"I crashed my car!": A Story in Phone Calls

Collaborative Writing: "I crashed my car!": A Story in Phone Calls

This piece was written by Danielle and myself one day in Media Studies. We wrote it from the point of view of a teenage girl who just crashed her car; we pulled from our own imaginations about the horror of this situation (I have experienced something similar!). We attempted to imbue this piece with the "flexibility" of stories of teenagers.

Mother:
"Mommy....I have something to tell you. It's not serious, don't freak out! I'm okay...I got into a slight accident with the car. By slight I mean the tow guy is here and so are the police, but it's not my fault! This bird flew right out into the street and I swerved to avoid it and I ran into a tree. No, it's not totaled. Just some scratches...and a few dents...."

Best Friend:
"Oh. My. God. I HAVE TO TELL YOU WHAT JUST HAPPENED! So I was rocking out to this song--you know that new one that every radio station plays like 30 times a day. That one I didn't like at first because it reminded me of that time I totally embarrassed myself in front of my English class, but I like now because it's really catchy..Yeah, that one. Well I was rocking out and I took my eyes off the road for 2 seconds to turn it up and suddenly there was this bird that flew in front of me and I swerved into a tree! I'm okay, but my car isn't....."

Police Officer:
"Officer, it's not my fault. I was being very responsible, it just happened so fast! I was driving along (the speed limit) and I checked my rearview mirror for a second. When I looked back, this bird came out of nowhere! I swerved out of shock and, well, you see what happened next...."

Therapist:
" I just can't believe this happened to me. First my boyfriend dumped me, then I ruined my favorite pair of pajama pants, then my teacher yelled at me, and now I crashed my car right into a tree when my only other option was to run over a poor, defenseless bird. It's not my fault. And then as I'm sitting on the side of the road crying about the close call with that bird, these mean kids started pointing and laughing at me. I keep thinking my life is about to turn around, but then something like this happens."

Tow Guy:
"So I was driving along and this bird just flew in front of my car, startling me. My first reaction was to swerve--it was just a reflex--but there was a tree there. So the front left bumper got pressed in a teeny little bit...it won't cost too much, will it? It's just a small bump and it wasn't even my fault!"

rainboots

This is one of my favorite poems that I've written this year in Creative Writing! I began by describing a picture of a young boy, looking angry in his overalls. I was experiencing writer's block when I noticed his muddy rainboots, and those rainboots inspired this poem. I wanted it to have a very descriptive feel.




Rainboots

splattered with mud of all four seasons,

never taken off, no matter how mother pleaded;

a perfect day was spent chasing frogs,

through the mud of bogs and through the fog;

stuffed into a turtleneck and overalls

he looks out from the mantlepiece of the hall,

petulant and impudent and insolent

dreaming of all the free frogs in nature infinite.