Story Time

I wrote a short story for a contest for the yarn club I'm in (7DS, button on the side there).  The story had to be no more than 300 words (which mine is exactly) and had to end with the sentence "...and s/he saw the sloth wrap and dangle the scarf from its neck."  Sloth being the theme of this next shipment.  I found it challenging to keep the story under 300 words (I tend to ramble and over explain things), but did manage to do it.  My inspiration for the story (and it's macabre theme) came from my friend Jason who often writes anecdotal stories about cute insects and animals and their true nature.  So anyway, without further ado.......

Penelope, the praying mantis, and Midge, the sloth, were at their usual game. Penelope would run up to the very top of the tree and pick all the best fruits and nuts and place them on Midge’s belly, this way Midge could just hang around in her favorite spot all day. In return, Penelope got free run of all the insects and bugs in the tree. This made both of them very happy and plump.

One day, as Penelope was crawling around on Midge searching for parasites to eat she got some of Midge’s hair stuck on her legs. As she wound her legs around to try and free herself she noticed that certain movements made the hair fibers “lock” together. Being the curious and creative mantis that she was, she decided to collect some of Midges hair and repeat this motion to see what would happen. She quickly realized that doing this created a long piece of fabric.

Penelope decided to make a present for her friend Midge. She would make a strip of fabric out of Midge’s hair that she could wrap around herself. Penelope would call this strip of fabric a scarf. Midge would love it because Penelope worked so hard on it. And she did work on it. A lot. She soon became obsessed with making this scarf and was no longer bringing food for Midge.

This didn’t make Midge very happy. She was too lazy to get up for food and Penelope was right there, well-fed on insects. Midge reached out and picked up Penelope to put her in her mouth, scarf still in hand. She cried out, but to no avail. She made one last attempt to escape from Midge’s mouth and she saw the sloth wrap and dangle the scarf from her neck.

 

p.s.  I got the shipment today.  I shall take pictures of it and post my thoughts tomorrow.