The exercise:
Four lines of prose about: shake/shaken/shaking/boom shakalaka.
Okay, maybe not that last one.
Too late, the voices in my head cry out, for Greg has already begun writing!
Anyway. We had ourselves a little earthquake here this morning. It was a 4.6 magnitude shaker that woke us up shortly after 5am. Since the epicenter was less than 100 km away the house did perform a brief wiggle.
To say that it was a rather confusing and disorienting scene would be an understatement. We weren't even sure it was a quake until Kat checked the news after breakfast.
As best I can recall that's the first quake I've ever felt. Not sure I'd want to experience anything much stronger.
Mine:
The news had rocked him to his very core. Hours after word had first reached him, he sat at his kitchen table, staring at nothing. His pumpkin soup sat cold and ignored in a brown bowl in front of him, a corner of his black phone barely visible in the center.
Turning in four lines about an earthquake prompt focussing on boom shakalaka would be an achievement! I'm thinking huge speakers and an outdoor venue... but I shall save it for another time I think :)
ReplyDeleteNo BC for a while I think; it's all Dublin at the moment. I'm there again Monday and Tuesday this week.
Heh, now that I understand Canadian lotteries, your story has much more of an impact on me!
Shaken
"She kept shaking me, shaking, quaking, and breaking," muttered the Green Lightbulb.
"That's no excuse for nearly killing a nurse," said Dr. Septopus, barely containing his anger. "And why did you join in attacking this poor man?"
"He wasn't shaking Green enough," said Sylvestra.
*looks at Greg's comment with a O.o, shakes her head and moves on.* Okay that's line one can I count this as two? What do you mean I can't, this is prose after all. *sticking out tongue and shaking it for the raspberry effect with a "Boom shakalala" like a cherry on top*
ReplyDeleteDon't ask, it's 7:30 in the morning here and I've just written almost 1667 words in one sitting after getting up at 5:30 am to do so. :}
Anyway earthquakes... I lived in California for six years and never felt a single one. I've been in Maryland for less than six years and felt two. The first woke me in the middle of the night and I thought it was a big semi rattling by (which is silly, I live in the near country) but by the time my brain had woken up enough to realize it was an earthquake the shaking stopped. The second time I was at work, in a meeting. the monitor we were looking at started shaking and at some point we realized it was an earthquake and move to a door frame (at least I did) to watch out the window as plate glass shook like sheet metal. It was cool... only because it wasn't all that big and we weren't too close to the epicenter.
:} Elori/Ca-thryn
Shake
ReplyDelete"Shake, shake, shake,
shake, shake, shake,
shake your b..."
she started singing thus to the toddler, who shook along with his mother roughly in time to the song's lyrics.
It was time for playgroup and they were getting into the rhythm of it.
On the way home, Mother would stop at the mall for a "shake'n'dog" with the other mums - a weekly indulgence. It was a new way of life, a more carefree way, that she'd promised herself after experiencing the shakes of last year's earthquake which had threatened to shake her world apart.
Greg - tell the Irish I said to stop hogging you!
ReplyDeleteThose three have got to be my favorite of your characters :)
Elor - I think after an early morning writing session like that I should just be pleased you took the time to stop by and share your take on the prompt!
Too funny that you had to move away from Cali to experience earthquakes - I'd have never expected that!
Writebite - I like how you slipped that 'roughly' into the first line :)