Assignment Code: DCE-3/TMA/1/2021-2022

Course Code: DCE-3

Assignment Name: Short Story

Year: 2021-2022

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Attempt ALL the questions

100 marks

Q 1) Write a short story from the point of view of a stuntman who performs dare-devil stunts in films for a meager salary. The story could throw some light on what the man really feels about his job-whether he has any job-satisfaction or whether he is living on the edge just to keep himself and his family alive. 20

Ans) Bernard, a stunt actor was getting ready to go to work. He was pondering about his life and his job. If there’s one common denominator among the highest-grossing films of the 21st century, it’s that most include tremendously elaborate action sequences. There are the colossal sinking ships of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, the explosive pyrotechnics of Michael Bay’s Transformers, and the street bikes, crashing through glass and whizzing beneath 18-wheelers, of The Dark Knight.

Bernard saw these these sequences become bigger, faster, more ambitious and more expensive. Inevitably, they turn more dangerous, too. And the people who bring them to life – the invisible, undervalued warriors of Hollywood, whose days consist of car hits and fire burns and jumps from death-defying altitudes –stunt performers like Bernard.

“Is it worth it? Is it worth risking my life?”, I thought to myself as I went to work that day. I saw the news and I knew it could be my turn next. 

In the last month, the stunt community has been hit hard by not one but two on-set deaths. The first, in July, happened on the set of The Walking Dead, where a 33-year-old stuntman named John Bernecker died of blunt force trauma after falling 30 feet onto concrete. Bernecker had been rehearsing what was considered a routine fight scene that ended with a descent from a balcony, but he lost balance and fell; shortly thereafter, the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration launched an investigation of the accident.

And last week on the set of Deadpool 2 a stuntwoman named Joi Harris was killed in a motorcycle accident; she was a professional road racer and the sport’s first black female pioneer and this was her first time on a film set.

I get no job recognition, all the fame and glory goes to the actors. I am underpaid, I am unhappy. There is no point in risking my life for other peoples entertainment. I am going to quit my work today and leave this job.

Bernard then quit his job and took a safe job where he was valued, respected and kept safe.

Q 2) Write a short story for children on one of the following:

b) One good turn deserves another

Ans) Once upon a time, there lived a Master. He was a leading figure of his locality. He was very cruel and brutal. He was notorious for the exploitation of his attendants and slaves.

In a certain year, he had a slave who was fairly submissive, obedient and dutiful. The Master, who was very strict, treated him harshly. The slave sick of his master and ran away.

When he was passing through a jungle, he heard a lion roaring. He was frightened so much that he could not run away. For the time being, he considered himself a very unlucky fellow. Still, he was thinking about some shelter when after a moment, he saw the lion standing before him. The lion had a thorn in his paw and was tricking it on the ground again and again. The slave became bold, went near the lion and pulled our thorn. The lion licked his hand and went his way.

After a few days, the slave was arrested. As he had committed a crime by running away, he was thrown before a hungry hon. As soon as the lion saw the slave; he lay down on the ground and began to lick his feet. It was the same lion whom the slave had helped in his jungle. The people were surprised to see this strange scene. They set the slave free. Naturally, it was the reward of his own kindness.

Morals:

Do Good and have Good.

Virtue is its Own Reward.

One good turn deserves another.

Kindness never goes unrewarded.

Act well and be regarded well.

Q 3) Write a mystery/detective story around the following situation:

As the sun went down and darkness fell, he moved his wheelchair near the window. Lights came on in the flats across the street. Only a flat on the eighth floor, exact opposite to his, was still in darkness. Straining his eyes, he saw two men standing near the open window. To his utter horror, he saw one of them push the other out of the window. 20

Ans) He watched as the body fell down eight floors finally splatting on the ground. It was clear that the person had died on the spot. This was clearly a murder and he knew it. He saw the other person pushing that individual who fell to his death.

