The three writers met in the café area of a grocery store during what would be the hottest day of the week in Geneva, Switzerland. It was a bonus that it was air conditioned. After a prompt, we did a Free Write for 10 minutes.
Prompt: The memory of this could still make me sweat. Marion Keyes, My Favorite Mistake.
D-L's Free Write
I am a cold weather person. There's nothing better than a snowy day. Summers are almost painful.
I met Bill in summer during a heat wave in Arizona. Even though I couldn't swim, I was wading in the hotel pool to keep cool.
It was lust at first sight. We ended up in his hotel room, which had AC. At least it did until the AC died.
The two of us laid side by side, afraid if we touched, we'd be glued together. We talked.
I told him of my happy winters in Vermont, and he told me of his happy summers in Florida, where he lived and wanted to live the rest of his life.
As we talked, I tried to figure out why I came to Arizona. Ok, my boss insisted. We never did have sex. I never saw Bill again.
However when I hear the words, Arizona, heat, humidity, pool and the name Bill, I break into a sweat.
I tend to block memories of bad things that happened to me. Injuries – except for the twinge in my knee from falling part way through the garage attic floor and twisting my left leg. Or the time the mall security guards pulled guns on the guy parked in front of me as I waited for me ex to emerge with shopping bags full.
Maybe it’s easier to forget if nothing terribly serious happened. Never had a broken bone (my toe doesn’t count). Never had any kind of surgery.
But one sight always tends to make me sweat. The exit sign for Preble on I-81. Pete and I were driving back from the State Junior Golf Championship in Buffalo, and we were hungry. I had been cruising along well above the speed limit – as 17-year-olds do – and even though I slowed for the exit, when my tires hit the stream of water running across the ramp the car hydroplaned, went airborne and flipped into the ditch, landing on the roof.
Miracle that we both survived without a scratch. The windshield never shattered – Volkswagen Beetle windshields were designed to pop out on impact.
Pete would later claim I checked the golf clubs before I checked on his well being. He never got in a car with me again.
Julia's Free Write
She had been in some tight spots in her life, starting with almost being swept out to sea at age 10 opening the side of her leg. Her mother made her go right back into the ocean: saltwater cleanses and prevents infection.
Then there was the “fun” of diving into those huge breaking waves of her early teens. Occasionally one misjudged and had to really hold one’s breath. She survived.
Late teens, and more aware of the dangers, were relatively mild. The odd overturned canoe. In fact, the only truly scary moment was the first flight into the San Francisco airport where one comes in over the bay, only to touch down when one is only feet off the water.
Early adulthood? Rather peaceful until the time she found herself up at the top of a rock face – no rope, no pick, nothing. The only option as going back down had become impossible (a rock face of some 400 meters) the only option: a leap of about a meter to the visible top – one that could simply be a peak and find her falling over the lip.
She survived it but the memory of that could still make her sweat!
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
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