2802. A horrible nightmare © Bruce Goodman 2 August 2023

Louis was all of sixteen. He was sick to death of all the negative stuff that abounded in the world. Even his English teacher was a bag of negative aphorisms. The class was currently doing “Creative Writing”. They had to compose a daily story on a topic announced each day by Ms Virginia Lansdown, the teacher. Write a story set in war. Write a story where the leader gets assassinated. Write a story about homeless people living on the street. And today’s creative writing topic: Write a dream that went horribly wrong; an utter nightmare. Louis had had enough. He wrote his dream of money and luxury, of fame and adulation, of mansions and swaying palm trees around his swimming pools, and of maids and butlers scuttling after him to fulfil his every need such as cleaning and polishing his Porsche. Ms Virginia Lansdown gave Louis a failure. “You must write on the topic. I didn’t ask for a happy dream, I asked for a horrid dream; a nightmare if you will.” “Quite frankly, Miss,” said Louis, “if my dream came true I couldn’t think of anything worse.” Contact Author Back to Index Next Story Previous Story