The theme for this year’s Georgetown Innovation Series Summit – which kicked off this past weekend – revolved around storytelling, so here at 4E, our staff decided to tell a little story of our own. We created a round-robin story for which each staffer wrote three to four sentences after having received only the portion of the story written by the person directly before them. What ensued was a literary masterpiece:
It was 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 15, the night before Georgetown University’s huge Storytelling Summit. While some students were preparing stories of excitement and innovation, Joe Hoya was eating all alone in Leo’s. He passively walked around the dining hall, unenthusiastically perusing each station’s food choices and eventually deciding on a burrito. Little did Joe know that he was about to have the adventure of a lifetime.
As he was waiting in line for his burrito, Joe dropped an apple that he had very carefully picked out, and it rolled back into the kitchen. Not wanting to make the Leo’s staff pick it up for him, Joe attempted to sneak into the kitchen to grab his apple without anyone noticing. As he stepped in, a mysterious door opened, and Joe’s jaw dropped in amazement at what he saw.
Directly in front of him was a massive replica of Leo’s, complete with silverware, a strange, horrible odor and an omelet bell. He turned around to see if anyone was experiencing what he was seeing, but he was all alone. Not even the Leo’s workers were around to witness his discovery. The two Leo’s seemed to be identical; however, there was one thing very different with the one before his eyes.
As he stepped inside the O’Donovan’s on the Waterfront duplicate, he met his worst nightmare: the monsters of Leo’s. Now that he had entered Leo’s 2.0, he’d have to get past all of them to make it out alive and maybe grab some ice cream for the road. The first monster was Woka Floka Teriyaki. A formidable creature, Woka Floka Teriyaki stood ten feet tall and was composed entirely of noodles, shrimp, chicken, broccoli and sticky teriyaki sauce.
He dodged Woka Floka Teriyaki’s attacks, while desperately searching for a weapon of some sort with which to fight back. But of course, the forks and knives were nowhere to be found. Crash! Woka’s latest hit of sharp, raw noodles and sticky teriyaki sauce grazed past him, sending the cup cart and every single cup inside (still stuck together) across the floor. When he looked back up, Woka was inching closer and closer. He froze, knowing full well that he would miss out on the ice cream, or worse, get stuck in Leo’s 2.0 forever. But before all hope disappeared… “Psst, over here!” whispered a squeaky little voice from behind the Diner counter.
There behind the Diner counter cowered the Omelet Lady. “I know how to defeat Woka Floka Teriyaki!” she exclaimed. He quickly scrambled behind the counter as Woka prepared for his next attack. He frantically asked her what to do, and she replied, “You must find a way to make it to the Bistro. Only there will you find what you need to defeat Woka and escape Leo’s 2.0.” Arming himself with only a spare spatula handed to him by the Omelet Lady herself, he emerged from the Diner, prepared to fight.
Lo and behold, at the Bistro, limbs were flailing as eggshells fell to the floor. Luckily, the spatula in his hand turned into a lightsaber in his hour of need. Please note: This function was established in 1997 because of an impatient Georgetown student who decided to go behind the counter and make his own omelet (never again!). So here he stood, saber in hand, and headed into battle.
Hair nets flailed in the background in flashes of light. And then came the dreaded sound, the one they all knew was coming: the ding of the bell and the high-pitched scream, “Getch yo omlette!” Now they knew it was war.
All of a sudden a 10-foot robotic Jack the Bulldog arose from behind the pizza oven. He opened his mouth and 6,000 tiny replicas of himself piled out onto the floor. They snatched up all of the forks and knives, leaving only spoons with which the students could arm themselves. Into the fray they all ran. Among the flashes of lights and spoonfuls of Lucky Charms, they fought valiantly. Then, through the pizza slaps and spinach rain, our hero arose from the dust.
John Carroll, in all his timeless glory, arose in the very garb the statue sports today. There was an aura about him as he stood firm and fearless before the crazed machines. We knew he was the only one who could short-circuit beloved Jack’s impostor. But how?
Just as the machines prepared to strike, John Carroll lifted himself into the air and called upon his last few heirs, Jack, J.J. and J.B.C., to aid him. After summoning these powerful warriors, it was clear to all that the machines could not win. In a heroic feat, Carroll’s aides tore through the robotic enemies, while bystanders watched in glee, chanting, “Eat that Bot! Eat that Bot!” Carroll himself turned to Jack’s impostor and said, “Looks like pre-registration is over and you’ve just been admitted off the wait list … for destruction!” Instantly, the canine impostor was destroyed, and, once again, John Carroll and his band of furry friends saved the day.
