Family stories can be so inspiring when it comes to writing. I have used stories from my family for scenes in many of my novels and in most of my short stories. An example is one called Henrietta. (https://writerrebeccagraf.com/writing...)

This was a short story based on something that happened long before I was born. My mother told me that my brother was frantically searching the house for something but wouldn't tell her what. Finally, she got it out of him that he had snuck in a mouse from school and it was missing. Oh, and the mouse was pregnant.

My mother hated animals in the house. Every now and then, she allowed sick ones in but that was all. Nothing more. But a mouse????

That was terrifying to my mother. Rodents were not meant to be pets in her eyes. So to know that there was a pregnant white mouse in her house was horrifying to her. My brother laughed when the story was told. My mother pretended to be still mad all those decades later.

As I was raised without my siblings around and considered my life pretty boring, I loved to hear the stories of when my siblings were young. To me, it was fun. To my mother, not so much. So I wrote a short story on it.

Now that I have raised my children, I can understand the horror my mother felt and put it in the story. But I also feel the excitement of the child at having snuck the mouse in.

I hope you get a chance to read my short story, and I hope you enjoy it.