For the final post of the final day of the Summer Blog Contest, I decided to do write fun short story.  My awesome teacher Kathryn showed me some cool short story templates, and I liked this one the best.  I had to use very specific rules to write it, which made it really fun.  Here are the rules:

1. The driver of the vehicle will never turn the engine off.
2. They must stop a minimum of FIVE times during this journey – to use the bathroom, to buy a soft drink, gasoline, to check the air pressure in a tire, whatever – and EACH time they stop, they must interact with at least one other person. Note: Not all of the five will, or should, be given equal space in the story. You might find that person #3, for instance, takes most of the narrative time and energy, and the others become lesser values.
3. They will not reach their destination.
4. The entire story will take place in and around the vehicle.

With the rules in mind, I got to work.  It was harder than I thought it would be, especially with rule #1.  But these rules helped me stay on track and not let my imagination spin out of control.  After all, without the rules, I could go on forever and ever!

 

“Dylan, can you please put “Trader Joe’s Palo Alto” into Maps?”

“Sure Aunt Amy, no problem”, replied Dylan.  Dylan and his aunt were attempting to make scones.  They thought that they had all of the ingredients, and started to make the batter.

“Can you please pass me the butter?” Dylan, who was visiting from Toronto, asked his aunt.  That is when they realized a key ingredient was missing:  butter.  Butter is necessary to make scones!  So off Dylan and his aunt were to buy some butter.

But before they could start their quest for butter, they had to pick up Dylan’s uncle, Brian, at the San Antonio train station.

Amy started her bright red Fiat, and turned right onto San Antonio Road.  Immediately, the two butter-seekers hit a wall of traffic.  After all, it was rush-hour, and San Antonio Road is almost always busy, anyways.

“Ping!”  the loudspeaker dinged, marking an announcement.  “All trains arriving from San Jose/Gilroy will be delayed 30 minutes.  The trains right now are at the Mountain View station.”

Just as the loudspeaker made its announcement, Amy got a text from Brian.  “Can you please come pick me up at the Mountain View station ASAP?”  So off the aunt and nephew went to pick up Brian in Mountain View.

“Do you have water, by any chance?”, asked Dylan.

“No, sorry.  Why don’t you run into Teaspoon to get a bubble tea?”

“Bubble Tea is a tea drink with gummy tapioca pearls at the bottom.  It’s delicious, but also an acquired taste.  I’ll just be outside.”

“I’ll give it a try”, Dylan replied.  The first thing Dylan noticed was a long line, and stressed-out looking workers.  Ten minutes later, Dylan ordered a Thai iced tea with boba.  Ten more minutes later, Dylan walked out of the store with a house milk tea.  The tea tasted awful, so Dylan ran back inside so the worker could get it right.  Dylan felt bad that he was adding to the stress of the worker, Brandon, but he really wanted a Thai iced tea.

Back in the car, after a twenty-five minute stop, the Fiat, which hadn’t been turned off was running lower and lower on battery, being an electric car.

“We need to go get your uncle”, sighed Amy, in a frustrated tone.

Uncle Brian got into the car, and just as Amy was about to drive away, made a very unusual request.

“I need a new phone screen.”

“Why?”, Amy and Dylan asked at precisely the same time.

“I dropped mine at the train station.”

So that explained why Uncle Brian looked so annoyed and exhausted.  Dylan and his aunt decided that they could make one more stop, but then, needed to get their butter.

As every person who has ever been to a technology store, you know that it is incredibly boring, slow, and frustrating.  Brian ran in, already annoyed, to go replace his screen, while Amy and Dylan sat in the car.  Brian immediately found the right screen, and got in a short-looking line.  Never judge a book by its cover, or an AT&T store by its line.  After waiting for a short while (One lady was taking forever to by a phone charger.  A phone charger!), a man was able to help him.

“Have you backed up your phone, sir?” the man inquired.

“Backed up?  No.  Why?” Brian replied.

“Well, to replace a phone screen you must back it up before sending it off to the Apple Store.  That’s just how it works.”

If you thought Brian was angry before, he was fuming getting in the Fiat.

“He told me it would take two hours!  Two hours!  Ain’t nobody got time for that!”

Thinking that food would cheer Brian up, Amy ordered Chinese food online for the hungry family.  They quickly picked it up, and felt that this was their first successful stop of the day.

Aunt Amy was just about to suggest going to Trader Joe’s when the car said, “warning, you have under five miles left.”

So the three unsuccessful family members turned around in their Fiat and drove home to Los Altos.