We were enjoying Christmas lunch at my parents’ house when the doorbell rang. An unusual occurrence on Christmas Day.
My Dad answered the door, we overheard a muffled conversation, then he scurried to make a phone call before returning to the table to tell us: “There’s a dead body down the road. A man has apparently been hit by a lorry and flung into a neighbour’s garden. Ours is the nearest house with lights on so a passerby asked me to call 999.”
Some of my family members are trained first aiders / emergency first responders, and it was decided that my brother-in-law and I would go to the casualty to see whether there was anything we could do for him while waiting for the police and ambulance to arrive.
Sure enough, we found a man lying on a bed of leaves in a nearby front garden. Paul stood at the foot end, and I went to the head end and did the ‘shout and shake’ we’d been trained to do.
I shook the man’s shoulder and shouted: “Are you alright?”
At this, he awoke and mumbled something.
He wasn’t dead; he was dead drunk, and had decided to stop for a little sleep on his way home from the pub.
He was last seen weaving up the pavement in a Z-pattern being trailed by a kerb-crawling police car to ensure he got safely home.
Paul and I rejoined the family lunch, saying: “It’s a miracle! We saw a man come back to life today!”
Admittedly, that punchline would work better if it had been an Easter lunch, but then it wouldn’t have been true.
What this means to you
Did you read the story to the end? If yes, this shows the power of storytelling to communicate your message. (If no, you’re probably not reading this bit either.)
A good copywriter can help tell your business story in a way that hooks your readers in.
Whether you’re celebrating Christmas this year or not, I hope you have a safe one and that 2021 brings you some good stories to tell.
