Weekly Flash Contest #7: Be a time traveler in reverse! What would happen if a character from the past arrived in the present? Choose a time period you like and know a little bit about, and write down at least 3 things that make it really different to now. Now imagine that someone your age and your gender has arrived in your house from that time in the past. Use your list of differences to write a story about what happens during the day you spend together. The week commencing May 11th (Daily Creativity prompt #36) was our seventh week of flash contests, with another record number of entries including one from our youngest-ever Flash Contest entrant! We had fun meeting time travellers from different eras from ancient history (even dinosaurs!) to the present (yes, some time travel was projected into the future–it’s complicated!), and it was even harder than usual to choose our favourites. We commend all of the entrants for their imagination, and for the creative ways they found to bring their characters from the past into life in the present using clothes, language and misunderstandings about contemporary everyday life to make them real. This week, we are announcing our 5 Winners, whose work is published below, plus 5 Honorable Mentions. Congratulations, everyone! Winners (work published on this page) Isabel Bashaw, 10, Enumclaw, WA Samson Brown, 12, Cary, NC Ava Shorten, 10, Mallow, Ireland Michela You, 11, Lexington, MA Xuyi (Lauren) Zheng, 10, Guelph, Ontario, Canada Honorable Mentions “The Time Watch” by Hannah Nami Gajcowski, 10, Bellevue, WA “Lace, Frills, and Clever Jokes” by Samantha Lee, 10, Thomaston, CT “Prehistoric Visitors” by Sean Tenzin O’ Connor, 4, Bishop, CA “Panic From the Seventies” by Lauren Oh, 12, Cary, NC “A Dose of Time” by Ella Yamamura, 12, Cary, NC Remember, we are running the Flash Contest every week during the COVID-19-related school closures and shelter-in-place arrangements. It is always based on the first Daily Creativity prompt of the week. The prompt is posted on Monday, entries are due by Friday, and the winners are chosen and announced the following week. Isabel Bashaw, 10 Enumclaw, WA My Weekend With Jane Isabel Bashaw, 10 My name is Isabel, and this weekend, the craziest thing happened to me. I don’t know where to start, but I’ll begin on Friday night, when everyone was in bed . . . * * * “Hoo Hoo Hoo . . .” I was awakened in the middle of the night by an annoying owl outside my bedroom. And since I was up, I decided to have a snack. I crept downstairs, so as not to wake anyone up. I grabbed two peanut butter cookies and a tall glass of milk, then I went back upstairs to eat at my desk. I munched on a cookie, then gulped down some of my creamy white milk. After I had finished, I clambered back in bed, and tried to sleep. But after five minutes, I was startled by a green orb hovering over my pillow. I leapt under my covers in fear. When I looked up, the green orb was shaking violently. I tried to move, but I felt stuck to my bed. Finally, the orb stopped shaking, and a girl fell out of it, and landed on top of me. “mff gt off of e!” I said, muffled under the weight of the mysterious girl. “Sorry!” she said, and climbed down from my bed. “What the heck?!” I yelped, rubbing my eyes. This girl looked like a pioneer. She was wearing a bonnet, a shabby dress, and was super tan. Her barefoot feet smelled terrible! “What is this house? It’s so pink!” said the girl, walking around. “It’s not a house, silly! Its my bedroom,” I said, eying her. “WOW!” She cried, and started jumping all over the place. I heard footsteps coming up to my room, and quickly told the girl: “get under my covers, and stay there. Be super quiet, too.” She obeyed me, and then I started jumping until the door swung open and my dad walked in. “What are you doing up here? It’s 4:00 in the morning, Isabel. Stop jumping around! You’ll wake the baby!” He looked around. “Who said wow?” I quickly came up with a fib. “I was singing a song! WOW! I am a star, la la la la WOW!” I sang, with an offbeat tone. Clearly my dad didn’t buy my act. He went up to my bed, and pulled up the covers, where the girl had fallen asleep. “What!? Did I say you could invite a friend over to play dress up in the middle of the night?!” he barked, then walked back to me. “Sorry Dad.” I whispered. “Just don’t wake anyone else up again, ‘K?” he said, his eyes softening. “Okay, ‘night dad.” I said. Then he walked out of the room, and the girl leapt out of the bed. “My name is Jane, by the way, and an hour ago I was in my log cabin, when this lady