Free write--the three J's

 

"It will be 12 minutes before the pain au chocolat will be ready," the young girl behind the boulangerie counter told me.

My husband and I were at the boulangerie in our tiny village for our weekly free write where we find some one or someones to write about for ten minutes.

Today's "victims" were three workmen at the counter paying for their coffee.

The Three J's

They called themselves the Three J's: Jared, Jeremy and Joël. Susan, the boss's secretary had dubbed them that.

They were all in the mid-twenties. painters for RV House Renovations.

Two still had full heads of hair. Joël had shaved his head to hide his receding hairline. "I'm going to control my baldness," he would say even when someone didn't ask.

Every morning before starting work they stopped at the boulangerie for coffee. Their paint-splattered jeans and shoes contrasted with the wealthier customers clothes. It didn't bother them. They earned enough.

Joël was the only one married with his first baby, a son, on the way. His wife worked as a secretary for the oncology department at the local hospital. He hated it when she told him of a patient she had befriended didn't make it.

Jeremy had a girlfriend who wanted to take their relationship to the next level. Bit by bit more of her things ended up in his appointment. He wasn't sure what to do about it.

Jared had a rule: only three dates with a woman. He said when he was 39, he would think about settling down.

He was saving to go to Australia. He wanted to see the coral reef before it died.

They never talked about women. Most of their conversations were about whatever sports were in season. 

Before Joël hurt his knee, the three would meet to play football on Saturdays.

They ordered three more coffees to go before leaving for their day's work.

 Like all free writes we do, we have no idea what we are going to put in our notebooks, before we do it. We don't edit. The idea is to let the words flow. Editing, if we want to do something more with the piece, comes later. The point is to exercise our creativity as seriously as a jogger would warm up his/her muscles before starting the run.

The door to the kitchen opened releasing the wonderful smell from the baking pain au chocolate. The waitress gave me a baby pain au chocolate as an apology for my having to wait. 

Motivation is always greater on my free write days.