Short Story - 1313 Words

Inside the yellow plastic cage, a few mice laid down and looked like they were drifting off to sleep. Others rolled onto their backs and kicked their little legs frantically in the air. One snapped at the hunks of corncob bedding as if they were to blame. One slid bonelessly off the little plastic clubhouse inside and crumpled in a heap. The cage fogged with their dying respirations, and the air filled with the tang of urine. As one gasped for air, it thrust its paw, pink and hand-like, against the side of the cage and glared at her accusingly. Diane hated to watch them die. She glanced at the clock, the gas gauge, her own hands, and then at Joyce, her mentor. Joyce stared back at her, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, gauging her, judging her.†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"You don’t.† Joyce frowned. â€Å"Only senior people get clearance for BSL. Ruth worked there before she retired, and now Margie had to move up and take her place.† Diane had assumed she was Ruth’s replacement, but apparently, she was Margie’s replacement. â€Å"Well, at least someone got a promotion out of the deal.† â€Å"Promotion?† Joyce smirked. â€Å"I guess you could call it that.† â€Å"What kind of research goes on in there? Is it scary stuff like smallpox?† â€Å"What goes on in there is none of your business.† Diane frowned. â€Å"Don’t I have a right to know, just in case?† â€Å"In case of what?† â€Å"I don’t know, you see it in movies all the time. An Ebola monkey gets loose--.† Joyce laughed. â€Å"You don’t have to worry about anything like that. And no, you don’t have a right to know. The research is top secret so no one can steal their ideas.† They disposed of the carcasses, washed up, and went to the break room for lunch. Two students, research assistants, wolfed their lunches, in a hurry to get back to their experiments. Four animal technicians sat nearby. Diane remembered the blonde one’s name, Jennifer, but couldn’t remember the names of the other two. The fourth one she had never met before. â€Å"I’m Diane,† Diane smiled at the unknown tech. â€Å"The newbie.† The unknown tech gave her a quick, irritated smile. â€Å"I’m Tina.† She turned back to the others. â€Å"Nice to meet you, Tina,† Diane’s smile faded. Tina ignored her. â€Å"So I startedShow MoreRelatedshort story1018 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Short Stories:  Ã‚  Characteristics †¢Short  - Can usually be read in one sitting. †¢Concise:  Ã‚  Information offered in the story is relevant to the tale being told.  Ã‚  This is unlike a novel, where the story can diverge from the main plot †¢Usually tries to leave behind a  single impression  or effect.  Ã‚  Usually, though not always built around one character, place, idea, or act. †¢Because they are concise, writers depend on the reader bringing  personal experiences  and  prior knowledge  to the story. Four MajorRead MoreThe Short Stories Ideas For Writing A Short Story Essay1097 Words   |  5 Pageswriting a short story. Many a time, writers run out of these short story ideas upon exhausting their sources of short story ideas. If you are one of these writers, who have run out of short story ideas, and the deadline you have for coming up with a short story is running out, the short story writing prompts below will surely help you. Additionally, if you are being tormented by the blank Microsoft Word document staring at you because you are not able to come up with the best short story idea, youRead MoreShort Story1804 Words   |  8 PagesShort story: Definition and History. A  short story  like any other term does not have only one definition, it has many definitions, but all of them are similar in a general idea. According to The World Book Encyclopedia (1994, Vol. 12, L-354), â€Å"the short story is a short work of fiction that usually centers around a single incident. 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This story would be considered a gothic short story because of its use of setting, theme, symbolism, and literary devices used to portray the horror of a missing six-year-old girl. Plot is the literal chronological development of the story, the sequence of eventsRead MoreRacism in the Short Stories1837 Words   |  7 PagesOften we read stories that tell stories of mixing the grouping may not always be what is legal or what people consider moral at the time. The things that you can learn from someone who is not like you is amazing if people took the time to consider this before judging someone the world as we know it would be a completely different place. The notion to overlook someone because they are not the same race, gender, creed, religion seems to be the way of the world for a long time. Racism is so prevalentRead MoreThe Idol Short Story1728 Words   |  7 PagesThe short stories â€Å"The Idol† by Adolfo Bioy Casares and â€Å"Axolotl† by Julio Cortà ¡zar address the notion of obsession, and the resulting harm that can come from it. Like all addictions, obsession makes one feel overwhelmed, as a single thought comes to continuously intr uding our mind, causing the individual to not be able to ignore these thoughts. In â€Å"Axolotl†, the narrator is drawn upon the axolotls at the Jardin des Plantes aquarium and his fascination towards the axolotls becomes an obsession. In