29/01/2014 – tnkerr-Writing Prompts and Practice

Daily Prompt: Write Here, Write Now
Write a post entirely in the present tense.

***

Amy leaned forward and reached for the slip of yellow paper that was lying on the floor. It had been in the pocket of Dan’s sports coat that she was taking to the dry cleaners. She had gone through the pockets first, as was her custom, when she found the magnetic stripe key card and this piece of paper. The paper had dropped when she looked at the card.

The key card was boldly emblazoned with the name EconoLodge and, there were line drawings showing how to insert it into the lock. Amy knew where the EconoLodge was. Just off the bypass exit on the east side of town. She didn’t go to the east side of town. That was the sleazy side of town. Dark bars, smoke shops, and women with questionable fashion sense who seemed to always be standing out on the street. Young men were on every street corner too. Talking to the women and, Amy suspected, probably selling drugs. She didn’t like it down there and she had no reason to go.

She wondered why Dan had been there and when he might have been to the EconoLodge. It must have been a sales conference, she thought. After all, Dan was a rising star at the company. There might have been a meeting on the east side of town. Perhaps he was entertaining customers. Dan was not the kind of man who went to dark bars or had anything to do with ‘those kinds of women’. Dan was a father, after all. Dan was married to her. Her father owned the company. Dan was above that kind of behavior.

She picked up the yellow paper that she had dropped. It was about a 4×6 size and slightly crumpled. She turned it over. It was one of those preprinted forms. Blue ink. Lined. Receipt, it said at the top. Underneath, positioned just slightly wrong on the lines she read the hand printed carbon entry on the sheet. It read

Room 212 – 1 hour – $25
Champagne – $75
Paid Cash

Tossing the sports coat on the floor next to the paper and the key Amy spun on her heel. She picked up her purse and warm-up jacket as she headed for the garage fishing for her car keys.

***