Hi – Here’s a the beginnings of a short story that came to mind tonight. Enjoy ~
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“Philip’s Time”
For homework, the students had to write a creative story. It could be based on reality, or it could be totally made up from their heads. Philip wanted to write about the time he was swimming in the Caribbean in the winter and how a shark almost bit him in half. Lucky for him, he had a homemade knife strapped to his leg with vines he had found on the island.
As he remembered the time in the water, he started writing down the events of what happened. Resharpening his pencil three times, he finally finished his mini-epic with all of the glory and fanfare of a Tolkien trilogy.
Before going to brush his teeth and going to bed, he found a stapler in his father’s office. He stapled his report together. Walking back into the living room, he handed the joined sheets of words and lines to his mother. It was three pages long, but he had covered everything that he was needing to express. His mother looked at the report in amazement. She didn’t know what to do.
“Read it,” he said. “You’ll like it.”
“Ok. I’m sure I will,” she replied, still in surprised-mode.
Philip turned and went upstairs to brush his teeth.
His father put down the newspaper he had been reading and looked at his wife. “Are you okay,” he asked.
“You need to see this,” she replied.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It’s his homework. A creative story.”
They read the first paragraph and stopped. They were amazed.
“It’s like an old soul describing his encounter with a shark,” said Philip’s mother.
They looked at each other with mouths open and eyebrows slightly furrowed.
Philip was right, his parents would never believe him. How could they? He was only eight, but he had already lived two lifetimes prior to living this one. No matter. He was here now, and things would prove themselves out in the long run. They always did. Just like both times before, they would do so again.
Life trapped inside the body of a child. How stifling and how exhilarating at the same time. He would have the chance to live a life again, but this time from closer to the very beginning.
He would have to temper his successes, otherwise he would stand out too much and cause havoc in his life and in the lives of his parents. They would realize everything going on soon enough. Besides, it was not his place to correct his parents nor to declare the secrets he had learned in his previous passages through history.
Time would reveal all the things he wanted to express but was afraid to. It was better that way. That way, he wouldn’t be directly involved in the issuance of knowledge to mere mortals, but could still be a part of the whole thing.
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Find books by Marty here: www.amazon.com/author/reep
Marty Reep 