My First Sexual Experience, in 100 Words

I'm having my seniors write 100-word stories on Monday. This story is one I wrote years ago and have been giving out as an example almost as long. As I ran off the assignment today, it occurred to me that this blog might be a good place to share this story, to get it off my chest in a more public way. So here you go.

It's about 1% fictionalized.

The Night Elizabeth Dorsey and I Swapped Spit

“Can I have some gum?” she asked, jog-bra’d, brown hair sweaty. We were seventh graders.

I took the wad from my mouth.

“Here.”

She plucked it away, popped it into her mouth, and smiled.

“Thanks.”

As she bounced back onto the court, laughing at Phil’s banter, I felt a buzzing emptiness in my stomach. Slightly dizzy, I ran after an errant volleyball.

Later, nervous, at the drinking fountain: “Can I have my gum back?”

“Yes.”

I took it like Communion, tasting her warm saliva.

During rotation she asked for it again. Back and forth, and then she left. I kept chewing.

Fatherhood in One Hundred Words

Today I had my seniors write hundred-word stories. Here's the one I wrote:

Sing-Along, With Daughters

On the front porch one Saturday afternoon, my daughters were playing with dolls and singing Disney songs. I lay on the porch swing, swaying back and forth, looking out at the street and the late September leaves just starting to turn color.

I couldn’t resist joining in. Knitting my brows in mock earnesty, I belted out, “I can show you the world, shining, shiiiimmering, sple-endid…”

Alice, three years old, interrupted me.

“Daddy, you can’t sing that.”

“Why not? I can’t show you the world?”

“No. You’re not Aladdin. Not at all.”

A tough lesson, perhaps, but she had me there.