appeared in front of me and told me that I was allowed to go forward in time to see the future for 24 hours. I said okay, and the next thing I know I am falling onto a stranger’s bed, and that’s the whole story basically.” I was shocked, and not entirely convinced. “When is your birthday?” I asked, suspiciously. “May 23rd, 1845” she said in a split second. “I still can’t believe that this is just one room!” “Well,” I said, “I guess you can hang out with me for 24 hours. So, what’s it like, being a pioneer?” “Is that what people call us? Well, I sew mittens, hats, and socks, but I mean everyone does that. I also help mama stir the beans, and make cornbread. I churn the butter, and milk our cow Besie, and care for her calf Beanie. I also harvest crops from our garden, and I love to play
A Brief History of a Fictional Virus, poem and video reading by Abhyudoy Basu, 13
A Brief History of a Fictional Virus Abhyudoy Basu, 13 A poem, and video reading by the author (3:45 min) One New Year’s Eve, many summers ago, A man in China started to cough and other symptoms began to show. His wife and son took him to the doctor for a test, The doctor said not to worry and prescribed him just rest. “It looks like a virus,” he said, “but a harmless one for sure.” The man went home satisfied, that the fever wouldn’t shorten his tenure. He went to work the next day, his symptoms having receded, But soon it became clear that a second opinion was needed. The man felt very tired, and his temperature did increase, And as for his cough, it became drier and did not cease. He decided to go to a specialist, so he went to Beijing, And the virus test results did not make him sing. It seemed that the virus was not as harmless as he had thought, And that his chances of recovering were very close to naught. After a week however, he recovered and his symptoms ceased, But that didn’t mean that that was the end of the disease. Soon after, his wife felt sick, and the symptoms were the same, And it transpired that the virus was all but tame. It had multiplied ruthlessly, infecting everyone, The man’s employees, workers, also his wife and son. The man’s wife’s condition began to grow worse, The man had to take her to the hospital and leave her with a nurse. After two days the virus had her by the throat, She suffocated, and to the unknown realms did float. Soon many people, across that district, especially that particular town, Reported a fever and then did the doctors frown. “A contagious virus,” they thought, “has spread in some way or the other. “If it is left untreated, it could turn out to be a bother.” They thought it would be wise to call a specialist from abroad, And so they hired a specialist of Italy, and he was awed. “It’s a virus which affects the lungs,” he surmised, “If it is left to fate, it could lead to worldwide demise.” The specialist took a sample and took it back home, He had to study and show it to his fellow doctors in Rome. But little did he know the virus was in him now, Slowly it was spreading to Spain and Macau. People started to fall ill and die, In the States, Iran, even Dubai. Word came out that even on a ship at the dock, The deadly virus had come to deliver a knock. Soon the virus began to spread everywhere, Step out of the door? Oh! Don’t you dare. No more cars, no buses or trains, The killer virus had infected the world’s veins. The roads were deadly quiet, the rail-lines rusted in peace, Everybody in their homes, even the police. Mother Nature was happy, the birds began to sing, The animals reclaimed their land, even as the world died with its offspring. Millions died across the globe, their bodies rotting in the streets, The world’s best technology and hospitals, all rendered obsolete. But slowly and surely, the world did climb back, Everybody rallied together and got back on track. So this is a good time, to reflect and turn the page, Or else, my friends, it’s back to Stone Age. Abhyudoy Basu, 13Bolpur, West Bengal, India
Will it Ever End? a poem by Cora Burch, 13
Will it Ever End? Cora Burch, 13 I wish we could all calm down. The bright sky We brought from this Is sinking beneath the clouds of fear We wrought. Tell me, mother– Will it ever end? Canned beans and soups Stock the pantry full Yet it is not a war Not an earthquake We are facing. Tell me, mother– Can we come together without Coming together? Will we walk upon the earth Hand in hand Learn to hug again To laugh together without Six feet between. I often wonder- Tell me, mother- Will it ever end? Or will we simply have to wait forever? Cora Burch, 13Van Nuys, CA
