It’s that time of the week – yes, the one where I give you lots of unconnected words and expect you to come up with an entertaining story. So, here goes:
Can you tell a story in 54 words using the following words in it somewhere:
- HUSKY
- ACNE
- SPACEMAN
- WHEELBARROW
- LETTUCE
Last week’s challenge was to write a story in 40 words using the following four words in it somewhere:
- BONSAI
- PUDDLE
- KNAPSACK
- REJOICE
Here are your excellent stories:
Scavenger
Rejoicing, I jumped over the puddle with the purloined bonsai in my knapsack and hurtled down the street, back to the party. Would I be the first one back with the entire contents of the scavenger hunt in my possession?
Nicola Daly:
‘‘Why do you have a bonsai tree sticking out of your haversack?’
‘My Glad Bonsai? It likes to be with me when I play the rejoice game and splash in puddles.’
‘Ok-ay. What did you say your name was?’
‘Pollyanna.’
The hobo found a neglected bonsai plant in a puddle on the road. He picked it up and wrapped it in his knapsack. Through love and care, the bonsai plant came back to life. He was so rejoiced.
When the Name Speaks for Itself
Rejoicing in her journeyman years, a worn-out knapsack as luggage, she happily jumped over the puddle searching for the village hotel of Killer-On-The-Loose-Field. The receptionist smiled at the bonsai gardener apprentice: “One week free, if you stay tonight.” She wondered why.
Rejoice! The delivery driver drops a parcel on my doorstep before running away. However, the knapsack I’d ordered had been left in a puddle. I flicked the parcel into the hallway, where it knocked over two of my Bonsai trees.
That shrinking powder worked. I would rejoice for the money for the copyright. A jar of it in your knapsack and you’d be amazed at the possible adventures. A puddle becomes a lake and a few bonsai a redwood forest.
The Puddle People loved bedtime stories.
“There was a tiny tree…”
“Bonsai!” shouted the children.
“Yes, and it had lots of friends.”
“Yay!” they rejoiced.
“One of their friends slept in a bag.”
“A knapsack!” shouted Pedro, the clever one.
All ready to rejoice. The bonsai fit into my knapsack and my planned getaway route was set. A face down fall in the mud puddle made the get away impossible.
The Arrow
His knapsack on her table. Inside: her daughter’s blanket.
The bonsai was pruned. Fresh clippings formed an arrow in a puddle, pointing to the basement.
Rejoice? His first mistake? Or trap?
Should she follow? Await backup? She followed.
The bonsai had fallen off the back of the van, landing in a puddle. A young child with a knapsack almost bigger than she was retrieved it and gently placed it inside. If plants could rejoice, this one was smiling.
Joey loved his bonsai printed knapsack, not the envy of his mates. On the way to school, Joey admired a real bonsai plant, but saw it was too near a puddle, so rescued it. The tree rejoiced in his act.
Murray Clarke:
Masahiko Kimura is considered the world’s leading Bonsai expert. He rejoiced when the Prime Minister of Japan, Sanae Takaichi, produced the award from out of his knapsack. So delighted was he, that he slipped over and fell into a puddle.
A Game of War
We played War in the woods behind our house. I had Aunt Ruth’s Bonsai in my knapsack, I imagined it was a bomb. I ran through the puddles, slid in the mud and threw the bonsai at my enemy and rejoiced.
A bonsai sat in a puddle thinking about it’s world journey. It had fallen out of a travellers knapsack. It was free! It could rejoice in the knowledge that its roots would grow and turn into a mighty oak tree!
Fortunate Misfortune
Ugh! She’d stepped in a puddle while loading bonsai trees in mother’s van. Kiko raced back inside for dry socks discovering she’d almost forgotten her knapsack. She rejoiced that that misfortune had saved her from leaving her science project behind!
If it fits…
Peppi packed his knapsack and set out to the bonsai plant. He rejoiced when he was immediately hired, the plant manager saying that he had the right size but warned him of occupational dangers, like drowning in the brobdingnagian puddle.
I was trimming the bonsai trees at the nursery when I realized I was standing in a puddle of water, made by the gardeners that morning. I would rejoice the discovery of a towel in my knapsack. Bingo! Got one!
Moments
Beneath blossoms, a bonsai stands,
A child jumps in a puddle, clapping her hands,
In a knapsack, she carries dreams of gold,
Laughter echoes, magic unfolds,
Twilight falls, hearts dance and rejoice,
In simple moments we find life’s sweetest voice.
Bonsai Trees are Cute
You’re not a tad bit excited to be taking bonsai lessons? I know it’s not like street racing through puddles, but at least it’s legal. I threw my knapsack over my shoulder and rejoiced at the thought of tiny trees.
Following along the track
Your knapsack draped upon your back
Crossing puddle, river, stream
Realising common dream
Of freedom. Truth. A common voice
In nature let us both rejoice
From our shackles hence release
Bonsai! We have found our peace
Carrying a knapsack, I paused by a puddle where a tiny bonsai reflected its fragile shape; travelers gathered to rejoice as sunlight broke through the clouds, revealing a hidden path that promised hope, wonder, and unexpected friendship ahead for all.
The community was finished. Painted wee homes lined the path of tiny pebbles meandering through miniature Bonsai trees to the glass puddle. There would be time to rejoice once the Littles moved from the knapsack to the new fairy garden.
Skipping and singing a little song … Oh Bonsai Tree, O Bonsai Tree, your small size I rejoice in. As I went along I jumped a puddle and dropped my knapsack, but I was still singing… ‘nothing gonna break my stride…’
Whispered Secrets
A tiny bonsai grew in the wizard’s knapsack, its roots tangled in a spell. Each morning he watered it from an enchanted puddle that never dried. The tree whispered secrets of ancient forests that made the wizard’s weary heart rejoice.
I could not rejoice that day,
At the garden centre I smuggled a bonsai into my knapsack. As I brazenly passed the checkout, I slipped in a puddle and to my horror the bonsai shot out and revealed my crime.
small places
such sad faces
bonsai out of a knapsack
she bounced up and back
and tree she did sow
showed rejoicing
at the constant beauty of it all
***
Image credit: Pinterest
Esther Chilton 
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