Page 251 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

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woman’s face is etched with terror the shopper offers help. “I’ve
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been shot”, the woman says. “The back of my skull has been blowed
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off.” The horrified shopper notices the blood on the womans hair
and the bloody, doughy mass of what appears to be her brain
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protruding through her fingers. By presenting horror in a ordinary

setting, the opening section of this tale brings the listener face to

face with the modern nightmare of random violence.

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The next part of the tale brings in the power of the individual by
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showing what 1 person can do. The shopper’s call to 911 brings
ambulances fire trucks, and police cars screaming into the parking
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lot. In this phase of the tale, a individual’s ability to cope with
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disaster has been reinforced. It do not matter that, in the
tradition of Aladdin, the woman has called on more powerful forces to

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aid her. Its enough that they come when summoned.

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The final phase of the tale deal with rescue and reprieve.
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Firefighters breaks into the injured woman’s car and carefully
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remove her. A paramedic bends over her she clutches the spongy,
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bloody mass at the back of her head. As a chopper appeared in the
distance, the paramedic, looking puzzled, pulls what appears to be a
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metal disk from her head. A spongy mass cling to the disk. The

paramedic asks the woman rather her groceries are in the back seat.
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When she says yes, the paramedic begin to laugh. He tells her
“that a biscuit can exploded in her grocery bag,” making a noise like

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a gunshot. The metal disk from the can had nicked her scalp bad,
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and biscuit dough and blood covered the back of her head. To make a

long story short and not to beat around the bush with too many