English students have been working with a variety of types of literature, including hint fiction. As a warm-up writing exercise, students wrote brief creative stories based on the following prompt from Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer entitled "A Dignified Purpose" by Ty Miller.
"She loved to steal spoons. She didn't need them; she just enjoyed having a hundred tiny mirrors to see what no one else could."
The students short creative stories can bee seen as comments to this post. Enjoy!
For she had a secret one only she could share with herself. She was bound to secrecy by loneliness. For in those spoons was a friend one who would listen to all sorrows, one who is there when all forget. She had her partner for now and always and not a single person could take that from her; could take herself away. She was strong and understood what all know but don't understand, the secrets of life are with in our selves and to see them is to see our selves. She knew this and carefully laughed when all wondered what her secret was.
ReplyDeleteShe really wanted to get something shiny so she goes around steeling other spoons, because she really likes the glitter of the silver of the spoons. She loves the design of what the spoon has on it. She believed she could see something in them that no one else cared about them. The spoons seem to remind her of the good things in this world as do the reflection it shows. Without them she feels lost and unhappy. The only way she knew to get her spoons is to steel them. I guess she didn't have the money to buy the spoons herself.
ReplyDeleteShe stared at the hundreds of spoons hanging around her room. She loved seeing her own face. The spoons gave her a sense of belonging in this world. She would stare into the hundreds of tiny spoons for hours at a time for no apparent reason, just staring at her face. It was as if no one else could see her face but when she looked into the hundreds of tiny spoons she could see her face. Maybe she also liked the way they look when the bright sunlight would hit them and make magnificent colors around her room. Or maybe she just had a fetish for spoons and they way they looked. Everyday she came home from school and sat in her room staring into the spoons waiting for the next day to come so she could do the same routine again and again. - Dylan
ReplyDelete"A Dignified Purpose"
ReplyDelete"Wow," Malcom said, "How many of those do you have?" :)
teeeheeeheee
She stole spoons to see the smallest things. The tiny details in life, her life. Things no one else could see. She had hundreds upon hundreds of spoons. But yet, she didn't have enough. She still wanted more, needed more. She couldn't help herself. When she saw a spoon, she had to have it. To see the tiniest things she said. But why did she need so many? She didn't. She was in love with spoons, how they shine in the light. How she can see herself and all her pity. How they make her look. How small they are. How big her life feels. She could see the world in a smaller portion. In the spoon.
ReplyDelete"A dignified Purpose"
ReplyDeleteWith this gift that she was given,
she could communicate with different types of people.
She discussed who they are, what they did, and who they met.
She learned the history of these people.
Even though no one could see them,
she knew in her heart she wasn't crazy.
What she saw was real.
She called them "people of the past".
Her parents locked her in a small room that consisted of a small closet with a single light, a twin size bed, a small dresser and a ceiling fan with a light. It also had a toilet in the corner of the room with a plain black curtain around it. She had to be let out to shower. With no windows in her room she was very pale and the only times she was allowed to go outside of the house was with her parents to go get something from the store, she had to wear a hat and a long sleeved shirt so her hair wouldn't show and most of her face was hidden. She had no mirrors at home so she stole spoons and hid them in her closet so that she could see what she looked like, she knew her parents would not approve but she continued.
ReplyDeleteShe had a fear of spoons a long time ago, now she likes them hanging on her walls, she wanted to remember that she had accomplished something that she will always remember.
ReplyDeleteThe way the colors flickered off the hundreds of spoons, it created colors that were otherworldly. The spectrum of light and all colors known to man was shown there, as well as a completely new color to the far right side. The brightest of purples and blues and reds, it delighted her eyes, and caused great pleasure to fill in her chest. People never understood why she had a inkling to be a kleptomaniac of spoons, she just knew that it was something that was a part of her; made her feel at one with things that were much bigger. This was what she lived for, and no one could ever know her secret pleasure, it was too personal. She would sit there all day, staring into those spoons and making them dance in sunlight, until it finally turned dark and she could venture out to find more.
