The exercise:
Write four lines of prose about: playground rules.
Happy Friday the 13th! Only the first month of the year and we have one already - let's just pretend that's a good sign, shall we?
Kat and I went down to the states this afternoon, for the first time since we moved here. Which is sad, seeing as the border is like ten minutes from our front door.
Anyway, we did a bit of shopping and filled up on gas - at 89 cents a litre, compared to $1.18 here in town. I think we'll be making that trip a few more times.
Kat and I went down to the states this afternoon, for the first time since we moved here. Which is sad, seeing as the border is like ten minutes from our front door.
Anyway, we did a bit of shopping and filled up on gas - at 89 cents a litre, compared to $1.18 here in town. I think we'll be making that trip a few more times.
Mine:
"... so absolutely no touching of other students in a manner that could possibly be interpreted as aggressive." Miss Brown studied the children arrayed before her and her dusty tome, then asked if they understood.
"Yes, Miss Brown," they replied in weary unison.
10 comments:
I think it may be February, but there is one month of the year which, if it has a Friday 13th guarantees that there will be another later in the year. So, which state is your southern neighbour then? I'm not great on the USA, but I think you've got California and Washington over on your side haven't you? Montana as well, possibly?
I like Miss Brown. It seems like she achieves discipline by never letting the children reach the playground until they've grown up!
Playground rules
Miss Snippet surveyed the weary, dusty, grimy children with a sense of satisfaction. Working as a construction gang was teaching them maths, engineering, technical drawing, soil mechanics, and all from a practical perspective.
"Now," she said, "when we've finished building the playground, we shall have to draw up some playground rules."
Perfect, law, town plannings and working-together all in one easy task too!
turn it round, fri the 13th is a good number!
nice work, guys,
mine,
playground rules
The double storey red brick building stood out ominously from the background of green foliage of the gum trees.
The kids excluded her from their games of hopscotch and skipping 'cause she was the new girl.
She sat there, a mere four year old, watching, and thought, "What am I doing here with these idiots?"
Fifty years on she visited that playground, recalling the crappy "rules" which defined their existence back them, and the incredibly good news she received on her mobile as she stood there wiped out all the pain, the memories and the nightmares of that place in one instant.
KS, thanks for the follow :)
@Marc - darn rules - wasn't there a time when we were just allowed to play
@Greg - again, wasn't there a time when we just loved to play. So darn practical :)
@writebite - great twist at the end. Transforms it from, "just" a memory to truly poignant.
Frankie Valentine ran as fast as he could, trying to keep up with Brian Donelan. For every one step that Brian took, Frankie needed to take two. The ball was thrown high, bounced off of Brian’s finger tips and somehow settled in Frankie’s arms. Frankie smiled, knowing he would not be picked last next time.
Sarah stepped from the schoolhouse doors, pushed her glasses high up on her nose and looked around the playground. “Abigail, come and sit with us.” She heard Alexis and her four plastic clones shout in unison. Eager for friends Abbey nearly ran over. Sarah wanted to stop her but she could only stare in disbelief as the contents of a pudding cup took flight and hit Abbey in the chest. Abbey would never tell and certainly no one else ever would. The event would be remembered of as an unfortunate accident. The plastics were A-list and in their school, they made the rules.
Not sure if it is prose and yet here it is none the less.
@writebite - Your Welcome.
Friday the 13th was always a good day for me. Especially when I was going to the Goth club in Boston. they turned it into a real party. :]
@Greg - yes if there is a Friday the 13th in February (on a non leap year) then you are guaranteed one in March. Don't know what happens during leap years though. (FYI: California, big as the state seems, is far from the Canadian boarder, Washington State is a definite possibility though)
Okay now for my turn at the prompt.
Playground Rules
Never in his entire life had Billy ever seen such a long list of playground rules. Normally they stopped at ten with something like, 'no spitting on the sidewalks', but this one went to 100. His eyes bulged at all the things he read, especially the one about not feeding the Dragons. If there were Dragons in there that wouldn't gobble him up, he'd have obeyed 200 rules!
(No, I never write fantasy, ever *giggles* :}
Do you think it's a good sign when you don't realize it's Fri the 13th until it's already over?
~~~~~~~~~
Do not hang upside down on swings while in motion.
“Really, we have to be told that?”
“Can you say lawsuit? Somebody probably got hurt trying it, and now we have a new rule.”
@cathryn here's a fantasy question - what are some essential fantasy novels that non-fantasy should read?
Yes, my Friday the 13th was awesome, too, a big part of which was leaving work at 12:30.
Sadly, I did miss the prompt yesterday which I may have to go back and write another time(cause I was just thinking about twins the other day!) and even though it's late, I had to post something today, short as it may be:
The wind rushed past her face, an endless current tasting of freedom. It was riding a bike down a long hill! It was running through the field behind the fairgrounds! It was, she was certain, flying through the clouds! She shoved off a little clumsily with one foot and the merry go round spun all the faster. "Playground rules!" she exclaimed gleefully, to no one in particular.
Greg - we're just above Washington state, though not all that far from Idaho, which pokes its nose up between Washington and Montana. Google says it would be about a four hour drive to the Idaho border from here.
That's quite the education those kids are receiving :)
Writebite - glad she found a good memory to replace the painful ones.
David - ugh, the horror of being picked last. What a terrible system that is...
Krystin - definitely prose. Really liked the 'plastic clones' bit :)
Elor - I'd happily obey a thousand to avoid dragon gobbling!
Nita - absolutely. Means you don't have to be bothered about any of that superstitious nonsense :P
Swinging upside down is like, half the point of swings!
H.N. - haha, great twist on the prompt. Ah, merry go rounds...
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