The Unexpected Obedience of a Pigeon
Both had seen mild success in the world of writing. Ted’s commentary on the proper growing seasons of tomatoes had made its way to most gardening stores in a one hundred mile radius, and the brochures Ross had composed about the beauty of a pigeon were now a part of numerous visitor’s centers in the dull surrounding towns.
As good friends for over thirty years, and neighbors for fifteen, they celebrated the success of the other as their own. Except, as is probably already evident, there was not a great deal of true success to speak of. This is why it was not peculiar in the slightest when they both announced one day that they were beginning a new project, one of grander proportions than the brochures and tomato books they were currently recognized on the streets for. Both decided to write a novel.
“A tricky business you’re getting yourself into,” each told the other.
“Nothing I can’t deal with,” came the reply.
They navigated their writing struggles on a “don’t ask, don’t tell” basis. They did not care to know the subject the other was writing about, nor the expected length, or even genre of the piece. As they both worked feverishly on their writings, a strange change in their characters took place. They had always been close, but now they became joined at the hip. They wrote, ate, cheered on their favorite squash teams in the same room. They were both nicer and more considerate towards each other, and their sarcastic natures diminished as their politeness grew.
Perhaps the most significant event that occurred in this time period was when Ted received a letter from a previous girlfriend, who requested to meet again in the near future and catch up on their lives. Ted responded that he was too busy with intergalactic travel, as he wanted to seem mysterious while being undoubtable unavailable. He recalled this exchange to Ross at a later time, receiving a much stronger response than he expected.
“You turned her down? You’re loony. To this day, I would put my life on pause to have lunch with that girl.”
Ted responded with nothing more than a quizzical look, expecting Ross to elaborate. Instead, however, Ross lowered his head in a defeated manner, which Ted took to mean their conversation had come to an end.
All this led up the day both of their novels were successfully published, when Ted breached what he considered to be a difficult topic.
“I don’t want you to read my book,” he burst out.
“Why not? Is the writing bad? You know I wouldn’t judge you based on that.”
“No. It’s just- Personal. I won’t mind strangers reading my book, but you know me so well, and I can’t stand the thought of you looking through this work. It makes sense, right? I’m assuming you feel a similar way about me picking apart your novel.”
“On the contrary,” replied Ross. “There is no one in this world I would rather have read my novel than my best friend. Only when I have earned your respect can I consider my piece a true accomplishment. But I will respect your wishes and not read your book.”
The next day, Ross read Ted’s book. And understood within a page why Ted had wanted him to stay away from it.
And, Ted read Ross’s book, and understood within a page why Ross had desperately wanted him to read it.
Ross’s Book
Dedicated to Ted, the most steadfast and true friend I could ever have.
Introduction~~~
I want to preface this story, one about the triumphs of unlikely friendships, by an experience of my own. In college, I was head over heels for a girl in my classes who had eyes exactly one shade bluer than the sky. We had the most stimulating conversations, and we seemed to complete each other. I finally decided to ask her out one day, and approached her side only to discover an infinitely more attractive man than I slide into the seat I was timidly inching toward. He dapperly and successfully managed to ask this girl on a date. As she accepted and he walked confidently away, he looked right at me and initiated our first conversation.
“Pretty good, right?”
This man, after dating the only girl I ever believed I could love for maybe a month or two and leaving her with a broken heart, somehow miraculously transformed into my best friend. You will not see the two of us apart often, and I have next to no regrets that he slid in front of me that day.
This is for you, bud.
Ted’s Book
Dedicated to my parents.
Introduction~~~
The following pages explore regret more deeply than anything else. The unfortunate way one mistake in your younger life can follow you for what seems like all eternity. How even good people make mistakes, and feel guilty, and finally discover that they need to speak the truth.
I knew they were perfect for each other. Everyone said it. But I could not allow him to be happy. He was better than me in classes, embarrassing me in front of the professors who had once smiled fondly down at the head of my father. I decided to take advantage of my assets and take his girl away from him. My space-themed pick-up line, which I used in order to give myself a true challenge, worked perfectly up until the point when I looked into his eyes and my natural good nature took advantage of me. I gave him the best gift I could think of, which in my egotistical brain, was my friendship. I may have overcompensated a bit, because thirty years later we still have mind numbing conversations day in and day out. I will forever regret stealing his soulmate, because in that moment I seem to have made him mine.
That night, Ted gathered his belongings and moved to the west, leaving only a note to Ross expressing his now-understood-to-be-fake sorrow in leaving such an amazing friend behind.
