Natasha

Creative Writing

THE STORY OF THE GOLDEN ONION

‘It’s hot in here’, said a little onion. But she was not a simple ordinary onion. She was a Spanish golden, shiny onion. She was waiting for the farmer to pick her and take her to somewhere uncertain…for her at least. More days passed and the farmer still hadn’t come.

‘I’m ready and I’m tired of being here on the dirt! I feel like I’m melting away! If I stay here any longer, I will become Spanish sauce’, said the upset onion.

But there was more about this onion than one cannot imagine. ‘What possibly more can this onion be?’, you might think, but besides her shiny golden appearance, this onion was not like the others around her. She was a star…a ‘flamenco’ star! She was anxious to get out of there so that she could show her skills perhaps to the potatoes, or to the garlic. She had no idea that she could be eaten, she just wanted to dance.

The day had finally come. The farmer took her along with the others onions to his house, expecting to sell some of them. But there was this beautiful girl, the farmer’s daughter, Cristina, who also had something special. She wasn’t an ordinary teenager and she wasn’t like the other girls of her age who were always concerned about their appearance, about going shopping all the time. Cristina was just not that into it at all. She loved to live on a farm with all the animals and the fresh pure air around her. She also wasn’t interested in school. She liked to stay with her mother and help her to take care of the house and the animals. The simple things satisfied her. She had big brown eyes and her hair was dark and long.

And there she was, the little golden onion, at the farmer’s kitchen.‘Where am I? Where are the potatoes?’, she asked. ‘We are here!’, answered the potatoes. ‘Oh sorry, I didn’t see you. Could you tell me where am I?’, asked the onion, ‘You are at the farmer’s house. But I don’t think you should stay here much longer!’, answered one of the potatoes to scare her. But there was nothing that could scare her, she was a brave one!

Suddenly they heard footsteps and they all shut up. It was Cristina, who was going to prepare the lunch for the family. When she was about to choose an onion, she picked out the little golden onion, and she couldn’t help but notice the golden appearance of her. ‘A golden onion?!, said Cristina, I’ve never seen one of these before. What a character! I might keep you to myself!’ And she put her back into the basket. After lunch, she took the onion to her room, and look at her one more time. ‘Hey watch it! You were hurting me!’, shouted the onion. ‘Who spoke?’, asked Cristina very scared. ‘I did!’, replied the onion. And suddenly Cristina dropped the onion and she hit the floor. ‘Did the onion talk to me? I must be crazy!’, said Cristina. ‘I’m sure you are! You can’t just drop ‘people’ like that! I could have broken my leg!’, said the upset onion. Soon, Cristina and the shiny onion became friends, and Cristina always kept her in her room.

One day, Cristina was cleaning up her room and the radio was playing Spanish music. The onion started to dance. ‘What? You can dance too?’, asked Cristina very surprised.’ Of course, we are Spanish, we are natural dancers’, she answered.’ Oh, sorry about my ignorance! I didn’t know that besides talking onions, were supposed to dance as well,’ said the sarcastic Cristina, ‘You know, I dance too. I dance flamenco. Next Thursday I’m going to perform to an audience of 1000 people. I’m so nervous!'

‘Flamenco?’ That’s my specialty!’, said the onion very proudly. Cristina practised at home under the watch of the onion, who was always ready to give her opinion about the steps. ’Can I ask you something?’, asked the onion. ‘Sure, what is it?’, said Cristina. ‘Do you mind if I go with you tomorrow? I’ve always wanted to know what it is like to be in front of so many people’, said the onion. ‘ Of course, you can hide under my dress.’, agreed Cristina.

The performance was great, and the little onion, although they couldn’t see her dancing, was delighted to be in front of that crowd. She was dancing underneath Cristina’s dress. She knew all the steps and they were always in time. At the end of it they were both happy. The public loved Cristina, and so did the onion.

These two became friends for eternity, even though the little, shiny golden onion couldn’t be stronger than time. Some time after, she went to sleep and never awaked anymore. But Cristina never forgot her friend and in every show she wore a pin with a little, shiny golden onion on it.

Cátia Costa