Free Write - Red Ink

 

Rick gave Julia and me a choice between two prompts.  The one we selected produced three similar pieces. Sometimes our free writes are very different interpretations of the prompt.

We selected this prompt: "He thought her beautiful, believed her impeccably wise; dreamed of her, wrote poems to her, which, ignoring the subject, she corrected in red ink."(Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf)

Rick's Free Write

They were separated by a great distance, each at their own university, three states and 1,000 miles apart. Long-distance phone calls in that era were far too expensive, so the only choice was to write.

The postmaster, himself a student at her small college, loved to read Rupert’s incoming letters to Cecille because the smitten young man would include endearments all around the envelope where there was free space from the address and stamp. (There was no need of a return address; everyone knew who had sent it.)

The postmaster resisted the urge to tease Cecille about the adoring phrases, for he was aware of her quick temper and sharp tongue.

He wondered how long Rupert would keep up the correspondence. He would write of how her beauty bedeviled him, of her wisdom, and he would compose poems about what he hoped to do with her next time they were alone together.

A day or so after she received each letter, the postmaster would get it back, resealed after having been read – spelling and grammar errors corrected in red – marked ‘Return

 Rick Adams is an aviation journalist and publisher of www.aviationvoices. com  

Julia's Free Write

Puppy love?

Or something more. “He thought her beautiful, believed her to be impeccably wise; dreamed of her, wrote poems to her….”

Sitting in his lounger he dreamed some more – it helped pass the time; time which hung heavy on his hands now that he was handicapped and confined to a care center.

He had had no children – somehow as the proverbial “absent-minded professor,” his life had continued on a straight line from the first day of school – during that 1st year he had won the prize for most books read, 62 – through Junior High, University and eventually a professorship in a well-known school.

Somehow he never deviated from books, writing and lived his lifemore or less as a hermit, albeit surrounded by worshiping female students.

So, here he was reduced to “ignoring the subject, she corrected in red ink”. Indeed the head mistress let him dream – and he wasn’t going to correct anything of hers.

 Julia has written and taken photos all her life and loves syncing up with friends.  Her blog can be found: https://viewsfromeverywhere.blogspot.com/

D-L's Free Write

Gary considered her his beautiful and wise goddess. He never understood why she was only a junior high school teacher when she could have been a model.

He even went to see her in an amateur musical production proving she could also sing and dance.

He spent a month plus writing an epic poem saluting her as a goddess, a goddess so good that she saved her Greek city from destruction by a major storm. He had agonized whether it was a tornado, hurricane, blizzard or earthquake. He thought of having her stop a volcano, but that was over the top he decided.

Using a Bahnshrift condensed font he decorated the pages as a medieval manuscript. He then sent it to her and waited for a response.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally her name popped up on an email with his epic poem in an attachment. His hand shook as he opened it.

His poetry was covered with red ink marking typos and making suggestions for different wording, rhymes and line length.

 D-L has had 17 fiction and non fiction books published. Check out her website at:. https://dlnelsonwriter.com