Or he would have, if Ross had not called out to him as he walked away from the house, initiating a code word that caused a dense swarm of pigeons to descend onto him. Ross smiled at his new nemesis, and shouted, loud enough for him to hear within the storm.
“Pretty good, right?”
Self-Assessment
I wrote this short story with a specific venue in mind: A book of short stories titled One More Thing by BJ Novak, who is also an actor on the popular TV show The Office. Every short story in this collection focuses on imagination and surprise, while expressing subtle lessons and ideals to keep in mind. They are not stories you could find in a publication such as The New Yorker, as they are not polished or significant in an obvious way. They require less thought to break down, but are more open mind, which is what first drew me to these stories. They are also typically humorous, as can be expected from an esteemed comedy writer.
Looking at my work, I realize it seems a bit disjointed and whimsical rather than comedic. This is because I decided to focus on the surprise element so central to Novak’s writing instead of the comedy, which I could never hope to pull off in a successful fashion. Every story I read, even as I learned his writing style and decided I would be able to outwit him on his next one by thinking of unpredictable endings before thy happened, took me somewhere I never imagined it going. Despite all of this, the stories made sense in a nonsensical way, meaning they should not come together as beautifully as they managed to. An example which speaks to this from the collection centers on a boy who tells his grandma, as she lays on her deathbed, that he will visit her in heaven. While I fully expected the boy to be too busy visiting others in heaven, and neglect his grandmother, it is actually she who decides her grandchild is simply too dull to waste her time with, because she is surrounded by all the greats who ever lived. Using this model, I created a short story which was not conventional, but included the major components every short story contains.
Looking at the reference document provided, I moved past the obvious fact that my short story should be short and easily absorbed in one sitting. My first area of focus was crafting a story in which the concentration never shifts from the main plot. I accomplished this because, while my story includes quirky statements and details, it never strays from its intended story line. For example, the passage at the beginning, in which I characterize Ross by discussing his previously written pigeon brochures, becomes central to the story at the end when he calls upon them to attack Ted. Another instance of these subtle but important details is the paragraph regarding their habits while they write their stories. It shows that as Ted progresses with his introduction and his guilt grows, he again seeks out Ross to try and lessen it. Ross, on the contrary, is reminded of all the positive qualities of his friend, and therefore also spends additional time with him. I also aimed to eliminate any unessential features, such as descriptions of surroundings, as it does not do anything to carry the plot forward within this story.
Another goal of mine was to make Rodd and Ted static characters, as characters often are in short stories. This factor was touched upon in the reference document when it mentioned some ways in which short stories are different than novels. Although Ted and Ross appear to change from the viewpoint of the reader, their brief recollections of the past and assessments of the present prove that neither have transformed in any way since they first met each other thirty years ago. The setting is similarly one dimensional, as it never appears to vary.
Finally, as the class agreed was most significant, it delivered a social commentary, on two fronts instead of one. Ross spoke frankly about how events which seem impossible to overcome could be transformed into much more positive views when acted upon with the proper amount of optimism. Ted then discussed regrets, touching specifically on the negative side effects of revenge and how honesty, which often the more difficult choice, is usually the best for everyone. The final scene, which in the spirit of the short story is meant to be left open to the reader, aims to elicit an emotion out of the audience. As described in the original short story presentation, these emotions are individual to the specific reader, and could range in this story from confusion to amusement to horror. Something that struck me about Novak’s work is that there were numerous possible takeaways from each of his stories. Between the theme and final feelings in my story, I believe I accomplished this same ability for readers to end the story with a plethora of possible emotions.
Looking specifically at the performance and experience surrounding that performance, I have to say that this was difficult. Sitting down to write this, my mindset was that it would take no longer than an hour. However, coming up with the idea itself took that long, and it transformed multiple times, from two novelists writing about each other to two friends writing about the same instance in their lives to two friends doing this with fighting opinions of this moment. Other factors, such as the ending, were not planned, and came about as I simply refused to pause writing. One positive about writing a short story is that there was not a lack of ideas or additional points in the plot I wanted to write about. I had to condense my starting intension from Ross and Ted writing a chapter about each other to writing a few paragraphs in an introduction, because chapters could have easily transformed into individual short stories in their own right.
My work is nowhere near as polished or comedic as Novak’s, but the intent comes across to the reader, making it comparable. Reading and mimicking him gave me a greater appreciation for the difficulties and subtleties of a short story. Approaching them from the outside, they seem significantly simpler than a novel, when in reality they give the writer a shockingly small amount of time to impact classrooms full of students.
