Monday September 17th, 2012

The exercise:

Write about: the last resort.

Class number three in our prenatal series went tonight. It was a bit of a heavy class, focused on all of the various medical interventions we could possibly end up using, from IVs to epidurals. We're hoping that few, if any, of them will be needed, but I'm feeling much more informed about our choices if it does come to that.

One more to go on Wednesday night, which should be a much lighter class - in that one we finish off by talking about babies and what in the world we're meant to do with them in the first two weeks after we bring 'em home.

Because after that they start taking care of themselves, right?

Mine:

The red button on the control panel waited patiently as the uniformed man paced back and forth in the cramped office. It watched as forgotten papers were trampled, kicked into corners and under chairs.

It held its breath every time the man came to stillness and stared at it. The doubt and confusion in his eyes seemed to grow less every time he did so. It was only a matter of time.

The button increased its glow ever so slightly at each pause, as though it could pull the man's finger to its surface if only it shined brightly enough.

The man resumed his traverse of the room once more. But with greater reluctance this time, the button was sure of it. It watched as he placed his hands on the window sill and stared outside at the gathering darkness. Shoulders slumped, chin fell to chest.

Yes, it was truly just a matter of time now.

3 comments:

Greg said...

I suppose forwarned is forearmed, and it's better to know that all these things are there to help you if there are problems, for all it would be easy to now worry unceasingly about having these things go wrong. I hope they did tell you that most of these things are needed only exceptionally :)
I'm pretty sure babies start taking care of themselves after two weeks too!
Heh, I love how your button continues to attract your protagonist all through the tale; I know that feeling well :)

The last resort
The plane had landed with a bump, which hadn't bothered them. The second bump was a little more worrying, and when the plane tilted and eventually came to a halt because the wing was braking them they were shaking their heads wearily.
"That's the third time," she said, and he nodded agreement. The stewardess, who was trying hard not to scream, looked at them wide-eyed.
"It's not as bad as the time we were counting engine-failures during the flight," he said to her.
----
Off the plane, they walked hand-in-hand slowly along the access road. Ahead of them was a broad, wrought-iron gate with the name of the resort written artistically on the top: "L'Ultimo".
"The last resort," she said, emphysema making her sound whispery. "Can you believe it? Fifty years and we've finally visited every resort on earth!"
"They're still building more," he said, gently.
"Then we've got somewhere to go next," she laughed. "We'll just wait here for it to be built."
"Well, it beats that Tibetan one that we had to ride the yaks to."
"And the Peruvian one near the erupting volcano, don't forget!"
They leaned a little closer together and pushed the buzzer at the gate for attention.

Cathryn Leigh said...

@Marc - um... yeah two weeks they care for them selves... let me know how that goes six years from now. *grins* - Such a sneeaky little button that one, increasing it's glow. I wonder what's going on that make him contemplate it.

@Greg - ha ha! I see I wasn't the only one who thought of that sort of resort. What an interesting couple though. Wouldn't it be nice to have enough money to visit all the resorts in the world.

Mine comes from Rachael's world (you all remember her from Space week *grins*) with a focus on teh Nueri (aka werewolf) revolution on BV5. :}


The ALst Resport

Once the revolution was in full swing the resorts on Beta-Vegas 5 began to close down. All but the Vanderbilt one, at least. Up by the space port, able to be protected from the insurgence, it still thrived.

In fact it was easily able to increase its high tech with the amount of money it started making. But the money didn’t come from the locals. Not even from Beta-Vegas 5 Management. Nope it came from other rich people in the universe.

They wanted the thrill of be part of a revolution, without the pain and expense of actually having one. Of course they didn’t want to risk getting killed either, hence the high security of the resort.

To the revolutionists it looked ridiculous. And long they pondered, questioned, and argued over what to do about it: take it over, let it stay, destroy it, ignore it.

And then the owner discovered an issue. A major blip in his plan for retirement. One that would ruin his reputation and he found himself on hands and knees before the Revolutionary leader.

Lupita could only look at him with stupefied wonder, this man who’d grown up on her planet, who should have known the dangers of the plants he was feeding his guests. And then she could only laugh at him.

Out there, in the Universe, Nueris had been born, and were to be born, because of this one man’s folly.

And she, and her companions, were the only ones the United Conglomeration of Planetary Authorities could turn to for help and advice.

The revolutionary tide was about to turn in their favor.


I seriously love this thought, and am saving it for a time when I get back into Rachael's Universe and figure out just what stories I'm going to tell with it. *snickers* Love this thought

Marc said...

Greg - yeah, worrying about it all is definitely a temptation, but our teacher was very balanced and reasonable about the way she shared it with us. So, so far so good.

Wonderful take on the prompt! Fascinating couple; they seem like they'd have a lot of great stories to tell :D

Cathryn - yeah, well... I can dream for now :P

Ha, great scenario. It's the little things that can make all the difference, huh?