Good Story : A Collection of Short Short Stories

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Cassandra Foster has worked extensively in the computer industry. She holds Ph.D. and MS degrees in computational linguistics from Georgetown University as well as a BA from Howard University. She lives in Washington, DC where she enjoys her grandchildren and children. She also enjoys tournament duplicate bridge. This is her first book.

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The Bottle Broke

Have you ever had a taste for something so strongly that you just had to have it? This happened to Bitty the youngest sister. She wanted a soda from the store, and she had exactly enough money to buy that soda--one quarter. However, she could not go to the store to buy the soda because Mother wanted her to stay home and do chores. Jimmy, the baby brother, volunteered to buy the soda at the store for her. He said he was going to the store anyway. Bitty agreed to that. She gave Jimmy her only quarter for the soda. Jimmy left, and it seemed as if he was gone for a very long time. During that time Bitty kept thinking about that nice cold soda--a jumbo cola. She could just taste it. She could taste the sweetness of it on her tongue. She could feel the carbonation, or the cola texture, in her throat. She waited and waited for Jimmy to return from the store. Finally, he appeared. But he did not have her soda. He told her the soda bottle broke and the soda spilled on the street.

Bitty was devastated! She did not know what to say or do. She wanted to complain to Mother about her soda, but how could she blame Jimmy if the bottle really broke. Big Bro, the oldest brother, listened to the commotion. He thought the whole incident was hilarious, and he made up a song (a ditty) about it. He sang:

The bottle broke
The bottle broke
The bottle bro-oke
So Jimmy said
So Jimmy said
So Jimmy sa-aid
But Bi-it-ty di-id not believe it
The bottle broke
The bottle broke
The bottle broke.

He must have sung that little song ten times. Each time, it exasperated Bitty more. From then on, when she wanted a soda from the store, she thought twice before asking Jimmy to get it.