So, this week it’s about finding a pattern in a seemingly random jumble of things. It could be the shape of a stain on a jumper, or the assortment of people standing in a queue. It’s about taking an odd assortment or something that looks strange and making a story from it, finding some kind of normality there. 
I have to admit I’ve already written this week’s assignment. No, I didn’t write it ten years ago and it’s been languishing in my drawer ever since, although that would make a good story in itself. Usually I write this little intro and then stop to think about the task. This time, though, I actually jumped the gun a little and, as soon as I’d read the chapter, I chose my words and just wrote!
And I must say, very enjoyable it was, too!
I haven’t really seen myself as a short story writer. However, by doing these tasks I am finding that my ability to write shorter, snappier pieces is developing and I’m feeling rather proud. Yes, I know, pride comes before a fall, but I’m not sure what kind of fall there can be from just publishing short stories on my own blog. There were three lists given on the page for this task, one of people, one of places and one of objects. So I was super-keen to choose and get going on this one. I’m pleased with my ultra-short story! It was written under the pressure of a five-minute timer, although I’ll be honest that I went over by about 3 minutes.
What can I say? I wasn’t finished!
*
My three words, chosen at random are: doctor, school and camera.
The doctor sat in the parking lot, in the battered, white station wagon and stared through the windscreen at the pouring rain. She noticed how the water fell onto the glass, the shaped droplets of liquid suddenly becoming a spreading mass, each indistinguishable from the other. It felt good to think about the rain, and not about her son’s indiscretion.
That was what the principal had called it. An indiscretion. Because he hadn’t been discrete about it. Hadn’t even bothered hiding.
She felt her face heat up again, as it had over the phone. She couldn’t face going into the school, to actually meet the stern, un-fatherly figure of her son’s school principal. She knew her face would turn bright red, as though it was her who’d been caught.
I never thought my own son could be so… So what? She couldn’t finish the sentence, even to herself. Sure, she knew growing up in a single-parent family could be hard, but she thought she’d taught her son right from wrong. If she knew it was wrong to poke a camera in the open window of the girls’ changing room to photograph them showering, then why didn’t he?
With a sigh, she turned the ignition and pointed the car towards the high school. What made it worse was that it was her camera he’d borrowed. Heaving a sigh that was both cross and sad all at once, the doctor realised that she’d brought this on herself.
I should never have enrolled on that photography course, she berated herself. When I was telling him about my assignment to photograph the female form, I didn’t think he’d decide to complete the work himself!
She pulled into the high school lot and pulled the car up, blocking in some others, but knowing the owners wouldn’t be trying to move them in the middle of the school day. As she braced herself to leave the car, the pounding rain suddenly stopped and a shaft of bright sunlight seemed to bathe her and her car in a beautiful glow.
But…the assignment deadline is coming up soon and if the photos are any good…
With a new spring in her step, the doctor made her way inside.
(Tasks are taken from The Five-Minute Writer by Margret Geraghty.)
Dreaming of Writing... 