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Ragtime
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22 Feb 2008, 7:24 pm

Write a short story using the deus ex machina literary device, which basically means a highly improbably but perfect ending.
I'll go first.

Jane knew that Tom liked Sally. It was something in the way he moved when he walked past her. A lightness in his step, or a lilt in his voice... she couldn't be sure. It was of no real interest to Jane. After all, he was free to live his life as he chose -- but did he have to be so obvious about it? After all, they were on the clock, and Mr. Griffin didn't take kindly to slackers. That's one thing Jane had learned very quickly as a newcomer to the firm.

As her thoughts and her body wandered across the expanse, she finally reached her office at the far corner of the company floor, and let herself fall into her chair -- a little harder than usual, she thought. Where was her life going? Ever since she had moved out on her own, her career had meant everything to her, and she had no qualms about that. So why did it seem to bother her, if only a little, that Sally was receiving male attention? It didn't make any sense, but there it was, she thought with a sigh.

"Have those reports yet?" Sally looked up, startled, and realized she had been staring into space, unaware of her boss's presence in her doorway. "Almost, Mr. Griffin", she replied assertively. She felt anything but in control, but that was the way Mr. Griffin liked his people to talk, and she wasn't about to try a more emotive reply on him. He liked things done, done fast, and done right, and that seemed increasingly to be the only type of employees left at Cameron Law.

She knew she was no good in relationships, but she couldn't shake the perennial, if mercurial, desire to seek one out. It wasn't that she was afraid; she simply had seemed to make nothing but bad decisions everytime she got involved. So, she knew in her heart of hearts that more dating would spell disaster for her, and likely for her boyfriend as well.

Tom did like Sally a lot. But, quite secretly, he loved Jane. It wasn't something he wanted -- he just couldn't seem to get her out of his mind. Something in him wouldn't let go of the notion that he should ask her out. He had been debating this question with himself for weeks, and today, he had finally had enough of his uncertainty: He was going to go for it! As he strode down the hall toward her distant, lonely office, his heartrate increased, and he began to feel distinctly nervous. Certain, though, that he had to do something to end the conflict within his mind, he marched on.

As he approached her doorway, the alien who had been watching the whole scene accidentally spilled his atomic coffee on Tom, and vaporized him. Jane was saved!


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Christianity is different than Judaism only in people's minds -- not in the Bible.


Cadzie
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22 Feb 2008, 9:43 pm

deus ex machina:
means
Machine of the Gods



OrderAndChaos30
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22 Feb 2008, 10:17 pm

Example: The Undead army at the end of the Lord of the Rings trilogy . . . . Yes, I know I'll annoy some LOTR fans with this one. :lol:



pakled
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22 Feb 2008, 10:25 pm

I thought it meant 'God from machine', but I barely passed Spanish...;) was supposed to be a theatrical device of some sort.