mouse

Thank You, again, Ladyhwin, for picking my story.

Our next literary endeavor ( thought I'd get a little fancy here) will be of 301 words

Cut off date March 21, winner announced March 22

Hope you can have fun with the word list. Look forward to reading all your tales. So pull out the thinking caps and GO!

Word list:
1) Enigma
2) Hope
3) Time-in-a-bottle ( counts as one word)
4) Pop (sound or soft drink- here in the west of
Pa. we call any kind of soda "pop"
5) Sunrise
6) Emerald
7) Water
8) Ability
9) Soothe
10) Shade

Doug

congrats mouse. Interesting word list and especially a little chuckle on the "pop" description. I always say "pop", but the wife thinks she's from Philly or something and says "soda".

lynnspotter

Pop could also be your father!

mouse

My grandkids live in Maryland and the first time they heard me say I wanted some POP they said "what are you talking about" LOL. Oh and yes I also called my dad POP.

ladyhwin

wow, awesome word list, mouse!!! I'm going to get working on this one - and how in the world am I going to use time-in-a-bottle in my insane ideas!
:P

giraffe

Great list. Go, Mouse.

marius

very intriguing list. Hope to get my computer back by end of this week and then we'll see if the muses will go to work. Yes, yes, ... I could write long-hand but ... : )

giraffe

301 w/o title - I think

JIM CROCE

"If I could save time-in-a-bottle". It seems I heard some guy sing that line, but I don't agree with it. I think it would just stop time altogether. That's the enigma.

I don't want to pop his balloon, but look at it this way. You're watching a beautiful sunrise and it brings hope to your soul. At first the water looks black, then you get some hope as the sun starts making it more blue. Then the trees that used to look like shadows start getting more emerald green. It soothes you to know you're sitting in the shade - for now.

So where would you stop time and why? To save the rest for later? Then you'd be missing out on the time you lose right now - to go back and remember the other time.

I'm being obtuse. I know that the guy wasn't singing about sunrises. He was just at such a beautiful point in his relationship that he didn't want to lose that. He wanted to bottle it up and save it for sometime when he's feeling lonely. I wonder if that would actually help? Or make him feel more lonely? It might work - might not.

So he put it in a song - something he can pull up and play any time he chooses. He might forget the song and maybe he'll write another one about his broken heart. Maybe that's the one he'll remember when he needs to feel better.

I remember the first time my old man bought me pop from a machine. That one always picks me up. I also remember his funeral. Time in a bottle. We all have the ability to choose which things to remember and when to call those memories up.

Older you get, the fewer remain.
Unless you crash in an airplane..........

Doug

301 including title.

Caught in the Crosswalk

Her name was Enigma. She had soft sunflower streaked flowing hair and fingernails painted in the most beautiful shades of yellow. With one whisper she had the ability to soothe your body and soul or turn you into a fierce alley cat ready to strike out in every direction.

It was Tuesday and my car was just finishing going through the car wash when I saw her walking towards Addison Way. Two men continued to wipe the last residue of drops from my windshield, but I could see clear as day. She was gorgeous and I had to meet her.

Enigma touched the crosswalk button so lightly she couldn’t have left a fingerprint, let alone activate the light. The Beemer approaching had stopped anyway to let her pass and she set off across the street. I watched her as she slipped inside the Italian market and was out of sight. I pulled my car into the parking lot and got out as the final vestiges of water droplets dripped onto my head. It wasn’t hard to find her. Her tall lanky frame and that beautiful hair made it impossible not to. I approached slowly milling around the bread loaves hoping she wouldn’t notice my desire. I finally caught a glimpse of her eyes, which stood out against the golden aura of the rest of her reflection. They were deep set and dark with an almost luminescent glow. I wouldn’t quite say they were emerald, but I could spend a thousand sunrises basking in their glow.

It was as if time stood still, me being trapped in a bottle of well-aged wine, frozen to the ground like the coldest night of winter. My ears popped twice from the dizzying heights my mind was flying into.