Both had seen mild success in the world of writing. Ted’s commentary on the proper growing seasons of tomatoes had made its way to most gardening stores in a one hundred mile radius, and the brochures Ross had composed about the beauty of a pigeon were now a part of numerous visitor’s centers in the dull surrounding towns.
As good friends for over thirty years, and neighbors for fifteen, they celebrated the success of the other as their own. Except, as is probably already evident, there was not a great deal of true success to speak of. This is why it was not peculiar in the slightest when they both announced one day that they were beginning a new project, one of grander proportions than the brochures and tomato books they were currently recognized on the streets for. Both decided to write a novel.
“A tricky business you’re getting yourself into,” each told the other.
“Nothing I can’t deal with,” came the reply.
They navigated their writing struggles on a “don’t ask, don’t tell” basis. They did not care to know the subject the other was writing about, nor the expected length, or even genre of the piece. As they both worked feverishly on their writings, a strange change in their characters took place. They had always been close, but now they became joined at the hip. They wrote, ate, cheered on their favorite squash teams in the same room. They were both nicer and more considerate towards each other, and their sarcastic natures diminished as their politeness grew.
Perhaps the most significant event that occurred in this time period was when Ted received a letter from a previous girlfriend, who requested to meet again in the near future and catch up on their lives. Ted responded that he was too busy with intergalactic travel, as he wanted to seem mysterious while being undoubtable unavailable. He recalled this exchange to Ross at a later time, receiving a much stronger response than he expected.
“You turned her down? You’re loony. To this day, I would put my life on pause to have lunch with that girl.”
Ted responded with nothing more than a quizzical look, expecting Ross to elaborate. Instead, however, Ross lowered his head in a defeated manner, which Ted took to mean their conversation had come to an end.
All this led up the day both of their novels were successfully published, when Ted breached what he considered to be a difficult topic.
“I don’t want you to read my book,” he burst out.
“Why not? Is the writing bad? You know I wouldn’t judge you based on that.”
“No. It’s just- Personal. I won’t mind strangers reading my book, but you know me so well, and I can’t stand the thought of you looking through this work. It makes sense, right? I’m assuming you feel a similar way about me picking apart your novel.”
“On the contrary,” replied Ross. “There is no one in this world I would rather have read my novel than my best friend. Only when I have earned your respect can I consider my piece a true accomplishment. But I will respect your wishes and not read your book.”
The next day, Ross read Ted’s book. And understood within a page why Ted had wanted him to stay away from it.
And, Ted read Ross’s book, and understood within a page why Ross had desperately wanted him to read it.
Ross’s Book
Dedicated to Ted, the most steadfast and true friend I could ever have.
Introduction~~~
I want to preface this story, one about the triumphs of unlikely friendships, by an experience of my own. In college, I was head over heels for a girl in my classes who had eyes exactly one shade bluer than the sky. We had the most stimulating conversations, and we seemed to complete each other. I finally decided to ask her out one day, and approached her side only to discover an infinitely more attractive man than I slide into the seat I was timidly inching toward. He dapperly and successfully managed to ask this girl on a date. As she accepted and he walked confidently away, he looked right at me and initiated our first conversation.
“Pretty good, right?”
This man, after dating the only girl I ever believed I could love for maybe a month or two and leaving her with a broken heart, somehow miraculously transformed into my best friend. You will not see the two of us apart often, and I have next to no regrets that he slid in front of me that day.
This is for you, bud.
Ted’s Book
Dedicated to my parents.
Introduction~~~
The following pages explore regret more deeply than anything else. The unfortunate way one mistake in your younger life can follow you for what seems like all eternity. How even good people make mistakes, and feel guilty, and finally discover that they need to speak the truth.
I knew they were perfect for each other. Everyone said it. But I could not allow him to be happy. He was better than me in classes, embarrassing me in front of the professors who had once smiled fondly down at the head of my father. I decided to take advantage of my assets and take his girl away from him. My space-themed pick-up line, which I used in order to give myself a true challenge, worked perfectly up until the point when I looked into his eyes and my natural good nature took advantage of me. I gave him the best gift I could think of, which in my egotistical brain, was my friendship. I may have overcompensated a bit, because thirty years later we still have mind numbing conversations day in and day out. I will forever regret stealing his soulmate, because in that moment I seem to have made him mine.
That night, Ted gathered his belongings and moved to the west, leaving only a note to Ross expressing his now-understood-to-be-fake sorrow in leaving such an amazing friend behind.
