Saturday's Storyteller: "Really, that's the best you can come up with?"
by Belinda Roddie "Really, that's the best you can come up with?" asked Mrs. Timber sourly. The tapping of her red pen against her desk was like the unwanted ticking of a doomsday clock. Grace was frozen. She had told the truth, and it was as if she had offered a sloppy saga instead. She wasn't sure how to respond to her teacher except, "But that's what happened. I'm not joking." Mrs. Timber was not amused. "Miss Farraway," she murmured, "I do not tolerate lies. Especially not elaborate lies. If I had a doctor's note, a parent's e-mail, then perhaps this conversation would be going differently. But as it is, I am not going to accept this far-fetched tale as an excuse to turn your essay in late." This was not good. The paper was worth thirty percent of the grade, and Grace only had it half-finished. She didn't know what else to do. At this rate, she could have easily said, "The dog ate my computer," an