Friday July 4th, 2014

The exercise:

Write four lines of prose about something that is: too much.

Spent most of the day picking raspberries for tomorrow's market. Hard to say how many pints I managed to get, as we ran out of the containers we'd been using and their replacements are slightly larger. No idea what to call that size, but it has made things a little awkward.

Anyway, the true stars of the show will be our first apricots of the year. Though I imagine at least a few people will be excited to see the Transparent apples as well.

Mine:

I want so badly to continue on but I cannot. The pain is too intense, the challenge is over and above my abilities, with a reward not large enough to push me beyond my limits. It is simply all too much.

So, while it dismays me deeply, I fear that I must withdraw from this ice cream eating contest, though I am only on my tenth bowl.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember only a handful of things about her appearance. She was beautiful, I do remember that, with ebony hair that glistened in the sunlight that streamed from the grubby cafeteria window. The smile she gave me was a promise of something special yet to come, a sign that we had a future together.
This future never had a chance to happen for when she passed me, her perfume burned my nostrils and stole my consciousness from me.

Greg said...

@ivybennet: I really like your punchline; there's a whole world of story waiting to be told there!

@marc: does the larger container size mean you're going to have reprice them when you sell them at the market? It does sound like it's going to be a bit annoying for you! Still, the apples sound wonderful, and the apricots are probably pretty great too :)
Only ten bowls of ice cream - hah. I'm sure I could do better... though I do remember that eating too much ice cream can really lower your body temperature. Hmmm, maybe I won't actually take this challenge on just now :)

Too much
Penhaligon's of London, the perfumier: I remember it so well. I'd turned the young man behind the counter down for a date before he made up my perfume and thought nothing of it, even when he insisted I apply it before leaving the shop. As I walked up the street towards Covent Garden, past grubby cafeterias and the Royal Opera House, I smiled in at people who fainted and swooned just because they were near me.
The police later told me it was because my perfume had been mixed with mustard gas, but how was that my fault?
[Thanks for the inspiration @ivybennet!]

Aholiab said...

Too Much

Jennifer walked into the dining room carrying an overnight bag and stopped to watch her husband cleaning his pistol. He looked up at her and softly asked, “Did you enjoy visiting your sister?”

She nodded, watched him load bullets into the gun, and asked, “How much did the Johnson’s dog bark last night?”

He closed the cylinder and said, “Too much.”

Marc said...

Ivybennet - hah, that is a beautifully setup punchline. Great descriptions :D

Greg - yeah, and they don't look super different when they're side by side. Had a lot of people ask what the difference was. They all still sold though, so I guess there's that.

Ice cream challenges are best saved for very hot days. Though I suppose they then become melted ice cream challenges...

And nice connection with Ivy's :D

Aholiab - speaking of wonderfully crafted punchlines...

Great stuff, once again. Really liked that the husband is so outwardly calm. And that his wife understood what was going on :)