JD Mader is an Indies Unlimited alumnus and an amazing writer. He's started this thing on Friday afternoons on his blog where he invites other writers to come by and write for two minutes on whatever you want to write about, and post it in the comments. The time limit is on the honor system, and he doesn't care if you go over -- which is good, because I always do.
Anybody can join in, so feel free to stop by on a Friday and give it a go. Or maybe we can try something similar here....?I don't play every week, but here are the last couple that I've done.
***
In the long ago and faraway, there lived a maiden who spent her days tatting lace. All around her fell into disorder as she pursued her obsession: the housework went undone, weeds grew taller than the flowers, the vegetables withered and died. Yet she could not stop. Not for a moment.
Her friends -- the few that were left, for many of them had drifted away -- wondered how she could go on. She never seemed to eat. How did she survive? And where did she get the tatting thread? And where did the tatting go? She had been at it for years, day after day. There should be piles of finished lace by now, they thought, so tall they would block out the sun.
What they didn't know, because she could not tell them, is that she was under a spell -- or maybe just a misapprehension. An old woman had told her that if she just kept working, she would reach the core of the spool, and there she would find her heart's desire. But there was always more thread. Always.
She knew, as she sat and tatted her lace, that she was throwing away her life for what might well be a lie. But she could never bring herself to give up hope.
***
"Share a Diet Coke with Amber," the soda bottle suggested.
Marcy frowned and put it back. Then, almost tentatively, she reached for the bottle again and weighed it in her hand.
"Share a Diet Coke with Amber."
She and Amber had been best pals. They rented adjoining apartments in the same old house. They shared eggs and milk, and secrets, and pans of brownies when a relationship went sour.
Then Amber took up running -- to lose weight, she said, although her weight was already perfect. She ran a lot. She ate almost nothing. She started getting scary thin.
Marcy suggested maybe she should ease up on the running. Amber shut her out. Confused and feeling helpless, Marcy could only watch as her friend got thinner and thinner.
Then one day, Amber's parents came to get her and move her back home. They strong-armed Marcy, saying that Amber needed to get well, and to do that, she needed to stay away from all of her old friends.
"Even the ones who tried to help her?" Marcy asked, but got no answer.
"Share a Diet Coke with Amber."
Marcy took it to the register. Maybe Amber had found one that had Marcy's name on it. Maybe Amber had made it out alive.
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