Stolen Pen

Setting: shop and home

Plot: a stolen pen quickly lost its lustre

Technique: twist

Example: Back in the sanctuary of her room, she shakily withdrew the stolen pen from her pocket. She could not believe it. The expensive pen that she had been hankering for ever since she spotted it in a shop was now hers! “Oh, won’t my friends turn green with envy when they see it!” she thought with pleasure. Then, as she twirled it lovingly in her fingers, a frown crossed her face. There was a hairline crack on the casing. How could she have missed that at the shop? Later, when she tried to write her name with it, she discovered that it left blotchy, blue stains on the paper.

Butcher

Setting: market

Plot: appearances can be deceiving

Technique: hyperbole

Example: Every time the hulking butcher brought down the cleaver with his large, meaty hand to chop up the beef into chunks, his customers jumped skittishly. “Anything else?” the glowering, gargoyle-like butcher would then ask. Most customers ended up buying more than they needed.

Pickpocket on the Train

Setting: train

Plot: a pickpocket on the train

Technique: twist

Example: As Joe kept the thief’s arms pinned behind his back, I searched his pockets. To my astonishment – nothing! Where was the wallet he had stolen from me?