Friday March 19th, 2010

The exercise:

Your four lines of prose this week shall be based around: up for auction.

Was back in the sauna for two hours of training this afternoon. Had a bit of trouble paying attention.

Mine:

The auction house was brimming with nervous excitement and outlandish rumours as the final item up for bidding was wheeled onto the stage beneath a purple velvet drape. The six employees manning the cart, three of them pushing and three of them pulling, were red-faced and out of breath by the time they managed to bring it to its place in the spotlight.

The auctioneer stood at the podium with a relaxed smile and surveyed the eager men and women who so desperately awaited the unveiling of the object he had struggled to keep secret for the past six months.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said into his microphone, “I am pleased to present, at long last, the pièce de résistance of the late Monsieur Edward Teller’s estate: the first prototype of the hydrogen bomb!”

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i definitely adore your own posting type, very charming.
don't give up as well as keep penning for the reason that it simply just nicely to follow it,
impatient to looked over additional of your own stories, cheers!

Greg said...

Oh well, it's the weekend now, and any trips to the sauna can be made suitably attired and without someone keeping asking you if you understand :) What's all this training for? I don't think you've told us yet.

I love the idea of the prototype going up for sale -- I assume it's a sting trap by the government though, to try to find [avid cold-war memorabilia collectors] terrorists!

Up for auction

Lisa looked up as the guard came to the holding cell and unlocked the door. He gestured roughly, and she herded her children, Joey and Angela, before her so that they could all travel upstairs together. They emerged into a well-lit room with lots of people in suits sat around, looking well-off and slightly bored.
"Lot number 62 is the wife and children of CEO Michael Brynn, repossessed as collateral against a speedboat..." droned the auctioneer.

Marc said...

Anon - thanks very much and feel free to jump in with some writing of your own :)

Greg - ah, the company I'm temping for is changing to a new financial (not my concern) and project management (more my area) program for the new fiscal year (so starting next month). So I'm in the process of getting trained up on how to use it and all that good stuff. Nothing too exciting.

Hah, collateral for a speedboat! That seems the sort of thing a rich man might do, actually...