My First Short Story (1st 1st)

Stephanie over at Cool People I Know (whom I found via Jen Lemen) has tagged her readers to jump in on her meme and provide a list of five firsts. Read the others here.

Here's my first first: My First Short Story.

Drawn when I was just a few months shy of six years old, my first short story featured a man-eating dinosaur, weird weather, a wonky-shaped house, and two little boys. Here are the pictures, accompanied by the descriptions I told my mom, which I took from the journal she kept.

September 27, 1981
Jenny drew these pictures and put the book together by herself. The following is what she said the story is.

Page 1: Person is afraid of the dinosaur.

Page 2: Now the dinosaur is eating the person.

Page 3: This is the little boy's brother. He is digging in the sand. It is sunny and suddenly it starts to rain. He is sad because the dinosaur ate his brother.

Page 4: Mother and Father are sad at home because their child is gone.

Page 5: Boy in dinosaur's stomach. Little boy is sad. The other things in dinosaur are bones.

Page 6: Boy got out of dinosaur and is happy. Dinosaur is sad and lost his appetite.

I have no idea why I wrote about a dinosaur eating a little boy on the beach. My interest in dinosaurs never really developed, but I am quite fond of the seashore. I wonder if I was worried about the safety of my little brother, who would have been two years old at the time. I came a long way from my initial disappointment and indifference when he first wrecked my only-child status. Here's an excerpt from my mom's journal on the day he was born:

October 10, 1979
When Denny told Jenny that she had a baby brother, she cried and said, "I wanted a baby sister, not a brother." In about half an hour she changed her mind and said a baby brother is O.K.

More firsts to come.

What are some of yours?

Comments

[Allyson]

My first story, illustrated, of course, went along the lines of "the sun is shining, the birds is singing, the flowers is blooming." Adorable, and so pithy. I would not have cried if the dinosaur had eaten my brother. I would have had a party. :)

[littlepurplecow]

I am so thrilled to read your first first! How amazing that you crafted this story at age six. You must have a wonderful mother.