Tidbits

Plot exercise: Forbidden fruit

This was an assignment to write a short scene in which every other sentence contains a rising action, and contains words from a specific vocabulary list (IIRC carrot, tiger, filthy, kitchen, appliance, plot).

EDIT 10/28/18: Fixed some errors, and also expanded on the scene to give it an actual ending.

If Diana knew her mom would be in the kitchen she'd have eaten the cookies already. But she had no time to rectify her mistake. Fluffy, her German Spitz, was howling to announce her arrival, and her six younger siblings were on their way to greet her, shrieking, "Diana, we're making pizza!"

"I dropped a carrot!" she announced, too loudly to be natural, as she ducked down and shoved the box of red velvet frosted cookies under the couch.

She knew it was dishonest to spend the grocery money her mother had given her on cookies for herself, but she'd been eyeing those cookies for weeks and they were on sale today – besides, they usually had homemade cookies for dessert every week, but her mother was three months pregnant and got sick when she smelled eggs, so Diana been cookie-deprived too long to help it.

She pretended to fumble around for the runaway vegetable and shove it into the grocery bag as her little siblings encircled her, tugging on her sleeves and begging her to come see the unique shapes they'd shaped their dough into. Somehow, she'd have to sneak the cookies into her locked treasure box, the only bit of privacy she had – she'd been given it when she started puberty so her little brothers would stop stealing bras out of her dresser and wearing them as hats, but she now used it to store things she wasn't supposed to have. As she brought the bags into the kitchen, she formulated a plot to trick her mother into leaving the area.

The kitchen was predictably covered in flour – perfect. "This kitchen is filthy!" Diana condemned as she looked from one little sibling to the other. "Mom, you go rest – I'll deal with this mess."

Before their mother could leave, they heard an odd sound. Diana looked back towards the front entrance. Fluffy was scratching furiously at the bottom of the couch like a starving tiger! The kids giggled.

"Someone go help her get her ball out from under the couch," said her mom, setting down the kitchen appliance she was cleaning.

"I will!" Diana said.

But four-year-old Dilly, always wanting to be the helper, was already there, and when Didi rushed into the room to intercept, the other little ones raced ahead of her.

"Look! It's cookies!" Dilly announced.

"Cookies? Cookies!" the kids echoed, as they descended on Dilly's discovery like vultures. "Diana, look! There were cookies under the couch!"

A plan took shape in Diana's mind – she imagined rushing past Dilly, snatching the cookies away, then running out the front door and jumping down the neighbor's well with them. She was doomed anyway. Might as well eat the cookies before facing eternal punishment. But she couldn't bring herself to move.

"Are you serious!?" her mother's voice boomed behind Didi.

Didi turned around, waiting to look her worst nightmares in her eye.

But her mother wasn't looking at her. She was looking beyond her, at the squealing mass of children in the living room. "You're acting like a bunch of savage animals! Bring those here!"

The kids stopped and looked at their mother with due guilt. Deacon, the seven-year-old, held the package out towards her like a reluctant tithe. Oh-so-helpful Dilly took the pack from him and ran it towards her mother enthusiastically.

Her mother examined the package, which had already been opened, with disdain as she waddled back into the kitchen. "When were these from? Dayleena's sleepover party? That was two months ago! You all need to learn to clean up your messes!" And with a final long-suffering sigh, she dumped the emptied the package into the compost.