Text Piece - Allison Ipson

INSTRUCTIONS:

1)    Choose a book off the shelf.

2)    Count the chapters and pick a number between 1 and the number of chapters there are.

3)    Continue to pick a number until all the numbers have been chosen.

4)    In the order chosen, turn to the appropriate chapter. Write down the first sentence you see within that chapter.

5)    Create a short story by combining the sentences. They must remain in the same order, but you can add a filler sentence between each one if needed. 

 

SENTENCES:

1)    Mary Alice dodged cobwebs and tried not to brush against anything. 

2)    You could say one thing for grandma’s method.

3)    My tap shoes!

4)    “Now I’ve got to change my shoes and walk all the way to the lumberyard in this heat,” she said, as if she hadn’t brought it all on herself. 

5)    She was tough as an old boot, or so we thought. 

6)    When grandma’s back was turned, Mary Alice broke open a biscuit and stuck a sausage patty inside it. 

7)    She stood at her door, large as life – larger, framed against the light from her front room. 

8)     “Be real careful about calling a customer a liar,” she remarked. 

9)    The day of judgement came. 

 

STORY: 

Mary Alice dodged cobwebs and tried not to brush against anything. You could say one thing for Grandma’s method: Nobody would ever look up here, with all the dirt and grime they’d have to climb through to get to anything. Mary Alice gasped, “My tap shoes!” I looked down at the now brown shoes and tried not to laugh. “Now I’ve got to change my shoes and walk all the way to the lumberyard in this heat,” she said, as if she hadn’t brought it all on herself. After all, this had been her idea. Grandma was tough as an old boot, or so we thought: the reason this room had remained a secret as long as it had. 

 

Earlier that day, when Grandma’s back was turned, Mary Alice had broken open a biscuit and stuck a sausage patty inside it. Grandma stood at her door, large as life – larger, framed against the light from her front room. “C’mon!” whispered Mary Alice, “Right now might be our only chance to find out what Grandma is hiding in the attic!” Looking back at Grandma’s hulking form facing off the traveling salesman on the porch, I could hear her words float in on the breeze: “Be real careful about calling a customer a liar,” she had remarked. I shivered. Whatever we found up here, the day of judgement was about to come.