Stories engage the reader's attention in simple and subtle ways. One might share an imbedded message or leave it up to the reader to decide the theme.
Consider the following story once told in Wales.
A young couple had just settled into their new home in Cardiff. The next morning while they ate breakfast, the wife watched her neighbor hanging the wash.
“Look at that dirty laundry,” the wife said. "She doesn't know how to wash. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap?”
Her husband looked but remained silent.
Every time her neighbor hung her wash to dry, the wife made the same comments.
A month later, the wife commented on the clean wash on the line and remarked to her husband,“Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?”
The husband said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”What does the story reveal? Is it coaxing? Or, does the message mean that what we see when watching others depends on the window's quality?
Develop a story that leaves the reader wondering.
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