(no subject)
So I judge a Power of the Pen competition weekend before last where students are given a prompt and 40 minutes to write on it. One of the prompts was "Describe a search for truth through your narrative." This is part of what I would have written if I was in the competition. I'm sure there are mistakes. I only had 40 minutes.
The Case of the Tiffany Killer
Chapter 1 - Hooked on Trouble
"Gee golly gosh!" Peggy gasped as she stared at the dismembered limbs hanging on meat hooks. The killer had been a hunter - deer, racoons, the occassional bear. He knew much about how to preserve a kill. Peggy felt a wave of regret as she saw the flayed corpse of what she new must have been Jamie Lee Hitchcock. She was stretched out like a piece of tapestry or an old shirt hung on the line to dry. For the first time in her life Peggy feared she was over her head.
She never had reason to doubt before. Her scrapbooks were full to bursting with news clippings. Young Girl Finds Missing Kitten. The Case of the Phantom Hitchhiker Solved. Diamond Mine Ghost Unmasked. All articles featured a picture of Peggy smiling broadly hair a perfect beribboned flip. She had been in the sleuthing biz for years. The scrapbooking came later but now one simply seemed to provide for the other. Peggy relished the time she was able to take apart from her studies at Harmort College and weekly soda shop dates with Hugh to organize and decorate her scrapbook. Memories organized and labled. She was even able to add an artistic touch. For example on the page that featured her success in solving the Mystery of the Popcorn Pilferer - in which she discovered the dastardly villian who had been stealing the Cinema 10's snack supply was no other than the manager Ted Cooker. She had known it was him because he was unable to write with a pen - it kept slipping out of his hands because they were covered in artificial butter flavoring!! On that page of her scrapbook she not only included the article featuring her looking especially nice in a cardigan sweater and plaid skirt with always present string of pearls as she handed Ted over to the police, but also she decorated the page with little paper cut outs of popcorn and candy. It was ever so adorable.
This mystery would not lend itself well to any sort of memory book. She could appreciate though the killers attention to detail. She had seen some pretty upsetting things in her line of work. Once she came upon a skeleton that was believed to belong to Pillaging Paul the Pirate. That gave her quite a fright but she never gave up her search for the missing treasure of Casper Cove. Turns out it was just a fake skeleton put there to scare people away from the cove by Mr. Jasper the museum curator. "This is no fake skeleton." she said to her self as she came upon Ms. Lena Lorington face stapled to a corkboard on the left hand side of the garage. The killer must have carefully removed it from her head like a cook cutting the fat from a lambchop. "Good gracious!" she coughed as she covered her mouth to keep out the stench of rotting flesh that permiated the small darkened garage.
All clues had led her here. The dropped peice of lace in the woods, the consitancy of the mud left in boot prints, the killers penchant for pistachio nuts. Sheriff Thompson told her not go look any further in this case but she didn't listen to him.
"Listen Miss Hart" he'd said in that gentle fatherly way of his, "I appreciate all you've done for this force. Believe me. I mean I would have been in terrible trouble had you not found my wife's wedding ring for me. Who knew that a little bird could cause so much trouble?"
"Magpies often make their nests out of shiny objects that they find laying around." she had said rocking back on her heals a little and smiling proudly.
"That said, Miss Hart," the sheriff furrowed his brows. "I don't think these kidnappings are going to turn out well. We've already gotten reports of things being found around town."
"What kind of things! These may very well be clues!" Peggy's eyes were bright with the excitement of this new information and the wheels in her head were spinning like a kalidascope.
"Well, not clues persay. More like remains." He said slowly.
"I don't follow."
"The killer is leaving...parts...of his victims body in small turquoise packages tied with white ribbons like Tiffany boxes." The sheriff spoke as if his words tasted of bile hesitant and forced.
"Jumping Jehosiphat!" Peggy's mind reeled with the news. "Those poor girls...they must be in terrible pain! We need to find them quickly."
Sheriff Thompson sighed. He should have told her right then. Should have told her what was in the box. Why the need to find the 6 missing girls wasn't as urgent as Peggy might have hoped. But he couldn't. It was distasteful so he just shook his greying head and looked the girl detective in the eye. "Back off this case please. For me. And if not for me then do it for the memory of your little brother." But in the back of his mind...he knew she wouldn't.
