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Start your story with someone having their height marked on a door frame.

Posted in Middle School on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 36 stories

Between The Lines

Submitted to Contest #139

Marie had never painted before—that was always John’s job. But the house needed to be sold and according to the real estate agent, it needed to be painted. Marie wasn’t mad at John for leaving the task to her; she was angry at him for dying. John had bought life insurance, but hadn’t anticipated the medical bills. He fought until his last breath, but the fight left Marie without a husband, without resources, and without a home.A painting novice, Marie attacked the big rooms and hallways first. They were the easiest with most of the furn...

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You've grown son

Submitted to Contest #139

Trigger Warning: death, (sad content) “And? How much have I grown?” the boy asked his dad excited. “Let me take a look.” The father looked at the door frame with the white line showing the height of the son. The boy was jumping behind his father and wanted to know if he has grown a bit. It’s his sevens birthday and he’s already a big boy. “Uh! What have we got here? Who are you the big boy?” the father asked. The boy laughed. “Dad it’s me! Jack! Don’t you recognize me? Have I grown so much?” The father nodded and the sons eyes sparkled. “Y...

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Measurements

Submitted to Contest #139

*Proper names have been changed to protect against potential embarrassment ;)“Nana, measure me!”The memory is still vivid; evoking the excitement of two preschoolers jumping up and down beside me as I hold the pencil and the ruler over one child’s head at a time. Oh, how I dread the day the grandkids will no longer want to be measured on the wall behind the office door. It was a family tradition we had had when our sons were old enough to stand by our kitchen wall. Always excited to see what new heights they were reaching in their race ...

20 likes 23 comments 23
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The house with Living Walls

Submitted to Contest #139

My mother, I would assume like so many other mothers, always marked my height on the frame of a door with a pencil. It was something we both excitedly waited for, my father teased my mother and I by affectionately referring to her as a "dork." I was nine when it started, every time I went back to check how much I'd grown or add another line, well, it was then that I started to realize there was something wrong with our house.The lines were never there when we returned, always to the puzzlement of my mother and I. At first she said they must ...

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The House I Called Home

Submitted to Contest #139

           It was the winter of 1969, and my father rushed my mother to the hospital. It was one week before I was expected to make my appearance in this world, but I simply couldn’t wait any longer.            I was a restless child, or so I am told, so my mother and father had many sleepless nights, but inside that one-bedroom apartment, they made me feel loved despite my need for constant attention. My father worked on a construct...

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The Mystery of the Bread Bag Drawer

Submitted to Contest #139

Knowing my height was marked many times over on that dark, brown door frame; I can still recall my Grandma Louise’s kitchen quite vividly before my Uncle Carl did the remodel enclosing the old back porch. In Grandma’s kitchen; tucked in between the sink and the old electric stove, that may or may not have had all of its burners working at any given time, were three wooden drawers that us kids thought had been made outta wood straight off of Noah’s ark. The top drawer, the smallest of the three, was for silverware. Known by outsiders as fla...

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Hurley Brown and the Steamboat Mystery

Submitted to Contest #139

“See you later, Mom! Me and Alfred are taking the steamboat up the Mississippi for an adventure!” Hurley said. “Hold on there, Lee. It’s your birthday; you know the drill.” Hurley slid his shoes off, kicked them across the kitchen, almost hitting his sister Marina. “Sorry,” he said as he stood in the door frame. His mother grabbed a pen from the junk drawer and walked over to the door. “Amazing! You’ve grown an inch and a half since last year. At this rate, you’ll be taller than both me and dad by the time you’re a teenager.” “You be...

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A Broken Plate

Submitted to Contest #139

Do you remember, trying to press your spine against the wall? And how it felt so cold and smooth in the September heat? And how the shag carpet snaked between your toes because it would be dishonest to wear socks? And how it was just sunny enough to see dead skin cells floating in the light let in from a West facing window? You gave purpose to that room that was so dusty and empty and smelt of stale carboard. You took a dull pencil and marked exactly above where your head was, pressing your hair down first of course, in the name of fairness....

15 likes 8 comments 8
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Growth of a Bond

Submitted to Contest #139

Permanent marker scent still lingers in the nursery after a short while ago it had squeaked against the molding of the doorframe marking the height of our, now walking child. His crystal-clear, deep ocean blue eyes looking back at me in delight; but with a wondering look. Always curious. Absorbing everything around him. I think to myself how lucky we are to have such an inquisitive little guy. “Look how much you have grown since you first started walking!” It is just me and him in the book themed nursery where we share most of our days. As...

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The Coat

Submitted to Contest #139

With dust motes glinting in the sunlight all around her Becky was swamped by memories of when she had been a little girl. Straight ahead was the door frame where her height had been marked with a permanent marker every six months. She rubbed her fingers over the marks as if by doing so she could reach back to all those happy times in her past.  She had just unlocked the front door and was standing in a deserted, dusty, yet oh so familiar house. All the furniture had been removed yet the outlines remained on the floor. It was devastati...

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Return to #7

Submitted to Contest #139

“Oh, my! Would you look at that?” Mary Thompson said, looking at the line she had just drawn on the door frame where the top of her son’s head had reached, putting her hands on her hips as if taking in a truly magnificent sight. “Look how much you've grown!"              “I thought I felt bigger." Adam turned around to look for himself, "And I think I’m getting stronger, too. Look at this.” He pulled up the sleeve of his St. Louis Cardinals t-shirt and flexed his 10-year-o...

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The scratch on the door

Submitted to Contest #139

My earliest memory of that time is of a white door frame. I remember looking straight into it, and there was nothing before that. It was a white-yellowish color door. Maybe it was a kitchen door. Cannot recall. Mother turned me around and pushed me against it. The door was dirty. She had a sharp utensil in her right hand, and I remember closing my eyes. I heard a scratching noise before she pushed me to the floor. Not even now, being back to this house I can recall these marks on the door. It seems like I have never seen it before, ye...

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Holding Still

Submitted to Contest #139

“Hold Still!” I clamped my hands over my mouth, giggling. Mama lowered her thin hand, pencil and all, and shook her head. And yet, her smile only grew wider. Her eyes crinkled as her mouth stretched across her face.  “Baby, you gotta hold still, or else I can’t mark it.” “Do you think I grew?” I asked her. I hoped I grew. I wanted to show her I could grow big and tall, like her.  “I think you did, but we need to measure so I can tell.” Mama gently pushed my shoulder against the closet threshold, holding me as still as she could. He...

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Growing Darlings

Submitted to Contest #139

  Graphite marred the well-worn door frame. Edwin plopped little Micah in front of the lovingly graffitied frame and made the customary mark at the top of his head. With all the little darlings who’d passed through his home, he was running out of doorways. He gave Micah’s tiny head a tiny pat.  Through a heavily mustached mouth, Edwin enthusiastically said, “Three whole inches! Right on track.” Micah wiggled a gleeful dance as Edwin picked him back up and placed him in his cozy spot near the large glass window. His baby brethr...

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Chin Up

Submitted to Contest #139

“It's five pm, dad should be home any minute”, I thought to myself as I peered down our driveway. I had already laid down the measuring tape, pencil and even managed to flatten out my unruly bushy hair into a tight ponytail (I wouldn’t want to cheat and pretend to appear taller). I heard my father's car approaching from a distance, he always managed to procure vehicles that had a distinguished sounding horn ... I was up on my feet and ran towards our main door. I saw him pull into the driveway. He warmly greeted me at the door, my father ...

12 likes 1 comment 1
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