Daily writing prompts from June 9th, 2008 to December 31st, 2022
Sunday August 1st, 2021
The exercise:
Write about: wishing for rain.
Well, it did rain here today, which is good. Doesn't look like it was enough to make much of a difference to the surrounding wildfires though, which is... less good.
Putting out that much wildfire and keeping it out probably requires several hours of heavy rain unfortunately, but the rain you've had will slow them at least, and deprive them of some fuel. I hope you get more rain :)
Wishing for Rain Miss Snippet stood at the large window at the front of the classroom and looked out. The skies were cloudy grey with wispy streamers of tattered white cloud dragged across them by the winds. The trees on the far side of the playground bent slightly as the wind tugged at their branches and leaves, and now and then a handful of dark-green foliage would get loose and whirl off across the houses and streets. On the other side of the playground stood a collection of gleaming new buildings, including a complete science wing and a home economics studio that had made the head of the local Culinary School bite through a wooden spoon in frustration. She allowed herself a small smile: her children were proving to be excellent builders, plumbers, carpenters, electricians and all the other trades necessary for construction and she was sure that they would all go on to do well. Except perhaps, Rain. Rain was a nice child, and Miss Snippet rarely used the word nice, let alone combined it with child, but that was the extent to which Miss Snippet felt comfortable describing her. She was pleasant, she was easy to get on with, she didn't complain about being given difficult or messy jobs to do, but she only fulfilled them competently at best and never excelled. She never seemed especially motivated to take things to the next level, to spend the little bit of extra time and care needed to elevate something from functional to admirable or higher. Her schoolwork was adequate, but Miss Snippet never gave her an A grade, or a smiley-face sticker (those were heavily ironic and usually reduced the recipients of them to tears). She was, in short, a concern. Miss Snippet watched as the Headmaster struggled bravely across the playground, one hand holding his pretentious mortarboard on his head, and the other trying, mostly vainly, to hold his flapping black gown around him. Behind him trundled a queue of parents, equally flustered by the bluster, all heading towards the new buildings, the jewel of the school, to see what their children were too young to use. Miss Snippet had tried talking to Rain's parents about her lack of enthusiasm for hard labour, but it seemed they were dead. So she'd spoken to a couple of mediums to contact Rain's parents that way, and now the mediums were dead as well. If Miss Snippet could prove that Rain was responsible she would have happily awarded the child an A for the year on the spot, but it just seemed... unlikely. She'd tried talking to Rain, but it has been very much like talking to rain -- unfulfilling, rather pointless and it had left her somewhat damp. She'd finally tried talking to the child's friends, and had discovered that they were also concerned about her, and had formed a support group called Wishing for Rain. "Well," said Samantha who had the makings of an excellent foreman. "It's like praying isn't it, only more honest." Miss Snippet watched with interest as the headmaster stumbled as he reached the door of the new Science wing; the wind there seemed to gust suddenly, and he put his hand out to break his fall. He missed the corner of the wall he was aiming for and fell over, rolling slightly towards the hazardous waste disposal. Miss Snippet sighed a little, and then to her surprise the Headmaster stood up missing an arm. He stared at it in shock; the parents stared in shock, and Miss Snippet found herself turning round and looking at Rain. "Where did you put the Sphere of Annihilation, exactly, Rain?" she asked, wondering if she could finally award that A grade.
Greg - it was a day of reprieve. Then the winds came and dried up any wet and we're back to where we were before. But hopefully one day closer to a proper rain?
Hah, once again you led me so far astray that I quite forgot about the Sphere until it showed up at the end. That's quite impressive, I think.
2 comments:
Putting out that much wildfire and keeping it out probably requires several hours of heavy rain unfortunately, but the rain you've had will slow them at least, and deprive them of some fuel. I hope you get more rain :)
Wishing for Rain
Miss Snippet stood at the large window at the front of the classroom and looked out. The skies were cloudy grey with wispy streamers of tattered white cloud dragged across them by the winds. The trees on the far side of the playground bent slightly as the wind tugged at their branches and leaves, and now and then a handful of dark-green foliage would get loose and whirl off across the houses and streets.
On the other side of the playground stood a collection of gleaming new buildings, including a complete science wing and a home economics studio that had made the head of the local Culinary School bite through a wooden spoon in frustration. She allowed herself a small smile: her children were proving to be excellent builders, plumbers, carpenters, electricians and all the other trades necessary for construction and she was sure that they would all go on to do well. Except perhaps, Rain.
Rain was a nice child, and Miss Snippet rarely used the word nice, let alone combined it with child, but that was the extent to which Miss Snippet felt comfortable describing her. She was pleasant, she was easy to get on with, she didn't complain about being given difficult or messy jobs to do, but she only fulfilled them competently at best and never excelled. She never seemed especially motivated to take things to the next level, to spend the little bit of extra time and care needed to elevate something from functional to admirable or higher. Her schoolwork was adequate, but Miss Snippet never gave her an A grade, or a smiley-face sticker (those were heavily ironic and usually reduced the recipients of them to tears). She was, in short, a concern.
Miss Snippet watched as the Headmaster struggled bravely across the playground, one hand holding his pretentious mortarboard on his head, and the other trying, mostly vainly, to hold his flapping black gown around him. Behind him trundled a queue of parents, equally flustered by the bluster, all heading towards the new buildings, the jewel of the school, to see what their children were too young to use.
Miss Snippet had tried talking to Rain's parents about her lack of enthusiasm for hard labour, but it seemed they were dead. So she'd spoken to a couple of mediums to contact Rain's parents that way, and now the mediums were dead as well. If Miss Snippet could prove that Rain was responsible she would have happily awarded the child an A for the year on the spot, but it just seemed... unlikely. She'd tried talking to Rain, but it has been very much like talking to rain -- unfulfilling, rather pointless and it had left her somewhat damp. She'd finally tried talking to the child's friends, and had discovered that they were also concerned about her, and had formed a support group called Wishing for Rain.
"Well," said Samantha who had the makings of an excellent foreman. "It's like praying isn't it, only more honest."
Miss Snippet watched with interest as the headmaster stumbled as he reached the door of the new Science wing; the wind there seemed to gust suddenly, and he put his hand out to break his fall. He missed the corner of the wall he was aiming for and fell over, rolling slightly towards the hazardous waste disposal. Miss Snippet sighed a little, and then to her surprise the Headmaster stood up missing an arm. He stared at it in shock; the parents stared in shock, and Miss Snippet found herself turning round and looking at Rain.
"Where did you put the Sphere of Annihilation, exactly, Rain?" she asked, wondering if she could finally award that A grade.
Greg - it was a day of reprieve. Then the winds came and dried up any wet and we're back to where we were before. But hopefully one day closer to a proper rain?
Hah, once again you led me so far astray that I quite forgot about the Sphere until it showed up at the end. That's quite impressive, I think.
Or I'm just going senile.
Either way.
Post a Comment