I am having some pedagogical fun at the Digital Pedagogy Lab this week. The course track I am taking is called Critical Pedagogy and Storytelling, and it’s facilitated by Laura Gibbs, who keeps a blog of microfiction materials.

I am going through chapter one of the microfiction OER text she created and I wanted to try out my first 100-word story. I usually write memoir, but I want to try out fiction. This story was sparked by true events, but I imagined some elements. Here goes:

Swallowed

When the volunteer firefighters started demolishing the home, they started with the home’s roof and walls. Wall studs like whale ribs jutted out from the steel frame.

Inside, you could see empty cans, old clothes crumpled on the floor like a lost and found box, cat litter scattered like confetti—remnants of the family that once lived there.