Monday March 14th, 2011

The exercise:

Let us write about: the spy.

It is windy and rainy here and I don't care for it. I like that it is reasonably warm again though. But I could do with more sun and less wind. I'm picky like that.

Mine:

"Do you have the documents?"

"Of course... but we suffered heavy losses in order to retrieve them."

"I am paying you for the information, not to bore me with your problems. Hand it over."

"Fine, take it. But answer me one question and then we shall never speak again."

"What is it? And make it quick, I am a busy man."

"What I brought you, it will surely get Coco disqualified. Why her? Why not one of the others?"

"Because she is our only competition. With her sitting on the sidelines, my precious Pippin is guaranteed to win her Best of Breed category at the Westminster Dog Show."

4 comments:

Greg said...

Ah, I like the rain, but not if the wind's accompanying it as so often happens in England, while my dog dislikes the rain under all circumstances. She would agree with you wholeheartedly about more sun and less wind.
Osoyoos is in a desert? How do manage to find all of these extremes in one place? And... why are you farming in a desert? Should I be calling you Paul Atreides now? ;-)
I love the denouement of your story, but I found it just a little tricky to read with no characters anywhere. There's plenty of characterisation in what they say, and I have a feel for who they might be, but it's a weird feeling knowing so little about them.

The spy
Pale-skinned and feather-weighted,
Overlooked and underrated,
Quiet and anonymously hated,
She's our spy in there.

Eyes that see and ears that hear,
Fingers sticky so things adhere,
Never far and always near,
She's our spy in there.

Ghostly and like Death, appearing
When a politician's time is nearing,
Never touching, ever steering,
She's our spy in there.

Her qualities are understated,
Her name each day afresh created,
Her very living oft debated,
She's our spy in there.

Marc said...

Greg - well, we get all the sun we could want. And a lake to provide much needed irrigation water :)

I agree about the lack of description - I was feeling a bit lazy and a lot rushed to get it done, so I didn't bother with anything outside of dialogue.

'Her very living oft debated' made me smile. I liked the rhyming scheme you chose as well.

Aaron said...

This was fun to write. Enjoy!

The Spy
The two gently bumped into each other in the dark room. Startled both flipped around, whipping guns to action. In the blackness a stalemate ensued.
“What are you doing here? Why are you dressed like a ninja?” Whispered the form on the right.
“I’ll ask the questions around here. What are you doing here and why are you dressed like a ninja?” Whispered the shadow on the left.
For a time they merely circled one another. Their eyes slid over each other’s armaments . They did this for what felt like at least five minutes.
“So,” said one, “Split the secret documents?”
“Phew, Hell yeah I was scared you were one of those hard ass I’ve seen too many action movie spies. You know who think their like James B---“
He blew the smoke from his silencer, “Bond, James Bond.”

Marc said...

Aaron - haha, that was fun to read, too :)