The exercise:
Write about: the switch.
Learned something interesting tonight while harvesting corn for the restaurant's order we're delivering tomorrow morning: corn leaves and paper deliver very similar cuts.
Tiny and painful.
I think next time I'll wear gloves.
Mine:
"Hey Mike!" the girl at the door greets me with a sparkling smile. "I just gotta grab my purse and then I'm all set!"
She disappears down the hall and I watch her go - well, part of her anyway. That is a great skirt she's picked out.
I can't say for sure if it's Kelly or Jade that I just saw, or even which one will come back. That's just one of the hazards of dating an identical twin - I'm always wondering if they're pulling a switch on me.
Whatever though, I guess it doesn't really matter. They're both hot, right?
Jade (I think) comes bouncing out the door, a tiny handbag dangling from the crook of her arm, and we head for my car. I breathe in her perfume, not because it helps me tell them apart (they both use the same scent), but because I like it.
I open the passenger door for her (so I can get a good look at her legs) and then slam it shut. As I walk around to the driver's side, I wonder once again if tonight will be the night I finally tell her about my twin brother Jerry.
Ah, what's the point? He's still safely locked up in that mental institution...
I'd never thought about corn husks being hard on the hands before, but I can see how that might work. I hope you've got some hand-lotion to help restore them!
ReplyDeleteYou should totally, like, get Wolverine gloves though. Then you can use the claws to cut through the vegetation as well!
Interesting story, I like the angle of there being two pairs of twins (although now I'm thinking about modifying the premise so that we keep your male twins, one in a mental home, and make the girl an only child with multiple personality disorder who thinks she's identical twins...)
The switch
Arkham's Ashtonian Museum was quiet and dark; the security guards were in the basement fighting something with tentacles that was trying to escape from a mummy's case and the security lights had burned out after lightning had struck the power cables outside eighty-four times. Vince and Dave stood in front of a cubical glass case playing the light from their torches over its contents.
"Vince? What the hell is this? It looks like a cow's tail." Dave was trying to sound angry while whispering, which made him sound like he had a bad cold.
"It is, Dave. It's the only cow's tail in the De Havilleau collection, and it's probably priceless."
"Probably? Come on Vince, what're you not telling me?"
"It might be hard to find a buyer for it, but if we could we could charge as much as we like."
"Well...." Greed danced in Dave's eyes like a little green flame; finding buyers for second-hand artefacts was his métier.
Vince stepped forward and smashed the case with the butt of his torch. Glass exploded outwards like the petals of a sunflower, defying gravity and contriving to sparkle in the dim torchlight like a modern vampire. Somewhere an alarm started to sound; then a crunching sound suggested something with big teeth had decided to eat it.
"The Switch of Anubis," said Vince, picking the tail out of the wreckage. "The scourge of horseflies everywhere."
Marc - Nice story, great ending! And that is really creative :)
ReplyDeleteGreg - Interesting conversation in your story and i really enjoy it :)
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I am quite clueless as to - what to write for this prompt. I mean I study engineering most of my life, mainly - electrical and computer engineering. So I’ll write a little bit, might be boring if you don’t like engineering. Here we go.
Switches are everyday thing in engineering world. In electrical engineering, I had to deal with those three phrase power supply that is going through industrial switchboard. We are talking about those typical switchboards that have ammeter, voltmeter and a couple of twelve mm large fan mounted onto it. If you open the front door, there are even more switches inside (those thirteen Amp little switch that is sitting comfortably in any apartment). Twenty to forty of them are quite common for any server room or any building that runs on a high supply. Well, it has been awhile since I touch these things, most probably I have already returned whatever I have learned back to the teacher. Anyway, it shouldn’t be any more difficult since everything about wiring, color codes are all on the blueprints.
My friend and I had a wonderful, magical time yesterday. We joked, we laughed, we rattled on about many miscellaneous things. Time stood still for who knows how long and if day had not switched to night, we would not have realized that it was time to part. But today is different. Today you don't have two words to say. Makes me wonder who changed. Was it you or was it who made the switch.
ReplyDeleteMarc- Loved the story. Lots of room to expand this! I also agree with Greg's little twist on the story line. It could be fun to play out as well.
ReplyDeleteAs to mine, a confessional for which ever saintly person chooses to listen.
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It's a dangerous switch to flip. And thanks to a friend-living-in-California-whom-shall-otherwise-remain-nameless's recommendation, I flipped the stupid thing and have been drawn in. TV. I live without it for exceedingly long periods of time. Then with a little flicker, it can start to consume my life. This time, I am stuck on "Burn Notice", a fabulously entertaining show with beautiful actors (who actually have well developed characters) and a lot of explosives.
One more season to go and I will have the willpower to flip the switch and return to the more important pursuits in life. Writing being just one of them.
Greg - I would murderize the weeds in the garden if I had Wolverine gloves. That is an excellent idea.
ReplyDeleteAnd you would find a way to take things even further, haha. I like it :)
Really liked: "Somewhere an alarm started to sound; then a crunching sound suggested something with big teeth had decided to eat it."
Zhongming - thanks for sharing, and I really liked this: "... I have already returned whatever I have learned back to the teacher."
saint321 - that's a great take on the prompt, the day/night and the last line as well (does that qualify as a double take?... sorry).
Heather - good to see your writing again :)
There's a TV upstairs that I've so far managed to avoid watching. I think I've been out of the loop so long now with whatever shows are on, I'd have to start by getting a few full seasons on DVD first...
Maybe that'll happen this winter. Hopefully not, if I want to get any writing done :P