After looking around he saw that man running from the eighth floor. He followed him and was watching him take the stairs in order to avoid the camera in the elevator. He could see him descending each floor through the stairwell. He quickly got a hold of the phone and informed the security downstairs of this man. He asked the security personnel to go to the building across the street and apprehend that man. The security personnel did not believe the man at first. Due to the street being very busy, they were oblivious to the fact that such a heinous crime had occurred right across their homes.

The man did not wait for the security personnel to take action. He quickly grabbed his binoculars and followed this man from the eighth floor. He watched him change his stance as he crossed the crowd that had gathered below the building to see the dead body. He acted sad and quickly left the scene. The man in the wheelchair took detailed notes of this persons looks, behaviour attire and location and quickly dialled 911. He gave the description to the police who had already arrived at the scene by then. This timely information helped the cops apprehend the suspect.

The cops then called the person and asked him to verify if the person they had apprehended was correct. He came down and saw the attacker face to face. Even though he was apprehended and was in cuffs, it was scary for him. He took a good look at the attacker – from head to toe, and he proceeded to tell the cops, “yes, its him. He’s the one who pushed the other man from the balcony.:

The story was then corroborated by other eyewitnesses as well. The cops praised the old man in the wheelchair for his perseverance, observance and timely action that he took. They acknowledged that the attacker was only apprehended because of this mans actions.

Q 4) Use the opening sentence given below to write a short story:

“Half an hour into the flight, the hi-jackers suddenly announced their presence in the plane.”

20

Ans) Half an hour into the flight, the hi-jackers suddenly announced their presence in the plane. While Jason was in the restroom, suddenly a few male voices were heard ordering everyone to stay in their seats. Then a few loud gunshots set off towards the front of the plane, and many people screamed. A moment later, someone thumped on the bathroom door, and commanded him to get out. He now knew exactly what was happening. Obeying the angry voice, he unlocked the door. Simultaneously, it quickly slid open. Jason’s internal organs must have jumped half a meter when he saw the man’s face and what device he held in his hand.

“Sit down! Now!” he commanded, violently pointing to an empty steward’s seat with his revolver. Jason knew that this was a good time to do as he was told. After another minute of the terrorists barking orders at people, a steward who had a gun trained on him came to the back and took a seat next to Jason.

Suddenly, a trio of shots rang out from the front of the plane, the last of which was almost drowned out by the passengers’ screams. The plane began a sharp descent, losing altitude rapidly. Objects flew up and hit the roof as Jason’s stomach lurched in the sudden weightlessness. The plane began to shake violently, rolling upside-down like a dying animal. It took about ten agonizing minutes until Jason could clearly see the sea below, racing up to meet them. Amongst the chaos, Jason caught a glimpse of a man’s eardrum bursting, as blood began to trickle out and up. The steward who had just sat down next to Jason yelled for him to push his back against his seat as hard as he could. Again, Jason thought that this was also a good time to obey. As he began to make out the white crests of the waves in the ocean, he also became aware that the rolling had ceased. The roar of the engines began to overpower the howling wind as the plane pulled up. It was too late though. An overwhelming impact kicked through and tore the plane apart. Jason felt a strong arm around him as foaming white water followed by blackness engulfed him.

Jason sat on a large, smooth rock, nicely shaded by some palm trees. He had just gathered half a dozen coconuts from some nearby palm trees that surrounded a small lagoon on the little Indonesian island. Using his shirt like a bowl, he gathered his collection and stood up, the whole time trying to keep his left leg elevated and his torso as straight as possible. Jason took his time to return to the campsite that the steward (who he now knew as Pete) had helped to make within several hours of the disaster: the disaster that killed the rest of the passengers.

