This week's Free Write was Rick's prompt. We don't discuss the prompt in advance. My difficulty with it was should I do the Free Write from inside or out. Should I have the shutter fall off? Hit someone of the head? What if the day was windy and the banging shutter annoyed the neighbors? I didn't want to use up my 10 minutes of writing deciding what to write so I went with my first thought, but maybe tonight I will do the other possibilities - or not or ...
Rick's Free Write
I heard a noise.
Looked around the street. Glanced up.
It must have been the blue shutter.
But there was no one there.
Why open just one shutter? Not both.
Perhaps it was the wind.
Recently painted.
The house wall too, a contrasting pale yellow.
Not gray like the house next door.
Years ago, all the houses in the village were shades of gray.
It was depressing to walk the streets.
But gradually the colour exploded.
Mauve. Greens. Ochre.
Now at least every other house in centreville has colour. Maybe more.
Less so on the streets away from the church.
Except for the orange and black house near the tracks that looks like Halloween.
Much of the paint is faded, chipped.
Painted once then forgotten.
Ours is like that.
There’s graffiti near the electric box that we should paint over.
But we just placed a wood trellis in front and let the bougainvillea cover it.
Maybe next spring I’ll repaint it.
Maybe fall.
Too hot in summer.
D-L's Free Write
Madison manipulated her body into a wheelchair that her mom had left next to her bed. "Call me if you need anything," she said. "Sleep tight."
Madison didn't want a late afternoon nap.
She rolled over to the window where she opened one blue shutter.
Colors, red and yellow greeted her eyes. The sun shown through the leaves not over them. She should be walking home from after school cheerleading practice not sitting in a wheelchair.
Not one game had she cheered at at. She'd been amazed to be selected for the squad. She hadn't been in the right clique, but she'd been so good at try outs, the faculty advisor had over ruled them.
Ms Pulson was her friend, admired her essays with s and A-s. That didn't help her popularity or lack there of.
Madison was sure that her fall was not an accident.
It was the third "accident" that day, At least they called an ambulance.
Three months in a body cast. Three months where she couldn't leave the room.
The therapist came three times a week and her mother put her through her paces the other days.
Miss Pulson brought her lessons and Bobby Owens kept her up in math and science.¨"I'll get through this." She looked at the red and yellow leaves. She half believed it.
Julia's Free Write
She was someone who noticed details: the rainbow no one else saw, the kid peeking out of the window, the man alone on a bench.
She took decent photos thanks to her sense of observation, although others took even better, especially the un-gifted who used their cell phones – that still bothers her.
So, wandering down the street of the medieval Old Town she wondered: why blue? In a sunny area one didn’t need it for lightening up the wall. Not that she had anything against it.
Her mind ran away with ideas…
- To distinguish the house from others for the many visitors they welcomed.
- - because the owners were artists and had left over paint from the 4 metre by 6 metre painting ordered by the city fathers
- - because it had been their lost son’s favorite colour.
- - because it covered better the holes left by a gang fight
Oh well.
Digging into the recent history of the village she discovered that it meant hope…after a murder in the building.
About the Free Writers
Rick Adams is an aviation journalist and publisher of www.aviationvoices.com, a weekly newsletter reporting the airline industry top stories . 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/
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment