Free Write - The Car

Julia's Free Write

Ideas or not, we’ve got to do it: I hit the timer for our free write as I muttered the above phrase.

The idea of a free write is for someone to come with a prompt, then we write for 10 minutes on the spur of the moment.

I was the prompt provider this morning, with no clue as to what to say about my own prompt: “s__t happens” is one of my favorite sayings.

But back to the supposed subject.

Bright red and covered with fake vines, there it sat. No one in sight, no explanations provided.  Had the gods come and decorated it during the night? If so, why? Where were the owners? It did have a license plate.

Ah ha, I looked closer and read the very small plaque on the upper window “congratulations to the newly-weds”. The old, refurbished red deux chevaux – 2CV – was a get away car. I love the use of an antique to celebrate something new.

D-L's Free Write

Tom was stuffy, Debra decided, although it should have come as a surprise. She was an artist. He was a banker. 

He didn't quite put on a suit and tie to hang around the house on weekends but close. She wore jeans and a sweatshirt.

They had met at her exhibition where for once she wore her little black dress, her only dress, until Tom bought her others so he could take it to the fancy restaurants he liked.

Marrying after only three months was stupid, she decided. 

He had fought her turning the fourth bedrooom in his house into a studio.

They survived Thanksgiving at his parents. The food had been fantastic.

With Christmas approaching, he got out his decorations, red and silver balls and white fairy lights.

"That's it?" she asked.

He nodded.

They sipped champagne as they decorated an artifical tree.

"Too many needles," he poo-pooed her request for a real one.

When Tom went to work, Debra drove her little red car to the lot where a boys club was selling real tres.

She bought a tiny one for the back seat and decorated it with her handmade ornaments: Santas, reindeers, snowflakes and sleighs.

The salesman listened to her ideas for decorating the outside of her car with green branches. Together they fastened the branches so they wouldn't blow off.

Debra figured that she would be blowing off her marriage in the new year.

Rick's Free Write

Galdric’s truck was broken, in the carrosserie to be repaired, and he had this huge order of plants and flowers to deliver to the church for the funeral of one of the village’s most prominent citizens – Mayor ‘Oui,’ they used to call him because whatever anyone asked of him, he responded, “Oui,” with a big smile. No wonder he got elected 7 times in a row.

The funeral was at 2 and there was no time to rent a truck, so Galdric used the only transport available – his bright red Peugot with the little luggage rack on top. Rolling through the narrow streets it looking like a hanging garden – green shoots and long-stemmed flowers sticking out in every direction; hopefully he wouldn’t hit a ‘sleeping policeman’ too fast and bounce the whole load onto the road.

Mourners, gathered around the church entrance to sign the guest book and have a last cigarette, were aghast to see the cherry red car pull up, covered in greenery and colored blossoms.

Smiling, sort of, Galdric parked alongside the church in the spot where the hearse would soon pull in, jumped out, and started carrying the floral bundles into the sanctuary.

He had just finished and drove up Rue de la Republique when Mayor Oui’s body arrived. As the car hit a bump, a stray zinnia fell into Galdric’s lap. 

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 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: https://dlnelsonwriter.com