I just read a really cool article about literary battling in Peru. Writers square off and are given three words with which and five minutes in which to write a short story. Winner goes on, loser goes home (and must unmask themselves). I decided to time myself and give it a go with the three words given in the article, which I read at:
I’d like to point out that five minutes went by way too quickly. It’s actually pretty nerve-wracking and I’m sure in front of a crowd it’s worse. I thrive under pressure on a stage, but for some reason I feel like I’d lose every possible match-up due to the fact that I can’t write in Spanish. The story couldn’t be titled in five minutes, but just right now I’ve dubbed it:
“Monkey Miscommunication”
“I’m sorry sir, but you can’t bring that on the plane at this time.”
Haleel looked up from his plane ticket. “But ma’am, it say here I boarding group number two. You just call boarding group number two.”
The flight attendant was unfazed. “That may be true, Mr. Haleel, but you can’t board with a monkey.”
“I can’t board with monkey? But guide book say I can go with my monkey to America.”
“I don’t know what guide book you’re looking at, sir, but no, you can’t bring a monkey to America. Not without the proper documentation and vaccination. It’ll need quarantine, too.”
“No! No, no, no! This not right! Look here at guide book.”
Haleel shoved the guide book in the flight attendant’s face. She sighed. The airline was not paying her enough for this. “Security,” she called over the intercom.
Haleel was escorted out of the airport with his monkey. At home, he discovered the problem. His English dictionary had the words next to each other: “monkey” was “hakab” and “suitcase” was “hakann.” He could bring a suitcase, yes. Not a monkey.
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