By Mubarak Abdessalami

I want to write a story

1. Some imagination,
2. Relatively large vocabulary repertoire
3. Refined descriptive style.

          All that you need, then, is an idea to talk about employing the following fundamental elements:

1. Time and place (when and where?)
2. Events (what happened and how?)
3. Persons with roles in the events (who is there?)
4. Climax (The peak of the story)
5. Denouement (ending)

          For practicing, I have a story for you. Read it and see if all those elements are included. Then answer the questions below to see how it was written.

What happened?

         On a stormy chilly night, we were all at home. While my mother was in the kitchen preparing dinner, and my father was upstairs trying to install the new wireless mouse on his computer, my elder brother, Kim, and I were in the living room. I was watching Tom and Jerry cartoon on my tablet whereas Kim was listening to his favourite reggae band, UB40.

         All of a sudden, a deafening scream shook the house. Kim and I immediately rushed to the kitchen. We got there in almost no time to find our mother standing on a stool with a broom in her trembling hand.

- "Mom! What's wrong with you?" Kim kept repeating trying to get an answer, but in vain. Our poor mother was so pale and thunderstruck that she couldn’t utter a word. She was just gazing and pointing to the sink ...

Now, Can you imagine the end of the story?

Show Sample

At Kim's anxious insistence, and in a dim husky voice, our terrified mother replied,
      - "There's a rat in my kitchen!"
Instantaneously Kim started singing,
      - "There's a rat in mi kitchen, what am I gonna do?
       I'm gonna fix that rat, that's what I'm gonna do.
       I'm gonna fix that rat" (1)

            And we both burst into a hysteric laughter, but our unlucky mother was still shaking. That was just one of those unpleasant dreadful dreams I frequently have.
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(1) UB40 (British band) - Song - 1987 .