Short story about soft mineral (4)
I believe the answer is:
talc
'soft mineral' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'short story about' is the wordplay.
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'story' becomes 'tale' (synonyms).
'about' becomes 'c' (abbreviation for circa).
'tale' with its last letter taken away is 'tal'.
'tal'+'c'='TALC'
(Other definitions for talc that I've seen before include "Perfumed drying powder" , "Scented powder used after bathing" , "In brief, popular body powder" , "I may dust" , "Powdered mineral" .)