girl scouts – tnkerr-Writing Prompts and Practice

29 March 2014

The prompts are:

1. You’ll never get that out
2. Por siempre adios
3. Chewing gum and wearing headphones

Begin Writing
I bought new soap yesterday.

Whatever happened to soap that smelled like lavender, or bay rum, or Ireland, or even just soap?

For God’s sake, I had a choice of “Tsunami”, or “Breeze”, or “Sport”. I was unsure what a tsunami smelled like, and the bar was sealed in plastic so I was unable to preview that scent. I reached for “Breeze” but then I remembered what the breeze smelled like when it blew up from Tacoma. I was able to sniff the bar though and thought I’ll never get that smell out of the bathroom, it was that bad.

I chose “Sport” and I’m glad I did. I kinda halfway expected to exit the shower this morning smelling of gym socks but that didn’t happen. I’m not sure what sport I smelled like but after work today, I’m going back to that store and buying the rest of their stock of “Sport” soap. Here’s why…

I was late for work this morning.

I was late for personal reasons.

I showered, with my new “Sport” soap, shaved and returned to the bedroom to dress. I won’t go into detail but suffice it to say that my wife was suddenly “attracted” to me.

I was late for work.

I was in a great mood when I got to the office and boarded the lift for the 19th floor, where I work. We stopped at 5 and a beautiful young lady got on board. “Mmmm, someone smells like sport” she said and she leaned next to me and breathed deeply. I pried her off when we got to 19. Her phone number was written on the back of my hand.

I spent the rest of the day at my desk, in my office but the women I work with kept coming by and lingering outside my office door all day long. For the most part, they weren’t talking to each other, they would just stand there and breathe deeply.

Late in the afternoon, Carol and Roxanne were brave enough to come into my office.

“Hi Chuck,” Roxanne said. “Did you get your hair cut? It looks great. Something’s different about you but I can’t figure it out. What is it? New glasses?”

Carol piped up, “Some of us girls are going to McMurphy’s for drinks after work. Wanna join us?”
“I’ll take a rain check Carol, I have to go to the store and buy soap.”

“Sport” Soap. Who knew?
Time is up. Put down your writing implements and step away from the paper.

22 March 2014

The prompts are:

It looked soft and supple
Shortbread
We all had to do it

Begin Writing
We had three prompts for the group today. None of them were very inspiring but we all had the same ones. We all had to do it. We all had to write.

The first prompt was “It looked soft and supple”. I rejected this one almost immediately, too easy to get myself in trouble with this unless I wrote about water balloons or something.

The second was “shortbread”. Now this one had some promise. I decided to run with it.

So I did.

Little Mary Ann Johnston donned her green uniform and grabbed her order form. She yelled as she headed out the door, “Bye Mom, I’m going to sell cookies.”

“OK dear don’t forget about your tennis lesson at one.”

“Got it Mom, have fun with your garden club.”

Mary Ann had mapped out her route in detail before she began. Elm Street was where she was to start today. She headed that way.

The first door she knocked on was the Jones house. They were always good for at least three boxes of shortbread.

“Good morning Mary Ann,” said Mrs. Jones as she swung open the front door.

“Good morning to you Mrs. Jones. Its cookie time again, our favorite time of year. Shall I mark you down for shortbreads? How many boxes would you like?”

“Oh Mary Ann, I just bought five boxes not more than 20 minutes ago. I couldn’t possibly get more than that. Why, I’d get as big as a house. The girls were from your troop. I thought you had sent them here.”

“That’s OK Mrs. Jones. They must have gotten confused. Thanks for supporting the scouts.” Mary Ann smiled and turned back towards the street.

When she got back down the walkway she was steamed. Somebody was moving into her territory. This meant war.

Mary Ann went back to Third Street. She decided to check the perimeter of today’s grid and find the interlopers. She did not have to go far. On Apple, just two streets down she saw them. It was Helen and Barbie. They were pulling a wagon with Barbie’s little sister, Skipper.

Mary Ann picked up a branch from beneath the Larson’s persimmon tree and headed towards the other girls.

Helen saw her first and elbowed Barbie in the ribs. Both girls stopped and watched Mary Ann advance, slapping the branch into her open palm with each step.

“Hi Mary Ann,” said Helen with honey dripping off each word. “What are you doing here?”

“The question is not what I’m doing here,” Mary Ann said, “It’s what are you doing here you snotty bitch? This is my territory, you can’t sell here.”

“Can too”
Time is up. Put down your writing implements and step away from the paper.