Friday May 8th, 2015

The exercise:

Write four lines of prose about something that is: constricted.

Max slept from 6pm to 8pm this evening, waking to the decision that he had just had a nap and that he was not in fact ready to stay in bed until morning. So he ended up staying up until 10:30, which pretty much obliterated any chance of Kat and I watching a movie together this evening.

So now I am grumpy and ready to go to bed.

Mine:

Don't panic, just stay cool, man. You got this, you got this, you got this. Keep breathing, that's all you gotta do, just one breath after another after another.

This boa's gotta fall asleep eventually... right?

5 comments:

Greg said...

Of course, Max sees it the other way round: he had a great special evening with his parents, staying up late and seeing part of the night that he normally sleeps through :) But I can see how missing your movie might be quite disappointing, too!
Heh, I wasn't expecting a boa, but it's a great punchline!

Constricted
Aggie and Bettie marched to the back of the coach, their handbags swinging from arms that jutted sharply out from their sides and catching the unwary in the face or shoulder. At the back they sat down firmly and heavily on the row of seats there and the driver frowned as the coach bounced, wondering if there was something wrong with the suspension.
"It's a bit tight," said Aggie, oblivious to the soft moans of the stick-thin elderly woman she was crushing against the window.
"Constricted," agreed Betty, producing a foam carton containing a pungent, extra-pickles, fast-food burger and opening it.

Anonymous said...

I could feel my very heart tighten as I stood in my cage, gripping the bars as tight as I could, hoping I could somehow break them with my grasp. For the first time since the deal with the genie, I wished I could be stronger so that I could crush any bonds keeping me from him. A mere mortal, Moussa stood no chance against the half-human, half-boa Kazhim.
There was nothing I could do in my weakened, mortal-like state to save him from being crushed to death by my vengeful half-brother; that fact alone was nearly killing me.

Marc said...

Greg - I'm sure Max saw things differently. I was too grumpy to see things from his perspective though, I'm sad to admit.

Oh man, that last line just... it's impressive how much worse things got in that coach with that simple description.

Ivybennet - I'm always impressed with the various characters you create within your prompt responses. This one is no different.

Do any of them live on in longer tales elsewhere?

Anonymous said...

Marc,

Some of them do but others are purely at the moment. There are quite a few prompts that, after I wrote them, I really want to explore the worlds and storyline more.

Marc said...

Ivy - that's very cool. Thanks for the reply!