Week 11 Story: Goose drops Turtle
Imagine an office. This office is just like all other offices. It has dull gray carpet, dozens of neatly aligned cubicles, and yellow fluorescent overhead lights. In one of the cubicles, sits Ms. Alecia Turtle. She is a middle aged woman who seems to always walk with a permanent hunch. She wears dark olive green glasses. Ms. Turtle leans over her computer, hurriedly typing away. Her tongue pokes out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrates.
Cindy! You would not believe what I just heard! Her nails are painted green. The movements of her fingers are dramatically exaggerated as she clacks away at her keyboard.
Jim heard that Britney said that Ron and his wife are getting divorced. Can you believe it!? She smugly sends the IM to her coworker. A ding sounds across the office. There is quietly audible typing. Ms. Turtle's computer flashes: New Message -- From Cindy Squirrel.
Ms. Turtle hungrily opened the message.
Poor Ron. I know Mr. Goose is really cracking down on office gossip. You should probably be careful not to spread this around.
Ms. Turtle huffed and leaned back into her office chair. Cindy was right. Their boss, Reginald Goose, had strictly issued a no office gossip policy last week following the Mark Incident. Sure, HR had to be called and the firm was possibly getting sued and maybe Ms. Turtle was responsible for starting the rumor... but in Ms. Turtle's opinion, gossip was fun and Mark just didn't have thick enough skin.
Ms. Turtle laughs off Cindy's warning. She hastily sends the gossip about Ron to John, Kelly, and Lucas in the cubicle block down the hall.
Now it is lunch time, Ms. Turtle is eating her salad at her desk. A quick knock interrupts her break. She turns to face Ron and Mr. Goose. Mr. Goose does not look happy. "Ms. Turtle, please follow me to my office."
Ms. Turtle slowly gets up from her desk and follows Ron and Mr. Goose to his office. Mr. Goose shuts the door behind them with a bang.
"Ron told me that you have been spreading a rumor about his divorce," Mr. Goose states.
"Well, I overheard Jim talking about how Britney said..." Ms. Turtle tries to defend herself.
"Kelly in accounting knows my cousin. She told him. No one in my family knows! Not even my kids!" Ron chimes in.
"Thank you Ron. You can leave now," Mr. Goose dismisses Ron and stares cooly at Ms. Turtle.
When they are alone, Mr. Goose confronts Ms. Turtle. "You could not keep your mouth shut. I am going to have to drop you. You're fired."
Author's Note: This story is based on the theme of the Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking. A woman, named Ms. Turtle, cannot keep from gossiping. So, she is dropped by Mr. Goose.
Cindy! You would not believe what I just heard! Her nails are painted green. The movements of her fingers are dramatically exaggerated as she clacks away at her keyboard.
Jim heard that Britney said that Ron and his wife are getting divorced. Can you believe it!? She smugly sends the IM to her coworker. A ding sounds across the office. There is quietly audible typing. Ms. Turtle's computer flashes: New Message -- From Cindy Squirrel.
Ms. Turtle hungrily opened the message.
Poor Ron. I know Mr. Goose is really cracking down on office gossip. You should probably be careful not to spread this around.
Ms. Turtle huffed and leaned back into her office chair. Cindy was right. Their boss, Reginald Goose, had strictly issued a no office gossip policy last week following the Mark Incident. Sure, HR had to be called and the firm was possibly getting sued and maybe Ms. Turtle was responsible for starting the rumor... but in Ms. Turtle's opinion, gossip was fun and Mark just didn't have thick enough skin.
Ms. Turtle laughs off Cindy's warning. She hastily sends the gossip about Ron to John, Kelly, and Lucas in the cubicle block down the hall.
Now it is lunch time, Ms. Turtle is eating her salad at her desk. A quick knock interrupts her break. She turns to face Ron and Mr. Goose. Mr. Goose does not look happy. "Ms. Turtle, please follow me to my office."
Ms. Turtle slowly gets up from her desk and follows Ron and Mr. Goose to his office. Mr. Goose shuts the door behind them with a bang.
"Ron told me that you have been spreading a rumor about his divorce," Mr. Goose states.
"Well, I overheard Jim talking about how Britney said..." Ms. Turtle tries to defend herself.
