flash fiction

i volunteered to help st. elizabeth's arts kick off their flash fiction evening and for the past two weeks have moderated the adventure. the gist - you're given a prompt, followed by five minutes of brainstorm time, followed by twenty minutes of writing time, followed by five minutes of editing time, followed by the opportunity to share. the object is to have a self-contained story. fun, no? below is the piece i wrote last week. the prompt was to write a story including the following sentences: "It was all going so well. And then the phone rang." i've left it exactly as written - no after the fact editing. enjoy.

It was all going so well. And then the phone rang.

Now if I had half a brain – which obviously I don’t because if I did I wouldn’t have had my phone on in the first place – I would have ignored it, let the miracle of voice mail take care of it.

I didn’t. Mistake number one.

I felt her questioning eyes on me as I reached into my pocket. Without meeting them, I lifted an apologetic hand and glanced at the glowing screen. Harriet. Of course. Perfect timing as always. I should have slipped the phone back into my pocket, turned off the ringer and whispered, “Sorry about that,” to those questioning eyes.

I didn’t. Mistake number two.

Instead I slid out of the booth. “Sorry, ‘bout this. I have to take it. Work. Special project, due tomorrow.” Why I had to lie should be obvious. Why I felt the need to explain it to my date would require weeks and weeks of therapy. I made my way through the crowded bar to the pay phone by the restroom, took a deep breath and flipped open the phone.

“Harriet.”

“Benjamin”

Awkward pause.

“Need something?”

More silence.

“Ohh kaay…well, it was good to hear from you. Feel free to call back and say my name some other time. I’ve got to…”

“Wait. Wait. Can you talk?”

I glanced over at the table, my date sipping from the Long Island I had lavished on her. “Actually, I’m a little busy at the moment.”

“Oh.” More silence. “OK.” Even more silence. “I guess…”

“What do you want to say, Harriet? You obviously called for something. Just spit it out.”

I know it sounds harsh, but I’d had enough. It’d been six months. You can only carry a torch so long before you’re left with just a smoldering stump. I’d finally moved on and was looking forward to the rest of my life.

I heard her sniff and her face filled my senses and I knew it was bad.

“Mark died.”

And the phone went silent.

And the air left my body.

And the bar turned upside down.

I grabbed a waiter by the arm, jammed a fifty into his pocket and told him to take care of my date. No use going back there now. Mark was dead. Harriet was alone. I knew where I needed to be. I stumbled out onto the neon-lit sidewalk, turned right and headed for what would become my home. Æ

the problem with not doing much with your days is you have little to write about. who wants to read of the mundaneness of your most recent obsession to update your mp3s? who wants to hear you whine about still not being able to sleep? who wants to read about how you're squandering your summer break? not me.

the week has gotten more productive as it's gone one. monday was a wash - i think i literally did nothing productive, which in some cases is fine, but i had a list. i had things i needed to get done. and when the day came to a close, they remained undone. most significantly, i needed to call two doctors to discuss two different issues - my continuing battle with the sleep machine and my forgotten battle with my gall bladder. but lack of sleep kept me from calling and i put it off until tuesday (the upside - i have an appointment tomorrow morning with the sleep guy and next week with my pcp, so at least i'm making strides).

i did cross off another important issue - i got a new tire and installed it on my bike, which i've been needing to do for a while. i also had them "fit" me for my bike and discovered i'd been riding with my seat too high for years now, which may have led to my numbness while i rode. can't wait to get on and see if the changes help. i think the inner tube is still bad, so i'll install a new one, but hopefully i'll no longer have to fill the back tire every time i go riding.

last night's house church was a good and challenging one. we've been looking at 1st corninthians and hit chapter five last night - paul admonishing the church to turn a member over to satan. i thought there would be more resistance against the idea since it smacks of being graceless - how can you deny someone access to fellowship? how will that help them in their relationship with God. but as steve pointed out, we do this all the time with people - we break ties with those who betray our friendship or are co-dependent in some way, as much for our own protection as hopefully breaking their own destructive cycle. been a good series so far, though i'm a bit trepidatious about next week's chapter - marriage and divorce. something i have oh so much experience with.

tomorrow is the second flash fiction night. i've got my prompt idea all picked out - i think, unless something else strikes my fancy. the possibility exists for a larger turn out this week than last, which is great, unless it becomes too unwieldy. i wonder at what point an experience like this too large. hopefully we'll get the chance to find out. i think i might type up my story from last week - i hesitated giving it to SEA for posting on their website, but might turn it over this week. not sure why i hesitated other than it felt like giving up some control. probably should get over that issue sometime.

tonight brandon, steven and nathan came over and we watched a couple of euro 2008 matches. forced me to do some cleaning around the house, something i need to do more often. and since i only seem to do it when forced to, i guess that means having more gatherings at my house. i don't know, though - two in two days seems pretty good. quarterfinals start tomorrow which should be lots of fun.

enough for tonight. need to go wrestle with the dreaded machine again before tomorrow. last night i kept the mask on the entire night, but i still couldn't fall asleep and woke up again after 4 hours, which is the same problem i had without the machine. glory. hopefully they'll be able to give me some hope tomorrow.
Æ

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