Making up a story

Two years ago I made a decision to take an exam in English and in its “Writing” part there were several options one could choose from. One of them was writing a story which must have begun or ended with a specified sentence and was limited by certain number of words. While preparing for the exam I tried to make up a few of those stories but as much as I liked it, it was quite challenging to me. One thing is to come up with a story and another thing is to confine it to defined space. Have you ever tried that? You might end up finding out it is fun. Look at this one:

You are supposed to write a story for a magazine, 120-180 words in all. The story must begin with the following sentence: I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened the front door.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened the front door. A big dog I didn’t know was sitting there staring fixedly at me. I got scared. Though I had intended to go shopping, I closed the door quickly wondering what I should do. Suddenly my mobile started ringing and when I answered it, I heard my husband Larry’s enthusiastic voice: “Happy birthday, darling! Have you seen my present waiting for you at the front door?” I was struck dumb. A present? The dog?? He must have been pulling my leg!

As it turned out, Larry was waiting round the corner and as soon as he came home, he explained everything. He brought the dog called “Conie” from his old friend who was not able to look after her anymore and was afraid that I wouldn’t accept her that easily. Well, he was definitely right. But you know what happened? Eventually I agreed and have become friends with Conie. We both enjoy our long evening walks!”