I haven't had any takers on the 5 Word Challenge Yet. Just to remind you, I had writer's block yesterday so I gave myself 5 words that I needed to work into a story. The words are:
Shark, Face, Rose, Tuna, Car
I know you can do better than me. Mine is really lame, but it doesn't matter. The point is I was writing. So if you'd like to show us what you can do with these 5 words e-mail me here and I'll post it on my blog - I'll even turn comments back on in your honor. No more than 500 words please. Come on people. Let me know there's still someone reading, not just void.
Now for my results:
The carnival like atmosphere of the grocery store didn't phase me until they handed me the long-stemmed rose, blood red and barely blooming. My poor cat had been eating nothing but tuna for the last couple of days and I'd only come for some cat food. I was in a rush and had no time to play their free-bag-of-groceries-giveaway drawings or the steak walk down by the butcher block. Had the world gone crazy? This was a grocery store for freaks sake, not a circus.
As I studied the delicate petals my eyes grew misty. I looked up at the cashier and her plain face looked different somehow. She smiled as she handed my little boy R.J. a free bottle of bubbles and a balloon. I'd always thought of her as shrewish, but with the rose between my fingertips I realized she was nice.
Over the intercom came a deep, pleasant voice announcing that the shark walk was about to begin.
"If your number gets chosen, you'll get to take home 1lb of genuine shark meat!" said the voice.
I'd never tasted shark and I was tempted to rush back there, but R.J. had let go of his balloon. With his little face crumpled in sadness, he pointed to the balloon bouncing against the ceiling and said, "Mom...alloon."
The balloons were free so I grabbed another and placed it in his eager hands. The green balloon worked the same magic on R.J. as the rose had done to me. His face lit up and though he's normally shy, he flashed his sweet smile at everyone around him.
When we reached the car I laid my rose on the front seat and loaded up the cat food and R.J. He must have been afraid he might lose it again, because his chubby fingers gripped the balloon string so tight his hands had turned white.
I left my rose on the seat next to me as I drove home. I wanted to admire the pretty object that had transformed an ordinary day.
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that’s all.” ~ Oscar Wilde
September 11, 2001
Never Forget