ReplyDeleteShe loves the way she looked and seeing herself everyday. In her house her mother did not permit mirror because of the terrible accident her younger daughter had. The mirror made the younger one cry, but the the older daughter loved to see her beauty. The only thing that was similar to a mirror were spoons. Having hundreds spoons in her room without her mother knowing, and using then to see her reflection. Each spoon should her beauty, and she did not need them but she loved to look at them and see herself.
ReplyDeleteShe is in love with herself. She doesn't think anyone else can compare to her. To be glamorous was her dream so she got plastic surgery. Now, she can't stand to go at least one minute without looking at herself. People say she was beautiful the way she was naturally, now she only looks like a fake. She was unhappy with herself for no reason. She feels as if she carries around a spoon rather than a mirror people will not notice she is only trying to look at herself. She doesn't want to see her flaws clearly like a mirror would show. To be pretty was all she wanted.
ReplyDeleteShe loved to look at herself in the mirror. The spoons hung on her walls so she could see herself every where. Stealing the spoons was her enjoyment because buying them wasn't very unique and interesting like her. Each spoon was a different in many shapes and sizes. The spoons made her beautiful in many different ways. All the spoons she stole had a story so each spoon she looked into she saw her beautiful reflection and the history of the spoon. Her beauty was astounding and her wall of spoons showed it to all.
ReplyDeleteIn an effort to try to destroy her worst enemy; she tried to gain benefits for herself. By converting her enemies' friends into her friends she was a step ahead of the target. She would have more friends which would leave her enemy without anyone. Only she could fix the problems and if this was the easiest way out she would take that before watching herself being destroyed!
ReplyDelete"What are you doing?? Stop!"
ReplyDelete"No! I need them!"
The desperate mother took hold of her daughter's frail body.
"Let's go, c'mon. Your father's waiting for you. How about you go outside for some fresh air, eh?"
The girl screamed even more and clawed at the wooden floor. "No, I want to stay here and talk to HER!"
"There is no her!!" the mother yelled.
Their fierce battle raged on as mother and child wrestled on the floor of the upstairs bedroom. Hundreds of spoons clattered noisily, creating flickering lights against the walls from the reflection of the sun's light.
"There is no her! There is no anybody anywhere!! It's just you and me!" the mother let go of her child and began to weep on the floor. "What am I going to do, what am I going to do??"
The daughter wailed. "Get out and let me talk!"
The mother screamed and left the room.
The girl finally got her laugh. "At last." Then she turned again to the hundreds of spoons scattered randomly across the floor of her room. "You can com out now. She's gone."
From the distorted, blank reflection of the spoon, appeared the face of a child. "Is she…is she really gone?" said a quiet voice. It seemed to come out of no where and everywhere. The echo in the small voice vibrated through the wall of the room.
"Yes…" whispered the daughter, crawling closer to the dozens of small faces staring back at her. "She's gone."
She was a klepto and loved to see all angles of her face. So she stole spoons
ReplyDeleteShe hung the spoons around her room all at different places and angles. She wanted to be able to see in every direction when she was straightening her hair. She thought to herself, "So many people would long for this!". And continued to perfectly straighten her hair.
ReplyDeleteBrooke
Hailey-A Dignified Purpose
ReplyDeleteShe was a middle aged girl who couldn't bare the thought of not being able to see herself. She thought every spoon was like an individual mirror making her look better and better. The spoons gave her body detail that she obviously needed. To everyone else she was hideous, but in her own little room of nothing but spoons.. she was beautiful.
She was a person who wanted to see herself in anyway possible. She could probably be self-concious. Different spoons make her different sizes and to her she wanted to know something. She could possibly like attention and with the more spoons, the more reflection there were, and the more "people" watched her.
ReplyDeleteHailey-A Dignified Purpose
ReplyDeleteShe was a middle aged girl who couldn't bare the thought of not being able to see herself. She thought every spoon was like an individual mirror making her look better and better. The spoons gave her body detail that she obviously needed. To everyone else she was hideous, but in her own little room of nothing but spoons.. she was beautiful.
