Changing the idea of storytelling for a new generation, a group of educators use a stamp about the universe to begin a story about a pharmacist named Howard DeBeauf and his nemesis, Van Buran. What follows is entirely up to you... Add your tale on the Smithsonian Story Experiment facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_114787831945456&ap=1
Transcript of the story:
The Story Experiment: 6/28/2011
One rainy evening, Dr. Howard DeBeauf, a meek pharmacist with a long face, aimed his telescope into the cosmos as he was wont to do every night. He sat in his brown leather chair and drearily placed his eye to the eyepiece. He had been doing this routine every day since he could remember, and he was starting to tire of it. He was fascinated by the heavens, but had never seen anything worth writing down in his journal. As he prepared to fill the entire notebook with the words "no findings," he spotted what appeared to be a satellite orbiting Earth.
Just as he was about to give a closer inspection to the satellite, his phone rang. He was reluctant to move away from the possibility of finally seeming something worth noting. He sighed and turned his eyes away briefly to answer the phone.
Of course it was Van Buran, the one man who knew all of his secrets, all of his lies. "Not this time," DeBeauf thought to himself, "Not tonight." He had worked too long and too hard for this. And now, as he heard the crackling of Van Buran's voice getting ready to muster up some kind of diabolical scheme, DeBeauf looked out onto the sights his telescope was set on; the future of his empire.
"DeBeauf, what is going on? I've been dying to talk to you," Van Buran said staring at his inspirational piece of the Centennial Baseball Postage Stamp. "You know full well you don't want to know how I am doing" DeBeauf snapped. "Why'd you really call?"
Van Buran stated quite clearly for DeBeauf, "Even children play this game. It's quite extraordinary." DeBeauf did not understand Van Buran's fascination with baseball when he could clearly see the metor shooting towards Earth. Didn't he understand what was going to happen? DeBeauf finally decided to tell him the truth.
DeBeauf tilted the telescope to the left and noticed other items or entities in the atmosphere. DeBeauf was about to tell Van the truth about baseball but realized that the meteor was the same type of shape as a baseball and that he would have to spend more time stating the truth to Van because the truth would be more complex now.
You see, the answer had dawned on him the previous weekend while he was camping in the Shenandoah. DeBeauf, as usual, was star gazing and observing the meteor he'd been tracking when something unusual happened. Another heavenly object was traveling in the opposite direction. DeBeauf realized that it was the 13th home run hit by Washington Nationals 2nd baseman Danny Espinosa, during the outer-league baseball game with the Chicago White Sox. Was danny's home run ball going to collide with the meteor? Only DeBeauf knew the truth!
DeBeauf pulled out his PSP and started a game of MLB 2011. He, of course, played as the Nationals, while the computer picked the much-hated Yankees. He began his game.
DeBeauf kept playing the game until the aliens came and wanted to play.So they started the game over and the aliens lost,so they evaporated him.
The aliens then decided they were going to destroy all living things on Earth and take over the world. They were led by the evil Waldorf and his wife Matilda.
The aliens thought to themselves the 4 th of July would be the perfect day. Waldorf decided to trick the humans and blow up earth with a giant firework. They won't know what hit them.
But the truth was, not all of the aliens were evil. Some were a little more misguided than others, but there was one alien who was more familiar with earth culture than the others. Her name was Eloise and she just so happened to be a fan of the human TV show Star Trek. She knew those silly humans would never figure out how to "boldly go where no one has gone before" on their own, so she wanted to help them, not destroy them. But she would have to convince her fellow aliens first.
She hopped in her floating unicycle and decided to introduce herself to the first human she met. As she passed by a park, she saw a young couple. They were sitting in the shade under an oak tree. Eloise knew she didn't have time to spare, she ran to the couple and said "come with me if you value your life". Shocked, but somewhat comforted they jumped on the unicycle with Eloise. Together, the three beings flew into space as the earth exploded to start a new life on planet Creto. The end.
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