A Bag of Stories Involving a Possum and an Inter-Dimensional Letter, Among Other Things

1. Write about a possum, living in an attic. 

   This is Les. He is a possum. And he lives in an attic. I’m not going to say who owns the house and attic, because they might become seriously angry that I am sitting in their attic writing about a possum named Les as they eat their dinner of steak and potatoes. You would think that the owners of this house, being remarkably rich, would have pest control (although I do not consider Les to be a pest), but I assume they spent all their money on steaks and potatoes.  

   Les is a very lazy possum. He sleeps all day and is awake at night, though he does not need to go scavenge for food. I have been bringing him food for a total of 2 years. The first time he saw me, he pretended to die, which I have heard is normal behavior for possums, but was incredibly impolite, since I had brought him some fruit to eat. Now, he does not pretend to die whenever he sees me climb up into the hole in the side of the attic. He saunters over, prepared to eat whatever food I have that will make him fat. Now, I believe calling a human being “fat” is impolite and rude, yet I don’t think Les cares if I call him “fat” from time to time.  

   I have taken to reading aloud to him as he eats- of course, in a low enough voice that the owners of the house cannot hear me. He prefers the classics, like Mark Twain, to the newer books, like J. K. Rowling, although she is an excellent author as well. He sits quietly while I’m reading, and sometimes I swear I have seen him emote in a particularly emotional chapter, although it is hard to tell with possums.   

   Overall, we have a pleasant relationship that takes place in this attic. It really is quite cozy.  

2. You get a letter from someone who claims to be you from a different dimension. What does it say? 

Dear Dimension 1 Yaya, 

Hello. I’m writing this as hurriedly as I can. My name is Yaya, specifically Dimension 2 Yaya. I am you, from another dimension. I am writing to warn you. Something terrible is going to happen, terrible indeed. The Rebellion has told me that if I tell you exactly what happens it will change the course of both our Dimensions and have prohibited me from doing so. But let me tell you this: Prepare. It is coming, and It is coming quickly. Hide your belongings. Stockpile food and necessities. Toughen yourselves up and learn to fend without anyone’s help. Memorize Bible verses and hide Bibles where you can. And if you are anything like me, begin collecting books. You will wish you had once It comes. If you can prevent It, thousands of lives will be saved. Thousands of families will be united. The world will be rid of much sorrow. To prevent It, you must never stop proclaiming the truth. We stopped. And It has come. It is coming to our headquarters now, so I must finish this quickly. The truth is the only thing that can save you. Because God is truth.  

- Dimension 2 Yaya 

3. Write a poem that includes the word "watch" three times. 

Mr. Stowell owns 10 watches.  

He keeps each of them on his arm.  

He never takes them off. 

Those watches, they keep him on time.  

And they keep him on time with others.  

He watches everything you do. 

And knows exactly when you are going to do something. 

Nothing gets past him.                                                                                                                      

The young children say he has cameras.  

The old folks tell tales of his all-knowing brain.  

Yet I think it is different.  

I think he is just smart.  

4. Marvel hires you to design a new comic based on a mythical superhero of your creation. What superhero do you dream up? What form(s) do they take? What do they do?  

Hello, this is Yaya S.  

Hello, this is Marvel Studios. We are calling to say your application has been accepted and we are going to add whatever superhero you create to our next Marvel movie. 

Oh my gosh, are you serious?! That’s amazing! Oah, my brothers are going to be so jealous!  

Your excitement is well placed. This is a once in a lifetime chance. Seriously, it’s a one in one thousand chance you will be allowed to do this again. Now, please, can you give me a rough sketch of what your character would be and do? 

Of course, of course. Her name is Dracone, and she... wait for it... can turn into a dragon!  

Ah, a dragon? 

Yes, a dragon! When she’s in her human form, she has long, orangeish yellowish hair, and wears shimmery, flowing dresses- to catch her enemy off guard.  

Hmm, interesting. 

Yeah, she’s super cool. And then she can turn into this giant dragon, with orange-to-yellow scales that change color in the sunlight and shimmer. And she has these cool horns with knobs on the end of her head that have twisted scales wrapped around them. She also has two ginormous wings that have little dangling jewels on the end. Oh! And on her waist, she holds trophies from all the battles she won, which just looks like a cool necklace when she’s human. She can breathe fire-  

Do you think a more unusual power would be more intriguing? 

Well, turning into a dragon is 

pretty unusual, in my opinion.  

No, no, the fire part. 

The fire part?  

Yes, the fire part. Where Dracone can breathe fire? What if she breathed or shot out a different substance? 

Well, I was thinking fire is pretty cool and it’s classic, but what substance were you thinking of?  

What if it were poisonous gas? 

Oh, that would be c-  

And what if instead of a dragon she turned into a killer whale?! 

A poisonous killer whale? 

Yes! And I think we would need to change her name and make her a male. 

But isn’t that kind of changing the character-  

Nonsense! We alter characters all the time! 

But that seems like a pretty big alter-  

Thank you so much, we might be contacting you for future reference while we are creating the character, although that is a small chance. This was a marvelous idea of mine- er, yours. Tata! 

Dial tone.  

Baby, what’s wrong? Why are you crying? On the floor?

Because I just lost my one chance to put a character in a Marvel moviiiiiiiiiieeeee!  

5. What is your favorite thing about your home? 

   My house is funny. Well, in a mean, teacher-that-gives-you-tons-of-homework-on-Friday sort of way.

   It’s most definitely slanted, and by that, I mean the floor literally goes down on the left side (If you’re on the inside facing the street). Whenever we spill a drink (which is not uncommon, let me tell you), we have to rush to get a towel so that the drink does not get stuck under the bookshelves in the dining room.

   Now, near the door that leads to the bedrooms, there is a giant, ‘broken’ part of the floor. If you step on it, it sinks down a bit. So we have a red rug on it, but my dog thinks that it’s his bed.

   Also, underneath the fireplace is a large stone block that can shift from side to side if you stand on it.

   The single bathroom (for my very large family) used to be a closet as well.

   Sometimes you wonder, “Is the house trying to kill us?” But it is 100 years old, so I guess it must figure out new ways to have fun, and that is attempted murder. I don’t know if that is my favorite part of the house, but it is a very unusual part of the house.  

   One thing I do like about my house, though, is that it keeps us together. The boys’ room and the girls’ room are connected, and my mom can sit in between them and read Harry Potter to us. The living and dining rooms are also close together and have a large opening in between them, so we can always see each other. My family spends quality time together every night, and we are always there if someone needs us. Other families sit in their own rooms all day, don’t eat meals together, and don’t share their rooms. But my family is the opposite. To us, next to God, nothing is more important than family. We could never be bored during quarantine! So, even if this house tries to kill us sometimes, at least it lets us be near each other.  

----------

I recently found a prompt which was called "Grab Bag," which is a collection of "mini" prompts. Most people like Les the Possum and Dimension 2 Yaya stories best, and I'm thinking of turning them into real stories. If you like this, like it and tell me what you think via the contact form!