Or he would have, if Ross had not called out to him as he walked away from the house, initiating a code word that caused a dense swarm of pigeons to descend onto him. Ross smiled at his new nemesis, and shouted, loud enough for him to hear within the storm.
“Pretty good, right?”
Self-Assessment
I wrote this short story with a specific venue in mind: A book of short stories titled One More Thing by BJ Novak, who is also an actor on the popular TV show The Office. Every short story in this collection focuses on imagination and surprise, while expressing subtle lessons and ideals to keep in mind. They are not stories you could find in a publication such as The New Yorker, as they are not polished or significant in an obvious way. They require less thought to break down, but are more open mind, which is what first drew me to these stories. They are also typically humorous, as can be expected from an esteemed comedy writer.
Looking at my work, I realize it seems a bit disjointed and whimsical rather than comedic. This is because I decided to focus on the surprise element so central to Novak’s writing instead of the comedy, which I could never hope to pull off in a successful fashion. Every story I read, even as I learned his writing style and decided I would be able to outwit him on his next one by thinking of unpredictable endings before thy happened, took me somewhere I never imagined it going. Despite all of this, the stories made sense in a nonsensical way, meaning they should not come together as beautifully as they managed to. An example which speaks to this from the collection centers on a boy who tells his grandma, as she lays on her deathbed, that he will visit her in heaven. While I fully expected the boy to be too busy visiting others in heaven, and neglect his grandmother, it is actually she who decides her grandchild is simply too dull to waste her time with, because she is surrounded by all the greats who ever lived. Using this model, I created a short story which was not conventional, but included the major components every short story contains.
Looking at the reference document provided, I moved past the obvious fact that my short story should be short and easily absorbed in one sitting. My first area of focus was crafting a story in which the concentration never shifts from the main plot. I accomplished this because, while my story includes quirky statements and details, it never strays from its intended story line. For example, the passage at the beginning, in which I characterize Ross by discussing his previously written pigeon brochures, becomes central to the story at the end when he calls upon them to attack Ted. Another instance of these subtle but important details is the paragraph regarding their habits while they write their stories. It shows that as Ted progresses with his introduction and his guilt grows, he again seeks out Ross to try and lessen it. Ross, on the contrary, is reminded of all the positive qualities of his friend, and therefore also spends additional time with him. I also aimed to eliminate any unessential features, such as descriptions of surroundings, as it does not do anything to carry the plot forward within this story.
Another goal of mine was to make Rodd and Ted static characters, as characters often are in short stories. This factor was touched upon in the reference document when it mentioned some ways in which short stories are different than novels. Although Ted and Ross appear to change from the viewpoint of the reader, their brief recollections of the past and assessments of the present prove that neither have transformed in any way since they first met each other thirty years ago. The setting is similarly one dimensional, as it never appears to vary.
Finally, as the class agreed was most significant, it delivered a social commentary, on two fronts instead of one. Ross spoke frankly about how events which seem impossible to overcome could be transformed into much more positive views when acted upon with the proper amount of optimism. Ted then discussed regrets, touching specifically on the negative side effects of revenge and how honesty, which often the more difficult choice, is usually the best for everyone. The final scene, which in the spirit of the short story is meant to be left open to the reader, aims to elicit an emotion out of the audience. As described in the original short story presentation, these emotions are individual to the specific reader, and could range in this story from confusion to amusement to horror. Something that struck me about Novak’s work is that there were numerous possible takeaways from each of his stories. Between the theme and final feelings in my story, I believe I accomplished this same ability for readers to end the story with a plethora of possible emotions.
Looking specifically at the performance and experience surrounding that performance, I have to say that this was difficult. Sitting down to write this, my mindset was that it would take no longer than an hour. However, coming up with the idea itself took that long, and it transformed multiple times, from two novelists writing about each other to two friends writing about the same instance in their lives to two friends doing this with fighting opinions of this moment. Other factors, such as the ending, were not planned, and came about as I simply refused to pause writing. One positive about writing a short story is that there was not a lack of ideas or additional points in the plot I wanted to write about. I had to condense my starting intension from Ross and Ted writing a chapter about each other to writing a few paragraphs in an introduction, because chapters could have easily transformed into individual short stories in their own right.
My work is nowhere near as polished or comedic as Novak’s, but the intent comes across to the reader, making it comparable. Reading and mimicking him gave me a greater appreciation for the difficulties and subtleties of a short story. Approaching them from the outside, they seem significantly simpler than a novel, when in reality they give the writer a shockingly small amount of time to impact classrooms full of students.