The Case of the Tiffany Killer
Chapter 1 - Hooked on Trouble
"Gee golly gosh!" Peggy gasped as she stared at the dismembered limbs hanging on meat hooks. The killer had been a hunter - deer, racoons, the occassional bear. He knew much about how to preserve a kill. Peggy felt a wave of regret as she saw the flayed corpse of what she new must have been Jamie Lee Hitchcock. She was stretched out like a piece of tapestry or an old shirt hung on the line to dry. For the first time in her life Peggy feared she was over her head.
She never had reason to doubt before. Her scrapbooks were full to bursting with news clippings. Young Girl Finds Missing Kitten. The Case of the Phantom Hitchhiker Solved. Diamond Mine Ghost Unmasked. All articles featured a picture of Peggy smiling broadly hair a perfect beribboned flip. She had been in the sleuthing biz for years. The scrapbooking came later but now one simply seemed to provide for the other. Peggy relished the time she was able to take apart from her studies at Harmort College and weekly soda shop dates with Hugh to organize and decorate her scrapbook. Memories organized and labled. She was even able to add an artistic touch. For example on the page that featured her success in solving the Mystery of the Popcorn Pilferer - in which she discovered the dastardly villian who had been stealing the Cinema 10's snack supply was no other than the manager Ted Cooker. She had known it was him because he was unable to write with a pen - it kept slipping out of his hands because they were covered in artificial butter flavoring!! On that page of her scrapbook she not only included the article featuring her looking especially nice in a cardigan sweater and plaid skirt with always present string of pearls as she handed Ted over to the police, but also she decorated the page with little paper cut outs of popcorn and candy. It was ever so adorable.
This mystery would not lend itself well to any sort of memory book. She could appreciate though the killers attention to detail. She had seen some pretty upsetting things in her line of work. Once she came upon a skeleton that was believed to belong to Pillaging Paul the Pirate. That gave her quite a fright but she never gave up her search for the missing treasure of Casper Cove. Turns out it was just a fake skeleton put there to scare people away from the cove by Mr. Jasper the museum curator. "This is no fake skeleton." she said to her self as she came upon Ms. Lena Lorington face stapled to a corkboard on the left hand side of the garage. The killer must have carefully removed it from her head like a cook cutting the fat from a lambchop. "Good gracious!" she coughed as she covered her mouth to keep out the stench of rotting flesh that permiated the small darkened garage.
All clues had led her here. The dropped peice of lace in the woods, the consitancy of the mud left in boot prints, the killers penchant for pistachio nuts. Sheriff Thompson told her not go look any further in this case but she didn't listen to him.
"Listen Miss Hart" he'd said in that gentle fatherly way of his, "I appreciate all you've done for this force. Believe me. I mean I would have been in terrible trouble had you not found my wife's wedding ring for me. Who knew that a little bird could cause so much trouble?"
"Magpies often make their nests out of shiny objects that they find laying around." she had said rocking back on her heals a little and smiling proudly.
"That said, Miss Hart," the sheriff furrowed his brows. "I don't think these kidnappings are going to turn out well. We've already gotten reports of things being found around town."
"What kind of things! These may very well be clues!" Peggy's eyes were bright with the excitement of this new information and the wheels in her head were spinning like a kalidascope.
"Well, not clues persay. More like remains." He said slowly.
"I don't follow."
"The killer is leaving...parts...of his victims body in small turquoise packages tied with white ribbons like Tiffany boxes." The sheriff spoke as if his words tasted of bile hesitant and forced.
"Jumping Jehosiphat!" Peggy's mind reeled with the news. "Those poor girls...they must be in terrible pain! We need to find them quickly."
Sheriff Thompson sighed. He should have told her right then. Should have told her what was in the box. Why the need to find the 6 missing girls wasn't as urgent as Peggy might have hoped. But he couldn't. It was distasteful so he just shook his greying head and looked the girl detective in the eye. "Back off this case please. For me. And if not for me then do it for the memory of your little brother." But in the back of his mind...he knew she wouldn't.