My job affords me the opportunity to read the writings of many children
and young adults. The following piece was written by a 9th grader named Liz
Thomas. Out of all of the writings I read today, submissions for a literary
magazine from middle to high schoolers, her's was by far the best. She has
no idea that i'm 'publishing' this and may never know.
"Oh Shit!" exclaimed Jessie. There was a hint of terror in her voice. She
quickly typed a few words desperately trying to right a wrong.
"Oh God! Oh God!" She took a long haul at the cigarette she held between
her fingers, nervously flicking the ashes on the floor. She blew smoke at
the screen as if she could maybe hide those terrible words from view they
would go away.
She slowly pulled away from the small desk that held three computers.
There wasn't enough room on the desk to hold her papers, they scattered
through the small, cramped room. Jessie stumbled dragging her feet to her
mattress and collapsed upon it.
"We're in a hell of a lot of trouble now, Basil" Basil perked his ears at
the sound of his name. "They caught me, I wasn't careful enough. They've
found us. Jesus, what am I going' to do." Basil's eyes sparkled with
intelligence, he stretched his long, slender body and placed a black-footed
paw sympathetically on Jessie's knee. She took another puff from her
cigarette. Her eyes glazed slowly contemplating her fate.
|
