Alison McCranie The Decision

By Alison McCranie

Thick beads of sweat slid from his forehead. His clammy hands clasped in anticipation as he prepared himself.

This decision could affect it all. The brightly lit clock taunted from its perch above the counter. Tick. Tock. How could he ever decide with this incessant noise resounding in his head?

Coffee dripped into the pot where it belonged; sizzled onto the landing where it did not.

A large man produced a cacophonic cough that rang through the entire space. A small child cried out. A woman with a notepad stepped forward.

The decision was made: “I’ll take the pancakes.”

Beads of sweat and clammy hands aren’t usually associated with someone ordering pancakes, except in Alison McCranie’s mind.

The 15-year-old Thousand Oaks resident, who won first place for her brief story, loves pancakes. She also loves writing. But she especially loves writing stories that end with the word “pancakes.”

It all began when Alison’s English teacher gave her an A on a story but also commented that her ending “and then he ate pancakes” seemed out of place. After that, every story Alison wrote for class ended with the word “pancakes.”

“It’s all because of a joke I had with my teacher,” she said.

It’s also because the teen really loves pancakes.

“Pancakes just fix every

Runner-up

under 18

Untitled

By Olivia Lynn

A girl held in her hands a pea pod. She tore it in half. The two peas were separated.

She dropped one on the floor and the other on a shelf. The pea on the floor was kicked into a garden.

The pea on the shelf was knocked onto a couch. From the couch to the trash, the pea went.

From the garden to the compost went the other. Trash to compost.

The two peas were together again. thing. They’re a comfort food.”

Still, she’s not going to spend her $50 winner’s prize on pancakes. “It’s going right into the cafund,” she said.

Of course, there’s a good chance Alison will drive that cato get some pancakes.

Or possibly to gebattercakes, flannel cakes, flapcakes, flapjacks, griddlecakes ohotcakes—all synonyms of pancakes. Because, when reading

her tiny story, the reader mighnotice she also loves unusuawords.

“The thesaurus is my friendIt’s fun to use different words,” Alison said.

—Nancy Needham

18-and-up winner to be announced next week

The winner of our 18andover Fiction in a Nutshell contest must be taking an extended vacation; we’ve still been unable to reach her.

If we don’t make contact by next week, we’ll run her winning entry and the runner-up.

We apologize for any inconvenience.