Writing Challenge – Day 8

The instruction for Day 8 of the 30-Day writing challenge:

Brief:   Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. The heart-breaking result: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Write a ghost story or a love story in less than 20 words...

For me it is a lot easier to write 20,000  words than 20.  I guess that I may have been accused of verbosity, long-windedness, and waffle in my distant schooldays. It was probably true.  I have re-read the brief a number of times, without being able to come up with something brilliant. It is important to note the specification of “less than 20 words”(in other words any number of words 19 or less), and not “20 words.”

Effort 1 (19):
Teenage lovers trapped on river ledge, aggressive crocodile approaching. Boy jumping into open jaws shouts, “Swim for it, darling!”

Effort 2 (17):
He stayed over that night at her invitation. In the morning before he awoke she made pancakes.

[ The brief for Day 9 reads:  Go to Google.com, and click on the "Image" link on the top left. This will take you to the image search page. Type two words into the search box, and click on the ‘Search’ button. A bunch of pictures will appear. Choose one of them
to use as a writing prompt. ]