Pete knew much more than Jason did about the crash. He seemed to remember a lot. When he told Jason of all the things that had happened after the plane met water, Jason was amazed at what effort Pete had put into rescuing him. Pete had been unsure what had happened right after the plane hit water, but he thought he regained consciousness quite soon afterwards, as the plane hadn’t even sunk at the time. It was a lucky thing that a bag of hand luggage swung open the storage door and fell out, landing nicely on Pete’s head. This bag ended up being the key to both their survival, as it woke Pete up from his unconscious state. Apparently, one split of the plane occurred very close to the back, however the split didn’t separate the plane any further. As the two of them had been sitting at the very back, Pete was able to open the door. Jason would have found this task somewhat tricky, not having read the safety leaflet.

Pete knew that he barely had enough time to rescue one of the passengers, and that anyone past the plane’s bathroom would prove much too time consuming – let alone difficult - to get to the door. Undoing Jason’s seatbelt he efficiently put him into his life jacket and inflated it. Then he grabbed him by his underarms and hauled him over his shoulders. He then laid him on the bench at the back wall, and promptly placed his foot there to stop him from sliding off. Now wedged between the walls of the narrow area, Pete pushed Jason through the door and out into open water. Exhausted, he brought himself out and also dropped the two-metre drop into water. If the split near the back of the plane hadn’t occurred at all, the drop would have been about five metres, and if the split fully detached both sides from each other, Pete and Jason would already be underwater. Jason had awoken from the two-meter fall. Pete and Jason then made it to the shore of a small nearby island, a swim of about half a kilometer. The survival instinct was strong.

“Thanks again for everything”, Jason said awkwardly, dropping his collection of coconuts onto the sand..

“Happy to help” Pete replied.

Jason and Pete had now been on the island for two days. At around lunchtime the next day Jason sat facing the shore, staring out to sea. Lost in his thoughts, it took Jason longer than it should have to notice the distant droning of the approaching aircraft. Leaping to his feet, Jason sprinted towards the campfire and grabbed a burning branch. Racing down towards the shore, he stabbed the branch into the bonfire pile. Within thirty seconds the bonfire was a towering inferno, with thick black smoke arising from the oily seaweed Pete had added.

By now the droning was clear, and the plane had just come into sight. As it banked towards the island, Jason collapsed in relief. Pete then came bolting from the undergrowth and skidded to a halt, staring up at the black pillar of smoke, a grin forming on his face. Jason turned to him.

“Thanks” he said.

Q 5) Continue the following story and take it to a logical conclusion which could either be happy or tragic:

As the car moved downhill, something snapped and the driver realized with horror that the car brakes had failed. The other occupants of the car —–two young sisters, a mother with a baby and an elderly gentleman—sensed instinctively, what had happened when the driver started pumping the brakes to make them work. The circuitous road, with mountains on one side and deep ravines on the other, ran two kilometers down before it leveled out. But could the driver manage to maneuver the vehicle that far especially on the hair-pin bends? The passengers sat ashen-faced. Only the baby gurgled and chuckled playfully, oblivious to the peril they were in…… 20

Ans) as the car progressed downwards, everyone was screaming and shouting. The driver however, was focused, and the flight-or-flight instinct kicked in. Clearly, the driver was fighting and was determined to get everyone out of this situation. There was only one problem. Gravity stood in the way. Because so many people were in the car and because they were going downhill, the car continued to gain momentum and the speedometer kept rising.

The panicked atmosphere in the car did not help either. The woman with the child gripped on to her baby tightly as possible, the elderly gentleman prayed to every god he knew, the sister hugged and held on to each other crying and closing their eyes. The driver successfully made sharp turns and it gave the people hope. After going around 500 metres, they could see they were doomed. Why? They were approaching a hair-pin-bend. How could they possible get out of this situation?

The driver, experienced as he was, was waiting to apply his skills for this exact thing. He remembered a braking technique that can lower the speed of a moving car in case the brake fails. He switched the gears one by one – from five to four to three to two and finally to one. With each switch, the car slowed its speed gradually and it was slow enough to make the sharp turn. A sigh of relief came when everyone saw the steep decline had ended and the driver took the opportunity and made the car come to a standstill by driving over bushes.

Everyone came out of that car safely. The people celebrated and everyone thanked and hugged the driver immensely.