Follow the procedure to create your own short story. From the journal you kept this year or from your own experience, designate a conflict. Type the conflict in the space below. Determine the number of characters you will need to resolve the conflict. The characters do not need to be the actual ones who were involved in the conflict. Give the characters names and describe them. Write a plot outline from the conflict description you prepared. Write a short story using the plot outline and character sketches you have prepared. The length of your story should be at least 1000 words, not including the other required parts of this project. Revise your story.

On Sunday, December 7, 1941, seven-year-old Jeanne Wakatsuki watches from the Long Beach, California, wharf as a fleet of sardine boats prepares to leave the harbor. Her father, whom she calls “Papa,” yells more than the other men. He barks orders at his two eldest sons, Bill and Woody, who act as his crew. Papa is aboard the larger of his two boats, the Nereid, which he pays for by giving percentages of his catch to the large canneries on Terminal Island, near Long Beach. Many other fishermen have similar arrangements with the canneries, and they often fish together. Jeanne and her family stand on the wharf and wave goodbye until the boats have nearly disappeared. Suddenly the fleet stops and floats on the horizon like white gulls. Jeanne’s mother, whom she calls “Mama,” and Woody’s wife, Chizu, begin to worry when the fleet turns back toward the port. The other women wonder whether there has been an accident. When the boats are still a half mile offshore, a cannery worker runs along the docks reporting that Japan has bombed Pearl Harbor. Chizu asks Mama what Pearl Harbor is. Mama does not know and shouts after the man, but he is already gone.