I couldn’t speak…

giraffe

Doug. I beat you by 11 seconds. Neiner neiner.

giraffe

There's a double meaning to the name Enigma. It defines the story. Very good, Doug. I went for the obvious. 11 seconds - imagine that time in a bottle.

giraffe

er... minutes. I can't count.

mouse

Giraffe-
Sweet, sentimental, & philosophical --all in one. Really enjoyed it. Like the way you used "'pop" two different ways.

mouse

Doug

It was as if time stood still, me being trapped in a bottle of well-aged wine

I like the way you used "Time". It's not " Time in a bottle " , but it works.
I can just see you mesmerized by her. Good story. I like reading this lighter side of you.

mouse

You are off to a great start --Keep it going

giraffe

It was as if time stood still, me being trapped in a bottle of well-aged wine,

I think he just used license and added a couple words "stood still me being trapped". He got it in there, but he cheated. Bad Doug.

Doug

giraffe: Cheated? lol. I rather think maybe creative genius would be a better term. "Time-in-a-bottle" is going to be the quixmickle for me this go round', just like "kiosk". It just doesn't fit well into a story. But that is the challenge isn't it? I think my "jink" did the same thing. I think that is one of the most appealing things about ThinkWrite is how different folks use their creativity to use words in a lot of different ways. Being true to this website it is an "artform" all its own.

Thank you for the kind words mouse.

Doug

Originally, I had planned on this "tale" taking a different twist and found myself writing this syrupy/sappy stuff instead. Its just not like me. lol. Anyway, here is part two of the "Enigma" series and the finale.
Its 301 give or take a couple.
Caught in the Crosswalk
Chapter 2

The soft soothing sounds of “Time in a bottle” played on the Muzak throughout the market. Enigma was at the deli getting a pound of priscuitto with her small market basket tucked under her arm like a purse. Could I possibly have the ability to make her notice me? It seemed like water was pouring down my neck as I drew closer. Not wanting to be too bold or more likely I was just plain terrified I pretended to fumble through some apples nearby. In my nervousness, I bumped the apple cart and a hundred emerald colored apples poured out onto the floor rolling towards Enigma. Could I stop them before they pummeled her? My only hope was that she wouldn’t think of me as a fool.
The apples piled up around her ankles rising up like a sunrise edging above the horizon. She let out a small laugh as I jumped to the floor to start picking them up. “Let me help you with that,” she said. Her voice was that of a thousand angels to my ears. It was as if I had won the lottery and spent a long vacation sitting under the shade of a thousand palm trees on the remotest island. I needn’t hear anything else. She spoke to me! I introduced myself and together we cleaned up my apple avalanche catastrophe.

Enigma had become a part of my life. It may seem a bit too pop culturish, but I was in love from the moment the first apple bumped her ankle. There was no more “me”. I could spend the rest of my days staring into those dark eyes, caressing her smooth silky skin and be at peace. I had reached another crosswalk in my life; this one had enigma painted all over it.

giraffe

OK, just watch out, Buster! I'm gonna turn soothe into smoothie, water into waiter, and enigma into enema. I'll get you and your little dog, too. Hahahahahahaha!!!!

giraffe

I don't even get this one. It just landed in my head. 301 w/o title
THE CURE

The remainder of my Time on Earth (as a mortal) is In A small container - that small Bottle over there on the mantle. It may look to you like a silly knick knack filled with emerald colored water, but it is so much more than that. Without a spoonful per day, my life goes POP! and I'll never see another sunrise. Some have said it's a slow, miserable death. But they wouldn't know - having never been through it. I'm about to find out.

"Please hear me out in my last few hours, Paul. It will soothe me to take my last sip in the company of a friend. Then whatever horrors await me, I will get vague hope from you holding my hand for the last time. Some say if I make a lotion of this fluid, it will last three times as long, but I refuse to cower in Death's face.

"In public I always wear a black cape and use it to shade my eyes from onlookers.

"It's getting very weird, my friend. Hold my hand. Are you there? They can't see my cape! They can't see me at all! Use your ability to make me real again. I'm slipping....fading......

"Gone, but only an hour. The place I inherited was exactly like the last world, but in negative colors. I didn't like the enigma of everything in reverse. My hands were dark sienna and my blue jeans were orange. I was walking backwards and so was everybody else.

"Backwards sped up and a few minutes later I was in 4th grade. "Eat your broccoli!!" she screamed.

"Never." I whispered loudly, "I'd rather die a thousand times than eat that."

"When I regained consciousness you were still there, Paul. Thanks for the broccoli. I won't need the green juice any more.