The Assignment

By M.P. Witwer

“He would never forget those hands.” Frowning, Karen crossed out the sentence — too ambiguous.

She shifted nervously in the waiting room chair, trying to concentrate on her creative writing assignment to “craft a complete, unequivocal story using six words.”

“Screw you and your impossible assignment.” Probably wouldn’t fly.

Eventually, just one line remained:

“Relief came, then tears: ‘It’s benign.’”

Perfect. With a wan smile, she nodded in faint satisfaction.

Upon hearing her name called, however, Karen’s anxiety returned. She stowed her notebook, rose unsteadily and followed the nurse — clutching a fervent hope that life was about to imitate art.

* * *
© 2013 by M.P. Witwer • All rights reserved

2 thoughts on “The Assignment

  1. Brava!

    Thank you for your gracious permission to share this with one of my writing groups at LinkedIn. It’s an example of 1) an unforgettable story, a play-within-a-play, a deft piece of microfiction (with micropoetry inside!), and 2) something utterly beyond my reach.

    And were it not for the 99 word limit, I would cry “More!”

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