Tuesday's Free Write was at Pages & Sips, a delightful English bookstore in Geneva's old town. After a lunch of pumpkin soup and a scone with goat's cheese, and honey covered nuts, Rick and I selected the squirrel and penguin statue on the window sill. We sent a photo to Julia who couldn't be with us but still did the free write.
Three very different approaches to the same prompt.
D-L's Free Write
Jana added a bit of red to the brown and held the paint-laden brush to the carving of the red squirrel.
She had had no problem with the penguin's black and white and just enough gray in the white to make it look like feathers.
Do penguins have feathers? This one would.
He, if the penguin was a he, held a tray with a tea pot and two cups and saucers. The pattern was roses of a dusty pink.
She wasn't sure where to place the squirrel in the painting. Maybe at the round table with its baby blue tablecloth and a floral arrangement in a white vase.
This was her first freelance assignment for the children' publisher. The title of the book was The Penguin and the Squirrel Have a Tea Party.
It wasn't just that she needed the money, although she did. This was her chance to break into the world of publishing illustration.
She picked up the brush and started on the curly tail of the squirrel. An hour later she dropped the brush in a can of turpentine.
She looked at the painting. She'd nailed it. Now, only if the publisher felt the same.
Rick's Free Write Mrs Squirrel and Mr Penguin
Melissa loved to go to the bookstore. Every week, usually on Fridays, her Mimi would take her on the 33 bus, then the 92 navette, up the winding streets to the top of the Olde Towne, to the P&S book shoppe and tea room.
Melissa would race directly to the back room, the children’s room, to the table by the middle window. That’s where Mrs Squirrel and Mr Penguin lived – on the windowsill.
While Mimi browsed the bookshelves, always keeping Melissa in sight, the little girl would make up adventures about the animals. Mrs Squirrel and Mr Penguin visit the Jet d’Eau. Mrs Squirrel and Mr Penguin go skiing in the Alps. And when she grew a bit older and Melissa started to travel, Mrs Squirrel and Mr Penguin in Paris… in London… in Rome.
Squirrel and Penguin never had first names, only pronouns. But what amazing personalities! Mrs Squirrel was mischievous, always getting into troubles, from which Mr Penguin had to rescue her. Penguin was cautious, afraid of most things, and had to be dragged on their adventures. Well, waddled.
One day recently, Melissa found herself in Olde Towne. And after lunch with friends at La Place de Bourg, she wandered up the hill, past the mairie and the armory, to see if the book shoppe was still there. To her delight, it was, as was the heart she had carved in the windowsill – where Mrs Squirrel and Mr Penguin still lived.
Julia's Free Write Unlikely friends
Here we are in the corner of what appears to be an empty flat: two stuffed animals, a penguin and a squirrel.
Squirrel: How did I get here? This isn't my idea of a tree, and where's the food?
Penguin: And I? See that sun outside, I'm so far from home with not a clue as to how I got here nor how to return. And my food - there's not even any water around, never mind fish! Oh - there is that gold fish in a bowl, but too far away for me to reach.
Squirrel: And why are we together? Such an unlikely pairing.
Penguin: We can't even escape as the window at our back is shut.
Squirrel: Oh, I get it!
Penguin: You do, what?
Squirrel: See that little boy and that girl over there? And see those books?
Penguin: Yes, I get it too: we are their pets put here while they find more books to read - Unlikely friends, far from our homes, but in a new one and the hearts of our owners.
Julia has written and taken photos all her life and loves syncing up with friends. Her blog can be found: https://viewsfromeverywhere.blogspot.com/
Rick Adams is an aviation journalist and publisher of www.aviationvoices. com
D-L has had 17 fiction and non fiction books published. Check out her website at:. www.dlnelsonwriter.com
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