Realism story

Have your grandpa tell us the most tedious, ridiculous, silly, hilarious story you can.

You'll be telling a tall tale today about Jim Smiley. Who's Jim Smiley? Well, I hope you know the answer to THAT question. But you don't have to stick to Twain's idea of him. You just need to make up a crazy story with Jim Smiley as hero. In Twain's story, Jim will bet on anything. He loves animals that can win bets for him, doesn't he? The fifteen minute nag, Andrew Jackson, and of course Dan'l Webster? He wins... until, of course, by some ridiculous circumstance, he loses.

I've created a GoogleDoc and shared it with all of you. "Organize" it into your own AmLit folder.

The document describes a little encounter with your "Grandpa" (that good-natured, garrulous old man) instead of Simon Wheeler.

Decide together where Grandpa was dozing (in a bar, like Simon Wheeler? in front of his fireplace at home? On his rocking chair on the back deck?), and what he looks like (Simon is fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance. How about Grandpa?).

The document has a space for you and a partner to team up and write a ridiculous, hilarious story. Find your names. Take turns driving the computer. Make up something fun, to amuse us all. Type away, adding ideas, amusing yourselves. Make your part of the story fun to read: one silly little anecdote that "Grandpa" witnessed in many years ago.

I'll look forward to reading it tonight.

Have fun!

In compliance with the request of my teacher, Mr. Kissingford, I visited my good-natured, garrulous old grandpa, and inquired after the famous Leonidas W. Smiley, as requested to do, and I hereunto append the result. I have a lurking suspicion that Leonidas W. Smiley is a myth; that my teacher never knew such a personage; and that he only conjectured that, if I asked my old grandpa about him, it would remind him of the infamous Jim Smiley, and he would go to work and bore me nearly to death with a series of infernal reminiscences of him as long and tedious as it should be useless to me. If that was the design, it certainly succeeded.

I found my grandpa dozing comfortably by ____________________ (where was he dozing?) _______________________________________, and I noticed that he was ______________________ (describe his appearance in detail) _____________________________________________________________________. He roused up and gave me good-day. I told him my teacher had commissioned me to make some inquiries about a cherished companion of his boyhood named Leonidas W. Smiley. I added that, if he could tell me any thing about this Reverend Leonidas W. Smiley, I would feel under many obligations to him.

Grandpa backed me into a corner and blockaded me there with his chair, and then sat me down and reeled off the monotonous narratives which follow this paragraph. He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice from the gentle-flowing key to which he tuned the initial sentence, he never betrayed the slightest suspicion of enthusiasm; but all through the interminable narrative there ran a vein of impressive earnestness and sincerity, which showed me plainly that, so far from his imagining that there was any thing ridiculous or funny about his story, he regarded it as a really important matter. As I said before, I asked him to tell me what he knew of Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, and he replied as follows. I let him go on in his own way, and never interrupted him once:

There was a feller here once by the name of Jim Smiley...

...Here Grandpa heard his name called, and got up to see what was wanted. And turning to me as he moved away, he said: "Just set where you are, and rest easy. I an't going to be gone a second."

But, by your leave, I did not think that a continuation of the history of Jim Smiley would be likely to afford me much information concerning the Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, and so I started away.

At the door I met my sociable Grandpa returning, and he button- holed me and recommenced:

"Well,.... "

Bidding Grandpa good-day, I departed.