What a challenge today's Free Write. As Rick and I sipped tea/hot chocolate at Mille et Une we were talking about what the hole looked like. A heart? Greenland? Julia, who sent the prompt from Switzerland, didn't offer a suggestion, but did emailed her Free Write which will go first.
Julia's Free Write
Jimmy sat there.
It was the first day back at school after the long summer vacation and he simply wasn’t motivated to go back to school. Last year had been rough as he was the youngest in the class and although of average height the older boys, and some of the snippy little girls had bullied him. Too timid to say anything to either his parents or his teacher, summer vacation had been wonderful.
But now it was here – did his mother somehow suspect? By the offering that she had put on his plate, perhaps.
A lovely heart plate, a cute slice of bread with very small eyes and a cut-out nose.
What did it mean?
Maybe school wouldn’t be so bad after all this year if his mornings started out with some fun like this!
D-L's Free Write
"Mother, I don't want bread with a hole in it."
Rita said nothing to Sharon, her daughter.
"Why can't you do something pretty or make French toast like Marilyn's mother?"
Deliver me from teenagers, Rita thought. What she said was, I'm going on strike. Get your own breakfast."
"Really?"
"Really! And no ride to school today."
"But, I'll be late."
"Your problem, not mine." She flounced from the kitchen hoping her flounce was a good imitation of her daughter's.
Rita had had it. She worked from home designing websites. She also did all the cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing and shopping.
Even husband Tom did nothing. He had when Rita worked outside the home.
When Sharon got home from school there was no snack. "Did you wash my blue sweater!" she asked her mom. "And can I have some cocoa?"
Rita looked up from her laptop. Without household chores she was ahead of the project delivery date for her client. "No."
She realized she could catch the 5:00 movie at the Women's Center. It had been donkeys' year since she had time to drop in.
"Sharon says that you're on strike," Tom said when Rita got home. "I had to order pizza."
Rite didn't say she'd eaten a great meal with Joyce and another friend she hadn't had time for.
She'd stayed on strike for four days.
"How long will this strike last?" Tom asked.
"I'm out of clean underwear," Sharon said. Tom sent his daughter a look that said, "That won't help."
"Until I get a list from both of you on what chores you're going to take responsibility for."
The strike went on for two more days. As Rita was leaving to see a friend, she found Tom and Sharon huddled together.
When she got home, she saw the dishes had been done, the living room was neat, and the beds made.
On the fridge were two lists of chores. One had Sharon's name on top, one had Tom's.
It was a start.
Rick's Free Write
When my teenage grandson visited us in the South of France, he fell in love with … the bread.
Not a surprise. There are dozens of varieties of pain, and they’re all made fresh daily.
The ubiquitous baguettes. Pain du mie (daily bread). Pain mais – cornbread, but not that bland stuff you find in the US. Pave, like an oversized burnt baguette.
In Switzerland, in season, we get pain aux châtaignes – chestnut bread – delicious.
One of our favorites is “Julia bread,” so named because our friend introduced us to it. Available at Manor, where we do our weekly free writes, it’s a plump loaf covered with seeds. Warmed up and slathered with butter… heaven.
Of course, there are also croissants beurre (Sherlock’s preference, though he shuns croissants without a buttery taste). Pain au chocolate (or chocolatine in parts of France) – basically a croissant laced with dark – has to be dark – chocolate. Pain au raisin – like a “Bear Claw” in North America. And the sugar-sprinkled flat bread from the marché vendor.
We always have some sort of bread in the house.
Leftover, semi-stale bread can be used with fondue cheese. Or roasted with olive oil and garlic for croutons.
Last time I flew to Dallas to visit my grandson, daughter, granddaughter, and son-in-law – routing through Paris – I grabbed a couple of fresh baguettes at CDG and carried them on the plane to gift my French bread-loving grandson.
Oh, the boulangeries (bakeries) will tranché (slice) any loaf of bread you buy, but I have found this dries it our more quickly, so I prefer to cut it myself as we go.
Let them eat pain!
Rick Adams is an aviation journalist and publisher of www.aviationvoices.com, a weekly newsletter reporting the top stories about the airline industry. He is the author of The Robot in the Simulator. AI in Aviation Training.
Visit D-L.'s website https://dlnelsonwriter.com, She is the author of 15 fiction and three non fiction books. Her 300 Unsung Women, bios of women who battled gender limitations, can be purchased at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/300-unsung-women-d-l-nelson/1147305797?ean=9798990385504
Visit Julia's blog. She has written and taken photos and loves syncing up with friends. Her blog can be found: https://viewsfromeverywhere.blogspot.com/
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