marg

Dear all..

This is a quickie while we wait for a formal new challenge - 200 word max, words are as follows, but can be taken phonetically, e.g. weather / whether:

street
weather
bell
time
garden

chelydra

street
weather
bell
time
garden

We meet
in the street

munchin' on
luncheon

regardless of weather
(birds of a feather).

Ask not
for whoms
the bell booms.

Bask not
on bright tombs
when moonrise looms.

Bide your time
and tend your garden.

Hide your slime
and beg your pardon.

from the Prologue to the November 1988 Proceedings of the ExAustEd(ucational) Luncheon Society, Part IV, Section 8c, parts 2-8: A Penultimate Reavowal of Fundamental Tenets

marg

Ahh.. you can always tell a M. EAEd .. it's the booming bells !

Good to see you playing again, chel - I've missed you; .. mind you, there seem to be a lot of people missing right now, but I'll try and come up with an entry for this interim challenge as well

chelydra

at this rate we may have to resort to democratic methods... voting in everyone as winners, and all serving as judges, and on and on like that until finally someone whose authority is unversally respected shows up to take charge (and that would have to be Qsilv, probably, who else?)...

cathyallheart

“Why did I wonder off the street?” I whisper, however, I know. It had something to do with this weather blinding me, but more than that it had to do the pull that I felt every time I saw that path. The lure of adventure that taunts me like a fairy bell.

The icy blast of wind blow me into a tall iron gate with a mansion lurking behind it. I pound on the gate, trying to get something’s attention. The third time I pound the gate gives creaking. I stand for a moment, the rain hammering down on me, it must be abandoned, I think, but I don’t believe it is.

As the shock wears off I stumble inside, my feet continue down the cobblestone path. I feel a tingling on the back of my neck, someone was watching me. My feet stop, I lift my head and look at the garden around me, I don’t see any one. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t though.

“Thank you,” I say as I start again down the trail. My neck slowly goes numb, whatever was watching me was not expecting that. I almost smile at that, as I rub my neck.

ladyhwin

If I remember correctly... when ThinkWrite was quite a bit younger... it was understood that if the challenge host or hostess did not show up after some time had passed, then the one who had chosen them would either start a new challenge or choose someone else to start one.

Good list, marg! I've been needing something SMALL to get my writing going again... this is perfect!! Just a few words and a short word count...

marg

Whoowee, cathy - what a great entry - and you KNOW that you have to do a sequel to that !

lady.. umm.. I was honestly only trying to stir things up a little in Qsilv's absence [hnnh, hnnnh - hence the word 'garden' in the list - ]

chelydra.. (last, but not least).. no - I think Ron was the only claimant who might have had a right to judge ThinkWrite [and we took that away from him], but it's a much more open, everyone is equal, thing than drawing.

Qsilv sometimes enters, as do we all, but there's a whole league of people that really WERE ThinkWrite [midnightpoet, etc.] that unfortunately aren't taking part at the moment.

Hmm.. maybe we can entice Rebel Sun back in - that boy can certainly write - and it gives you a bit of a challenge, chel !

cathyallheart

The sequel~

As I follow the street I notice through the sheets of rain, that the landscape is slowly changing into a rose-garden. I stand in front of the mansion. It seems impervious to time. The chill of the weather reminds me that I must hurry, my family will be waiting.

I climb the steps and knock on the door, three times—and just like with the gate—the door opens. There is that tingling again. I nod once, and I enter.

As I step inside my body goes numb, magic. I have always been sensitive to it. That probably has something to do with how I know I’m being watched or the nightmares that ring true like a bell. Not that they are all nightmares, just they tend to warn when something drastic and life changing will happen.

Candles burst on fire, down the hall. Most of the numbing goes down as I get used to it, however my neck still throbs. I hear something behind, but I don’t turn around, what good would that do? It is doesn’t want to be seen.

Nevertheless I curtsy, “thank you for letting wait out the storm here,” I say knowing it will hear.

indigo

GOOD story Cathy! I enjoy ThinkWrite. I wish I could write.... maybe I'll try. *J*

ladyhwin

yes, Yes, YES indigo!! DO TRY!! We would all love to see your work....

ladyhwin

My little tidbit... I feel very out of practice... 193 words, so barely under the 200 max...

