Sierra Jones Zecher
Executive block
April 14, 2020
“Dead Man Running”
Lily and Jay Johnson stand at the entrance of their son's party. The door is decked with red,
white and blue lights. As they walk in, there are people everywhere they turn. Over the roar of
music, a distant, hazy chatter could be heard. There are young people drinking wine, eating
canapes, and celebrating Joe Johnson running for Congress. Lily clutches her Dior Calfskin bag
and rolls her eyes.
“God, can we just tell him the news so we can get out of this mess?” she begs.
“Can we just be there for our son, for once, Lily?” he yells.
Jay rubs his hands together and he is unable to stand still. He can’t wait to tell his son, Joe, that
he won the election. He feels that he had finally used his money and power for good. He simply
paid someone to make Joe look good. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to secure his votes.
Nevertheless, Joe was projected to win by a landslide.
“This is an election Jay, you can’t just buy your way into everything.”
Jay owned a company that he spent his whole life building from the ground up. Lily spends most
of her days traveling or shopping. Either way both of them were never there for their only son,
Joe. Joe grew up to hate his parents lifestyle and started to turn to the life of failing classes and
doing drugs at the age of 15. It was his only outlet and that brought his relationship with his
parents further and further apart. Joe hated the fact that his parents thought they could control
people because they had money. He soon realized that the only way to cut ties with his parents,
was to make something of himself. He always had an interest in politics so he worked his way up
to become a committee person. At age 30, he decided to run for Congress. Even though Lily and
Jay don’t exactly approve of him going into politics, they were pleased to know that he is finally
doing something with his life.
Aside from Christmas and Thanksgiving in Moonlight Basin, the family never saw each other.
Joe lives in Maryland and his parents live in New York but they drove in to surprise him. It is the
night that they announced who won Representative for Maryland's 8th district and Joe is
throwing a party. The only problem is, he is nowhere to be found.
Lily starts going through the crowd, trying to look for Joe and she recognizes no one. She looks
up at the projector and sees that over fifty percent of the votes were in, and Joe was still in the
lead.
1
“And you must be Joe’s Mom,” someone babbles.
Lily looks down and there stood a very short, and hyper woman, looking very excited to see her.
“I am Ruth, Joe’s campaign manager,” she shouted. “Me and Joe are basically best friends and I
recognize you from a picture on his desk.”
Ruth has spent months planning for this moment. She spent most of her days coordinating the
campaign operations such as fundraising, advertising, and just being there for Joe with whatever
he needed. She is passionate about the campaign and is usually with Joe everywhere he goes.
Except for tonight. Joe had an emergency conference and Ruth stayed back to help with the
party. He was supposed to be back in time though.
“Pleased to meet you Ruth,” Lily says uninterestedly.
“Well by any chance do you know where Joe is? I mean, I know that he wasn't expecting you?”
“I was just going to ask you the same thing.”
They both freeze and awkwardly glance sideways.
“I am just going to keep looking so that me and my husband can leave,” Lily insists. “This is
truly not my scene.”
Lily takes a few steps further and her phone begins to ring. As she is on the phone, her eyes
widen, and she stops for a second. She runs and grabbes Jay.
“It's Joe, there’s been an accident!”
They bolt out of the party like an olympic runner at the start of a gun. Lily’s bag clutches tightly
in her sweaty hands. Tears blind her as she runs. Jay’s feet pound the ground of the wet concrete
and down the steps. Once they had got through all the people, and the long entryway, they saw
their driver waiting for them.
“Where to, Mrs. Johnson?” he says.
“Holy Cross Hospital, please.”
“And make it fast,” Jay adds.
Rain lashes against the windshield of the black, Audi A8, as they drive down the highway, going
a little over the speed limit in their rush. Lily can hear the sound of her beating heart as it keeps
going faster. Jay’s face covering his hands as he lets out a deep sigh.
2
When they get to the hospital room they see a lifeless Joe. He had been in an accident on the way
to the party. They sit in the hospital chairs and watch his face drain of color from pink to gray.
They knew the time was coming.
The doctor walks into the room with hesitating movements.
“I’m truly sorry Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, but the time has come” the doctor laments. “Are you
ready?”
“No”, Jay sobs “but go ahead.”
Lily looks up in surprise to see her phone ringing again. It's the town official.
“I know this is the least of your worries right now,” he explains, “but I wanted to inform you that
I am unable to make the announcement as the voting is on a school premises and would break
state electioneering laws.”
“But he cannot still be in the running.”
“I am afraid that he can be, since we can’t inform the public yet. I didn't want you to be
surprised.”
Lily hangs up and turns her attention to her son. Jay and Lily lock eyes and hear the sound of the
monitor flatlining. It rings lounder, pulling them in and they can’t let go. A piece of them that
they didn't know they had felt empty. They always thought they had it all; That they could buy
whatever they wanted, but they couldn’t buy their son back. They both look up to the tv to see
the news anchor.
“Congratulations Joe Johnson, you’re the new representative for Maryland’s eighth district!”
Short Story Rubric
Short Story Components Publishable Sophisticated Adequate Needs Unsatisfact-
Development ory
Style 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Author uses creative and Comments on Style:
effective use of rhetorical and Alternates between some really great imagery and being a little too
stylistic devices, the “Show, explanatory. You want to think about how your scenes are explaining things
Don’t Tell” technique, Point of
for you and how dialogue could reveal more about character than expository
View, and dialogue to enhance
the reader’s experience.
paragraphs
Organization of Plot and 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
3
Setting
Author effectively develops the Comments on Organization of Plot and Setting:
components of the short story Clear arc, well paced- a very strong place to end given the narrative you are
arc (hook, exposition, inciting telling
action, rising action, climax,
falling action and insight).
Setting is distinguishable and
well developed. Plot and Setting
relate to government and
politics.
Character Development 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Author creates real, believable Comments on Character Development:
characters, at least 2 of which You told me a lot about the characters, but give us insight through
work in government or politics, conversations- for example: what exactly is motivating Jay (and to a lesser
and captures a universal aspect
extent Lily) to reinvest in their son? What are they hoping to accomplish, just
of the human condition. The
main character’s conflict is clear
to not have an embarrassing kid?
and likely causes/requires Did they tell Joe that they were funding his campaign? How do they think
change. Character is motivated he’d feel about that? How would Ruth?
by a political catalyst, likely
presented in the inciting action.
Theme/Insight 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Author weaves through the plot Comments on Theme/Insight: Clear at the end- could be more interwoven
a recognizable and effective
theme that isn’t cliche. The
story’s ending type is
appropriate for the story’s genre
and story arc components.
The theme and insight should
be reflective of both political
knowledge and knowledge of
the human condition.
Short Story Component Publishable Sophisticated Adequate Needs Unsatisfact-
Development ory
Mechanics 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Author uses Times New Roman Comments on Mechanics:
or similar, 12 point font, one
inch margins, page numbers as
a footer, and includes a heading
and effective title on the first
page only. Author has no
spelling, grammar, punctuation,
or formatting mistakes. Dialogue
4
is properly punctuated and
capitalized and dialogue tags,
syntax and diction are varied.
Author either single spaces and
skips lines between paragraphs
or double spaces and indents
paragraphs and dialogue
(1000-1300 words).
_______ /50 Total Grade
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