Today in my Digital Pedagogy Lab course, we are reading about how public domain and OER sources can help a microfiction writer create a compelling story. I found it helpful to use biblical verse to integrate a lot of meaning in a short amount of space.

In Chapter Two, I appreciated the opportunity to peruse different mythological texts and think of ways to integrate either that material or allusions to that material into my writing to add layers of meaning. I started writing this short story yesterday, and it was based on a fire that happened down my road, but I fictionalized it: Fire Engulfs Home.

This morning, when I started revising this micro-fiction story, I knew immediately that I wanted to word-play with proverbs from the New Testament. Jesus was a cool guy, and I should probably leave him alone in my stories, but I can’t help it.

Here’s what I came up with:

Engulfed

Volunteer firefighters trotted their trucks up the hill past her house. They emptied their reservoirs, then turned around one by one to circle down the hill for refilling. She sat on her front porch, watching smoke descend over her home. The kingdom of heaven is like that, unto treasure hid in a field. The sky cracked open, and rain poured from the sky.