Kevin Morrow Kevin Morrow, 17, is senior at Thousand Oaks High School.

Regarding his entry, “Every Inch a General,” Kevin said, “The imagery sort of just came to me.” He knew how it would end when he began writing it.

His biggest challenge was cutting it down to 100 words. The original draft, he said, was much longer and he had to shorten it.

His mother suggested that he enter the contest.

Kevin is on the TOHS academic decathlon team, and he’s an Eagle Scout. He’ll take history in college, he said, but he’s not sure what he’ll pursue as a major.

Every Inch a General

By Kevin Morrow

Rain fell on the empty battlefield. The match spluttered as his shaking hand lit a cigarette. A raindrop extinguished the match as it fell to the muddy ground. Artillery rumbled from the front lines, long since abandoned. This part of the battlefield lay hushed, nothing but the rain, the cold, the silent dead.

Sharon Piuser The general walked the field eyeing the abandoned articles of war; dented helmets, broken bayonets and bodies. An army of corpses, killed for his pride. He couldn’t fail them anymore.

The revolver was cold against his temple. He shivered, pulled the trigger and felt cold no more.

Sharon Piuser, 54, got the idea for her entry quite naturally. “My granddaughter started kindergarten the same year that my daughter started teaching.” Piuser, in trying to calm them down, noticed that they were similarly stressed.

Piuser enjoyed entering Fiction in a Nutshell again this year. “It’s a very fun contest and a huge challenge. I look forward to it.”

Like her counterpart in the under 18 category, she found that writing 100 words or less was the toughest part.

“Keeping it concise is a problem,” she said.

The First Day

of Kindergarten

By Sharon Piuser

She’d been waiting for this day her whole life. She couldn’t stop smiling. With a new dress and lunchbox, she was ready; the first day of kindergarten!

As she hurried through her morning, anticipation turned to anxiousness.

What if the kids didn’t like her?

What if she didn’t make any friends?

What if someone asked her a question she didn’t know?

Then she remembered her mother’s words, “You’re smart, you’re kind, and you’re going to do great!”

She calmed down, took a deep breath and said, “Good morning class, my name is Ms. Hodge. I’m going to be your teacher.”