Go back to that list you made earlier of events from your life. Is there anything that jumps out at you as not quite being enough for a story? Or conversely, is there anything that you hadn’t thought of that could now go on there? Let others weigh in on your list, either in person or in the discussion forums here – or both! Have them take a vote. What is the most interesting topic to people who don’t know you? Yes, this is a story by committee. Now write the first 500 words or so of the one that was voted most-interesting, but I want you to write about yourself in the 3rd-person (so I becomes he or she). In other words, you’re approaching yourself as a character in a story, in the same way as a writer of fiction. In our case, of course, all of the facts remain true. Keep in mind, this doesn’t necessarily have to be a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end, just a cohesive thought or set of thoughts that would lead into the bigger story you could write. Right now, I just want you to ramp up and set the scene, with enough information that the reader will feel part of the event.
The summer was hot. All political madness was just done. The elections had their results, and the months of craziness have stop. There were no more campaigns to come, and life got back into ordinary. The young boy was about to turn 20 years old. The grandmother was about to turn 69. They wake up late that summer. The boy has some money his father sends from USA. “Are you hungry? Do you want to go to the mall and grab a bite?” The boy asked to the old lady. “Yes. It seems like a good idea”. The boy has been watching how the old lady these past months is slower, it does not move like she just to. It takes a lot of her energy to wake up and to stand from bed. What used to be a very hyperactive woman that was always cleaning and trying to fix things of the house now has become an old lady. Afraid as only a son can be. The grandmother and him took a cab to the mall. He did not have a vehicle, his parents where poor and she did not know how to drive properly. She also did not have a vehicle. She was also poor, but something that all Latin American people reply is always the same “we were poor, but we were happy.” The cab took them to the mall and the slow peace was abnormal. The women became elderly sooner than expected. They bought something called gorditas. There is a big franchise northeast of Mexico call “Doña Tota”. The grandchild search for some chairs on the corners. The granny sits down waiting for him to order. He came back and ask her “what you want to eat?” “Some picadillo and desebrada” he replies. “I will order with some rice and beans”. The food court of the mall had few people in there. He went to order and pay. He got back to his grandma to talk to her. It was right there. The precise moment he realizes it. He saw directly on her eyes. The eyes of death. It is not a killing look, but more like I am being killed look. Terrible joke but let’s keep going. There are looks that reveal it all. Gladness, love, sad, depression but looks that show you the future there just a few. The eye patches were bigger than usual, the color of her skin, the loose weight. There was no more sparkle around her. The laughs, the joy. The eyes, the tiredness of her eyes describe everything it was need it to say. The grandchild went to pick up the order from the counter. They eat and she reply, “how nice it is to ask someone to pay”. The following month she got surgery. She stayed in bed for three weeks. She got home. Got worse. Last one day at the house. Got back into hospital. Another week in bed. She died at intensive care unit on September 27.
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