"Kelly in accounting knows my cousin. She told him. No one in my family knows! Not even my kids!" Ron chimes in.
"Thank you Ron. You can leave now," Mr. Goose dismisses Ron and stares cooly at Ms. Turtle.
When they are alone, Mr. Goose confronts Ms. Turtle. "You could not keep your mouth shut. I am going to have to drop you. You're fired."
Author's Note: This story is based on the theme of the Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking. A woman, named Ms. Turtle, cannot keep from gossiping. So, she is dropped by Mr. Goose.
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| An Office. |
Hey Haley!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your story! I liked how you changed the story from the original, but still kept the overall moral of the story the same. Also, I thought you included good descriptions of the story and Ms. Turtle. I was able to picture Ms. Turtle in the office gossiping. Overall, you did a great job on the story!
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ReplyDeleteHey there Haley,
ReplyDeleteFirst off I really enjoyed your story, it was very humorous. I really enjoyed the pun you made at the end, where you kind off tied the two stories together by saying “I am going to have to drop you”. I right away got the reference and greatly appreciated it! I look forward to reading your future stories!
Hi Haley! First of all, I really liked your character's names, especially Reginald Goose. He sounded very proper. Your story was funny and I cannot believe he set rules against office gossip! That should be real life because that would probably help avoid a lot of issues that arises from gossip. I really liked your story and look forward to reading others!
ReplyDeleteHi Haley! Your story for Week 11 is amazing. I love how creative you are because it also shows more about your personality. I especially love how you added The Office image in your story. It makes sense since this story relates to gossiping. Keep up the great work, Haley! Good luck on your semester and I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving break!
ReplyDeleteHey Haley,
ReplyDeleteYour stories are so fun to read! It's my second time back around reading your stories and they never let me down! Your dialogue with the characters and the story are very well-written. Your passion for these stories show! Great job
Hi Haley. I like your story! I think it’s really unique and creative. I could imagine the office you described in my head. I like how detailed and vivid your descriptions of the office and the middle-aged woman are. The scenes are all very vivid and full of imaginary details. I felt like I was in the office hearing the conversations. Oh wow. The ending of this story is really intense. Gossiper is indeed dangerous! Thank you for a great story!
ReplyDeleteHey Haley,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your story and enjoyed being able to read it. It was so unique and creative which made it so easy to become interested in it and continue reading until the very end. It is prevalent in this story just how much you care about your writing and how talented you are.
Hey Haley!
ReplyDeleteRumors are so detrimental in the work force and they do get spread around like wildfire, sometimes they can even ruin peoples's lives. This is a great story (with funny names) about that scenario and exemplifies the importance of NOT spreading rumors. Great story and great job!
Hey Haley! I really enjoyed reading your story! I think you did a great job of keeping the theme from the original Jataka tale but also adding your own twist into it. I also like how you added in character names from The Office as well, and included an image of an office workspace. It really brings together the whole theme of your story. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHey Haley! I love stories that teach a lesson and in this case, I learned that keeping your mouth shut when you're not supposed to be speaking about certain things will probably benefit you in the end if the only thing you're receiving in return for your gossip is personal satisfaction. I also love how we learn not to get into other people's business because we don't know what the ramifications of our nosiness will be. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHey Haley! I just wanted to say that I loved your story! Wow! I can see that you put a lot of hard work and creativity into your writing! You also grabbed my attention and had it till the very end! Therefore, keep up the good work! I look forward to reading more of your stories! Good luck with the rest of your semester! It is close to being over! Also, have a good Thanksgiving break!
ReplyDeleteHey Haley! I liked the play on the story's original words where the turtle was 'dropped' by the goose - i liked that you used it to mean she was fired. It was a really cute story and the detail was helpful in helping me picture everything. Ms. Turtle certainly reminded me of the gossips in my own family!
ReplyDeleteHey Haley! I loved reading through this story as well! I think the jatakas were my favorite reading assignments in this class, so I love reading through remakes of them. You did such a great job of taking a jataka and translating into a modern type story, with the example of an office busybody. Great job with descriptions as well – such as the clacking of the fingernails and the color!
ReplyDelete