>This assignment was actually turned in by two English students:
>Rebecca <last name deleted and Gary <last name deleted
>English 44A
>SMU
>Creative Writing
>Prof Miller
>
> In-class Assignment for Wednesday
>
>Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The
>process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting
>to
>his or her immediate right. One of you will then write the first
>paragraph of a short story. The partner will read the first paragraph
>and then add another paragraph to the story. The first person will
>then
>add a third paragraph, and so on back and forth. Remember to reread
>what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent.
>
>The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached.
>----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The
>camomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home,now
>reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he
>liked camomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind
>off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about
>him too much her asthma started acting up again. So camomile was out
>of
>the question.
>
>Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron
>now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about
>than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with
>whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. "A.S. Harris to
>Geostation 17," he said into his transgalactic communicator. "Polar
>orbit
>established. No sign of resistance so far..." But before he could sign
>off a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole
>through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him
>flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.
>
>He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt
>one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who
>had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its
>pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4.
>"Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel."
>Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously
>excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of
>her youth -- when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree,
>with no newspapers to read, no television to distract her from her
>sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her.
>"Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered
>wistfully.
>
>Little did she know, but she has less than 10 seconds to live.
>Thousands
>of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership launched the first
>of
>its lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed
>the Unilateral Aerospace Disarmament Treaty through Congress had left
>Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were
>determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the
>passage of the treaty the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth,
>carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no
>one to stop them they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan.
>The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded.
>The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on
>the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably
>massive explosion which vaporized Laurie and 85 million other
>Americans.
>The President slammed his fist on the conference table. "We can't
>allow this! I'm going to veto that treaty! Let's blow'em out
>of the sky!"
>
>This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My
>writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic, semi-literate adolescent.
>
>Yeah? Well, you're a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at
>writing are the literary equivalent of Valium.
>
>You total $*&.
>
>Stupid %&#$!.
>
>Richard Brodie RBrodie@brodietech.com +1.206.688.8600
>CEO, Brodie Technology Group, Inc., Bellevue, WA, USA
>http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie
>Do you know what a "meme" is?
>http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm
>