happy one week birthday to write away every day! we've had over 300 visits in the first week, and the average visit length is six minutes plus, so folks are reading. many thanks to readers and writers alike.
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special kudos to De Langer, Ab Fab and Anonymous for keeping the comments section alive the last couple of days. great posts!! Megahloo, where are you? would love to read more from you, as well as Stacy, Pauline, Alison, Sunny, Nolan, Christa, Ab Fab, and De Langer. and, of course, the one or more persons posting as anonymous. anyone new ready to share?
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here's my take on today's prompt, an earring i found at a gas station (right there on that red post):
Char fit the nozzle into her gas tank and squeezed the trigger to the low flow setting. A gulp of Pepsi washed away the ashy taste of her last cigarette. With only eight dollars, forty-five cents in her pocket, she watched the digital display closely. But soon the baby began to wail inside the car. She pulled him through the open window and perched him on her hip, lisping sweet words into his ear. Resting his damp head on her shoulder, he twirled her hair around his tiny fingers. His other hand found her earring and tugged. "Ow, you little monkey," she said, trashing her Pepsi, then working her earring free and setting it on the post beside her. Turning, she saw the digital display tearing through the ten dollar range. She cursed; the baby started and his face crumpled. Gas splashed her flip-flopped feet as she yanked on the nozzle. It splattered on the concrete, soaking in for a moment before evaporating off in a wavy mist. She stuffed the nozzle back into its cradle and the screaming baby back through his open window. Struggling to buckle him as he struggled against her, pushing his belly out and kicking his legs, she debated. Try to explain and pay in part or just drive away? Digging the bills and change from her pocket, she finally set it on the post, under the earring. The rear view mirror showed no signs of pursuit as she pulled away. And the baby settled, finding comfort in his mama's voice and the sing-song promise that they would come back soon, a day or two maybe, and pay the rest.
i'd love to read your spin on the photo - submit it by clicking on comments below. 250(ish) words or less. thanks for a great first week!
Char fit the nozzle into her gas tank and squeezed the trigger to the low flow setting. A gulp of Pepsi washed away the ashy taste of her last cigarette. With only eight dollars, forty-five cents in her pocket, she watched the digital display closely. But soon the baby began to wail inside the car. She pulled him through the open window and perched him on her hip, lisping sweet words into his ear. Resting his damp head on her shoulder, he twirled her hair around his tiny fingers. His other hand found her earring and tugged. "Ow, you little monkey," she said, trashing her Pepsi, then working her earring free and setting it on the post beside her. Turning, she saw the digital display tearing through the ten dollar range. She cursed; the baby started and his face crumpled. Gas splashed her flip-flopped feet as she yanked on the nozzle. It splattered on the concrete, soaking in for a moment before evaporating off in a wavy mist. She stuffed the nozzle back into its cradle and the screaming baby back through his open window. Struggling to buckle him as he struggled against her, pushing his belly out and kicking his legs, she debated. Try to explain and pay in part or just drive away? Digging the bills and change from her pocket, she finally set it on the post, under the earring. The rear view mirror showed no signs of pursuit as she pulled away. And the baby settled, finding comfort in his mama's voice and the sing-song promise that they would come back soon, a day or two maybe, and pay the rest.
i'd love to read your spin on the photo - submit it by clicking on comments below. 250(ish) words or less. thanks for a great first week!
Grace hated her job. She hated the people she worked with. She hated the building. She hated the commute. She hated it all. She had been working as an IT Sysadmin for 3 years now and although she could do the job very well she had no actual qualifications. And she hated that.
ReplyDelete“I’m being deskilled and unsellable.” she would complain to her workmates when her turn came around. “I can do anything that any other sysadmin can do but I just don’t have the piece of paper that says I am qualified. How can I ever get another job?” she would moan into her limp lunch salad.
Her desk was a grey blob, in a grey row of grey blobs. Her office had old faded paint that the management didn’t care about updating because it was a room that no-one but the IT people ever frequented. Her manager didn’t care about her as long as she got her tasks done and no one complained.
She used to like helping people out with their issues, she used to see herself as a rescue worker and the problem was a lost hiker, but that enthusiasm wore off ages ago, all because she never got any thanks.
If only people knew how much a simple thank you would mean to her. Even just a simple email saying “You’re Amazing!”
OMG, I have been driving all day and all night... and maybe longer than that. Really besides being thankful for a pitstop two hours ago, I just have to keep driving. Driving. Driving. If I hadn't thrown my cell phone out the window in Scranton I could have called someone to talk me down. This really isn't going to solve anything, just going and going. But it just has to be. Have you run? Just gotten in the car and left? If I think about it I might cry and then I won't be able to see, so just take it from me... sometimes you run. Now the girl asleep next to me? I'd like to blame this on her. But I know better, although I ain't gonna to tell her that. I've run before. I think I'll wake her up so we can fight, which sure beats signposts. She is pretty. Also just a bit dangerous I think, but hey... ain't nuthin' but road ahead. One thing for sure, I ain't going back to that gas station for an earring. Just gotta keep on keepin' on. There is no going back.
ReplyDeleteHe picked up her earing off the hot asphalt. He twisted the silver loop, warping it between his fingers.
ReplyDelete"Crazy bitch."
He looked down at her. Her face was so calm, so beautiful. He'd seen her like that, only a few times before, deep in sleep after their lovemaking.
He set the earing on the thick concrete pole, red as the blood pooling slowly around her head. He heard the sirens, sounding faintly like a summons, beckoning him.
He looked into the stunned, sickened faces around him, and put the gun to his temple.
"hey mister!!"
ReplyDeleteman i really love this gas station
ive helped my daddy here on the weekend and in the summertime here as long as i can remember
yesterday i came in and had to wait awhile for things to get busy
and when things get busy around here they always get interesting
cars started pouring in the driveway
i walked out to pump 8
the customer was a young guy
college age
a few years older than me
he had a big red truck
when i got to #8, he had already started pumping his gas
"Excuse me mister!"
when he turned around, i saw a tear drip down his cheek
'whadda ya want?'
"well two things.."
'well ya gunna stand around all day or are ya gunna tell me whatcha bothering me for?'
"well first off i work here so im asking you if you need any help with anything? and second im just wonderin if ur ok? i know its not really ..."
'im awful sorry, kid, im in such a bad mood right now. me and my girlfriend broke up a couple days ago, and my best friend told me the other day that he saw her at a resturaunt with some other guy. when i found out i dint really care but i found one of her earings today and i just realized how much im in love with her..'
" well mister im sorry to here that. if you need a telephone there is one just inside"
'thanks that would be great'
when he went inside i finished his gas up and payed for it myself then went and his behind the pump across from number 8
when he came out he looked at the pump and frowned
he got out his wallet and looked at the screen and smiled
he looked up at the sky 'thank ya so much for puttin two such wonderful girls in my life'
then he got in his car and pulled away
when i got out of my hidin spot i saw that he had left behind that earing he had mentioned
i ran after his car as it sped away
"hey mister!..."