"Pen Rest"

Technically, this picture shows a stylus on top of its rest. Oops.

"And that's it for tonight," I said aloud. I tipped my head backward against the couch and closed my eyes, and laid my open notebook across my lap like a blanket.

"Another story?" I heard a voice say.

I opened my eyes. My pen was spinning between my index and middle finger as if I had gotten bored and begun twirling it myself. "Story time?" it asked.

"I think I need some rest," I said. "I'm imagining talking to my pen, for crying out loud." 

"But you can rest later," the pen protested. "You're already dreaming now." 

It was logic I found difficult to argue down. So I cradled my pen between forefinger and thumb with the gentleness I might have shown a child, and I drew my notebook close to my chest, taking comfort between its sheets.

"The Pen and the Sword"

 

Before the exam, two students ran out to the student commons to get writing utensils.

The first put her quarters into the machine and received a thin, black ballpoint pen, as plain as could be.

The second inserted her quarters and was given a sword, short but well balanced, with a sturdy silver hilt and a blade that gleamed like a pearl.

The two looked at each other.

"You know, you're still probably going to do better on the test," said the second student to the first.

"I guess," the first said with a frown, "but then there's that whole difference between what you do in school on your tests versus what you do in the real world, and in that case...." 

She fumbled through her coat pocket in search of two more quarters.