She liked the way she looked. She was poor and couldn't afford a mirror. Her goal: steal enough spoons to see her whole reflection, not just her face.
ReplyDeleteShe had no other way of knowing what she looked like. She had no life in the outside world. Only in her small room. She didn't want to go outside, but when she did, she stole the spoons. If anyone saw her, they had no idea why she did it. She didn't know why she did it herself. She was raised by a poor family, and all she knew was stealing. It was all she was able to do.
ReplyDeleteShe wanted to see everything so she put the spoons that she stole all over. The spoons could help her see the smallest of things. She wanted to see the small things because most people do not realize them. She could also have liked to see her self a lot. So she laid them on the floor and when she looked in to the spoons she could see many of little faces and the faces were her.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she stole the spoons because she wanted a little mirror on the go.She wanted to see how pretty she was.Also she might have makeup to put on so she used the spoons so she can put the makeup on.
ReplyDeleteFelipe
Everything she ate had a different spoon. Her ice cream had one spoon. Her chicken soup had another. She didn't like to mix her silverware and get different foods on them. She has OCD and so she can't eat different things with one spoon. She had to buy a new spoon every time she ate something else. She had lot of them and reused them only for the thing she ate with it before. She never washed the spoons, there was no need. "Why wash it," she thought, "if you just eat the same food over again." She doesn't need them. She simply wants them to help her OCD.
ReplyDeleteHer reflections. They made her feel good because she was so ugly that when she would look in a mirror they would all break and so her substitute would be shinny spoons that she would be able to see herself in.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteShe took the spoons because she wanted to see what everyone else could see of her. She had no idea what she looked like because mirrors at the time.
ReplyDeleteShe put the spoons under her pillow when the guards pass by
ReplyDeleteat night she takes them out and looks at the refection of herself until she falls asleep,
when the alarm goes off it's lunch time she races and pushes the other patients and she gets the spoons and hides them in her pockets looks around if anybody saw, she waits patiently for night time to take them out again..
the things she saw in the tiny spoons were all her friends.To others the girls friends were just reflections of her.But she always said they were her best friends.She had no real friends cause people thought she was really weird.But she was fine cause she thought the more spoons she collected the less lonely she would be and the more friends she would have.
ReplyDeleteShe taped them to the walls surrounding her. Always looking at her refection, at every angle. Trying to always find what was wrong with her, no friends, or people to love her. So starring at her dim reflection in her mirror of spoons, wondering what it is that they see and that she can't. One day she will give up, and the spoons will be gone. Until then though she will stare into the face on the spoons, the person in the reflection, wondering, searching, until she sees what they see.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa Dawn Hamilton Colter
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletespoon after spoon. she grabbed them all. she loved their gifts, in them she saw what is no more, what could be kept but not given the joys and sorrows of life. they kept her comfortable but filled her heart full of longing. the world was lucky yet how greedy they are. they had a life yet she didn't have a clue what it was. to live, the spoons gave her a glimpse of life. each spoon carried what others cherished and hated.
ReplyDelete----------a memory
Taylor Rapp
ReplyDeleteJoline loves to take spoons that way she could spy on other people around corners and under doors. She loved knowing she could see people and they couldn't see her. One day she went to the store and took a package of spoons and went to her house. She was in the living room when she herd her sister talking to her mom. she grabbed some spoons and went to the door. She peaked around the corner with her spoon and saw them talking. She was so amazed that they didn't notice her but then she sneezed. They looked over and saw her reflection in the spoon so the took the spoons away and they made her take them back to the store. She never touched a spoon again...
Andy
ReplyDeleteThe real reason she was stealing spoons is because after she ate something, for instance soup, she didn't like using it again because she was scared that when she washed them, they would not be completely clean. So when she was through eating something she would simply toss it it her window and steal another one to use. She stole all kinds of spoons. Plastic, metal, all shapes and sizes, and from various places. She stole from resteruants, her mom's house, grandmas house, stores like Wal-Mart and stuff like that. She had an obsession for perfectly clean spoons.
