Inspiration Words: Gummy Bears and Floss Ellie glanced around the darkened houses in the village. She had to act quickly, and her mission was urgent. Some dangerous characters lurked in this village, and she was outside after curfew, even though that was strictly...
Inspiration Words: Decide and Resentment Ellie always sang while she got ready for class, and now she had music on almost constantly. Music felt like the only escape from this small apartment. It hadn’t seemed so small when she moved in two years ago, but after...
Inspiration Words: Running and Building A small takeout container of rice and another small box with some chicken and vegetables sat on the table near Yao Bo’s (yow bwoh) computer. He had started eating, but then he forgot about the food he had ordered when a zombie...
Inspiration Words: Italian and Cat Shuwen (shoo wuhn) looked at her patient, who was waving her arms in circles and hitting anything they connected with. She tried to focus on calming her patient down, but Shuwen found herself wishing she could just swing her arms...
Inspiration Words: Keep and Moon I had begged Mom to let me stay home instead of going to Conghua (tsohng hwah), a suburb of my city, during the Spring Festival holiday. I know the whole family is supposed to get together for the most important holiday of the year,...
Inspiration Words: Fishing and Japan Mikael (mee-kayl), a Russian student, labored through the Chinese passage while his classmates listened to him read. When he came to a word he couldn’t recognize, he paused and waited for his teacher to offer the word. He knew the...
Inspiration Words: Pilot and Light Feng Zhanqi (fuhng jahn chee) stepped into the airplane hangar, savoring the last few seconds of bright sunlight. He walked toward the Boeing 747 and thought about how he would fix the problem in the small engine room. He would...
Inspiration Words: Neon and Perhaps Food. My life mostly consists of food. I’m around food all day, every day, but even though I’m around so much of it so often, I rarely have more than five minutes to eat a meal. Oh, and weather. The weather is also a huge part of my...
Inspiration Words: Remorse and Plate Ellie pulled another sweater over her head and put on her coat. Then, she wrapped a scarf around her neck and pulled a hat over her ears. She was nice and warm inside, but the moment she stepped out into the gray day outside, she...
Inspiration Words: Candy and Surreal Anne looked around her at the hotel room in Hunan province. Samantha sat on a chair staring at the door where Becky had just walked out. “Can you believe our little Becky is a bride?” Samantha said the words as if she was in shock....