Heavy, dark clouds cover the sky above the city, giving everything an odd, gray aura, even the bright signs that now hang limply in the moist air above the cobblestones where a tall, young girl walks, alone on the street, without fear, unlike the rest of the people who scurried into shops and cafés the moment the weather began to look foreboding, her dark hair flowing smoothly down her back and over her shoulders, her deep brown eyes gazing out in quiet observation, watching as a dusky brown cat darts across her path and takes shelter on a window ledge, following the curve of a stone structure, a fountain that guards the entrance to a garden, towards which this mysterious girl now turns her path, listening as she does to the sudden tolling of the church bell chiming the hour, turning her face upwards to feel the rain that comes at the same time, soft and gentle upon her face, falling quietly until suddenly, a ray of sunshine breaks through the clouds, and upon the tall, beautiful girl’s face appears a radiant smile, such as the world has never seen before or since.

marg

oh, hats off to you, lady..

..reading this is like holding a crystal ball in your hands, or a mirror, where you can watch a whole different life (or world) happening under your eyes..

.. or watching the silent start to a movie, where by the time the girl smiles, the whole audience is totally rapt..

..and you did it all in one sentence...

ladyhwin

thank you marg!! *low bow!* I am honored by your compliments..... I love thinkwrite because of its comradeship, we are all writers on a path to success, everyone helping everyone else along and encouraging all...

five

My very brief entry...

Bell. Bell!
Time? Time.
Whether street, whether garden?
Weather.

ladyhwin

Intriguing, five.... I like it!

marg

heya five - how good is that ?

I'm not sure what you had in mind, but your entry totally describes me in the morning, not believing that it's the time that the clock says, trying to decide where I should be going and then going 'What the..?' at the weather.

Brilliantly succinct !

.. but do please enlarge on what you were thinking of..

marg

Hey, my abject apologies, cathy..

I thought I'd commented ages ago and was waiting for your response, but just realised that my comment must've got lost

Yours is staring off as such a brilliant story that you can't just stop there .. I guess you have to do what the old writers (like Dickens, etc.) did and serialise this into little episodes... keep everyone wanting more !

Each of the first two episodes has been awesome and now we're all waiting for the next part... and we know is that magic's going to happen, but we don't know who is using magic or what they're trying to do with it - all we know so far is that you're there and you know that SOMETHING is happening.

Next episode, please..

cathyallheart

Thanks Marg. Actually, you're jumping into the middle of the story. I'll start on part three soon! ;-)

cathyallheart

Part three

Proceeding down the hallway, I look at the candles. When they are gone I look around. One door is ajar, I push it open.

“Oh,” I whisper. There was a banquet table that stretched from one side of the room to the other. It was covered in food. “Wow,” tears stream my cheeks. “Thank you.”

I sit down to eat, it has been awhile since I have a feasted. I think I remembered everything though. After I was done I sat on the couch. Being warm and full, I drift slowly asleep. I think I saw someone standing over me.

A bell rings. I suddenly sit up, my urgency returned. Mother and the others are waiting! It’s morning. The table was reset. Not as much food this time, I sigh in relief.

I walk to the door, and push it open. “Thank you for letting me stay the night!” I say as I stare at the garden. The weather is better today. Whoever lives here is not surprised at my thanks.

“I think I’ll come back soon. If you wish it,” I say on impulse, as I start down the street. That surprise it, my neck goes numb again.

cathyallheart

Part four

Mother took my adventure to mean it was safe to travel through spring storms.
“I thought the point of the story was that you SHOULDN’T travel through storms,” I remark. I haven’t told anyone that I promised to return, if I did then Mother would insist on going. As it is it’s already bad enough.

“I think Ruby is right, Louisa,” Aunt Eliza says. “How would you know if you passed the castle?” The castle is what we all have started calling it. I brush my red hair Mother thinks.
“
We’ll be fine,” she declares, “the worst has already passed.” I stare at her. Has she forgotten what a storm could do?

“That was what Dad said, before he died,” I whisper. No one knows about the dreams, I’ve always been too scared to tell them.


Mother got her way. As we are leaving the city, the sky begins to darken. “We’ll be almost there before it hits, Ruby” she says. I just shake my head.

Once again the storm was blinding. Heads down to stop ourselves from tripping. “Oh, no,” I whisper. The street was blocked by an iron gate. “Not again!”