She did not have any friends because she was ugly and wanted someone to always be there with her so instead of having actual friends she had a lot of spoons and used the reflection of her that appeared on the spoons as her friends. The spoons revealed a complete different story though. Instead of seeing this ugly girl that she was, she saw a beautiful girl that no one else had ever seen. That is why she enjoyed spoons.
ReplyDeleteHunter Schleisman
ReplyDeleteMary, oh poor Mary. She stole spoons for reasons no on would ever know. she just loved to look at herself wherever she went. She kept them in her purse, in her car, on her nightstand, even in the bathroom. She had to constantly see herself, just like she had another Mary with her all the time. She loved to see herself when she did not have a normal mirror. She also had these spoons to see what others could not. She spied on unsuspecting people with her spoons. She looked behind her, under doors, through windows, all over.
She grabbed all of the spoons because she loved how the lights reflected of of them,She was a vain person so she loved to look at her self in the mirror but the spoons made her look better,But sometimes in the spoons she could see her family in the spoons waving back at her and she just loved the spoons so much she carried them with her everywhere she went so she would not be alone,The spoons where her only friends.
ReplyDeleteA Dignified Purpose
ReplyDeleteBy Amber Zewert
Spoons to her meant something more it wasn't the silver or gold they were made of it was simply something else. She would sneak and steal them and hang them on the ceiling of her room allowing them to dangle. The wind blew them when she left the window open causing them to make music and clink together. When she peered in them she saw her reflection staring back at her. No one understood her except for the girl looking back at her through the spoons. Why she wanted them no one knew. Only the girl knew why they were there and they made her happy.
Tyler Fitz-
ReplyDeleteThere once was an old lady who thought she was completley buetiful, but the truth was that she was uglier than a 7 year old dog turd. Since no one but this lady thought she was beutiful, she loved looking at her self in the mirror. But there was a problem, she even thought she looked hideous when she looked in a big mirror. Her idea to see her pretty face lead to the idea to steal hundreds and hundreds of meatle spoons from the people who thought she was ugly and she would take those spoons and cover her walls with them. When she would look in to the sppons she would see her very small reflection and see how butiful she thought she was. And she never had to hear anyone say she was ugly again!
Alicia Cano
ReplyDeleteShe counted the spoons over and over until she reached hundred again. She loved collecting spoons. She would always steal from the school cafeteria and her grandmothers house. At the end of each day she would gather all of them and put them together and make a spoon mirror. She looked at herself and thought how you can see something beautiful in something simple that you use everyday.
People said she was different, but she did not care. She loved how she saw the world. She thought the littlest of things were to be treasured, like spoons. She collected all different types of spoons. Each one held a special part in her collection. Plain ones, engraved ones, shiny ones, and dull ones; she loved them all. Every spoon had a place, just like in the world; every person has their place. Even ones who are different.
ReplyDeleteKarter
ReplyDelete• She loved to steal spoons, no one knew why, but her purpose was important to her. Being held captive as a girl she now realizes why she stole all those spoons. She was age 5 when she was abducted. Kept in this small, dark, dingy room where no one could see her. In the room next to her was a small antique store. If she was sneaky she was lucky enough to fit through the tiny hole and wander the antique store at night. While on her nightly missions she would take only one spoon each night so it wasn't obvious to the store owner. As the days kept going by she was surrounded by several spoons, soon leading to 100. She hung these around her because being abducted at age 5 is a hard life. And having the curiosity of seeing what she looked like 5 years later was getting the best of her. So their in her dingy room she was kept in, she hung the spoons, to remind her who she truly was each day.
Jake...
ReplyDeleteShe stole the spoons to look at her face. No one else saw her face because she was a shut in that only left the house to steel spoons. The spoons reflection made her face look different thats what she wanted. She wanted to see i different person in her reflection and the spoons gave her that reflection.