Prompt: Doodle | Word Count: 85 words exactly | Genre: fiction
April 4, 2020
I’m Lucy the doodle. Others may be unhappy with our new reality, but it’s actually working great for me. You’re all here all the time. That means lots of pets, lots of treats. I don’t get left alone when you go to work or school. Plus, walks! Lots of walks. Everyone takes me out. I’m rather tired actually. But in a good way. Even though you are going stir-crazy, I’m happy. Maybe you’ll get used to it and we can keep it up! Woof!
Prompt: Trees | Word Count: 150 words exactly | Genre: fiction
April 3, 2020
It’s Spring outside. I know this by the trees. They’re in full blossom, and their gentle scent perfumes the warm breeze. Even in lockdown I’m permitted to walk the dog or work in my garden. After I do these things, breaking only a brief sweat, I decide a nap is in order. I set up the hammock and sit with my foot dangling over the side, pushing off the ground with my toe to swing to and fro. The pale pink cherry petals flutter down, blanketing the lawn in lacy finery. Overhead, the white blooms of the dogwood filter the sunshine to a dappled light. I drift off, enjoying the largess of time in these uncertain times. I’m grateful for this carefree moment, an artifact of a simpler life under springtime’s pleasantly blue sky. Finding joy in this peace before returning to the hectic, harried existence in the world beyond.
Prompt: Hope | Word Count: 500 words exactly | Genre: fiction
April 2, 2020
It was Day Forty of our confinement. Sequestered in our home, my family unused to being cooped up together, was beginning to fray around the edges. There wasn’t enough space. Our usual activities had been curtailed. Online classes dragged. Teleworking lost its appeal. We were bored, losing patience with our situation and with each other.
We were ripping through videos at an astounding pace. We’d already run through all the new Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming series we could agree on as a family. Each time we tuned into to watch, snark abounded and tempers flared. And that’s when we hit upon the thing that gave us all hope. Naturally, it started on May 4, 2020. My youngest son suggested it. “You know, today is May the Fourth. There’s really only one possible choice.” Our inner geeks rose to the challenge immediately.
We would watch the Star Wars saga from start to finish. But from what start to what finish? Our heated debate over the order in which to watch the movies lasted over an hour. Luke order or Anakin order? The older among us ultimately prevailed and we elected to watch all ten movies in release order. There was a rare consensus to skip the animated Clone Wars and the TV series and stick to the major movie releases. We started with Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope, and decided to sort out when to watch Rogue One in a later debate.
Dum de dum dum, Dum de dum dum …. The John Williams score grabs our attention as words scroll across the screen: “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away …” For the next two hours we’re glued to the screen, pulled into Luke Skywalker’s intergalactic adventure. We’ve all seen it before, so we can speak the lines right along with the cast.
For the entire following day we all spouted out the movies most memorable lines whenever and wherever we could work them into our daily grind. When served runny eggs for breakfast, junior parroted Han Solo, “I got a bad feeling about this.” When Mom asked Dad to reach a book on the top shelf, he obliged and quoted Princess Leia, “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” When the news played the latest virus statistics, Mom uttered a mechanically-accented “ We’re doomed,” C-3PO style. When the chore list was divvied up along with stern instructions on how to carry out new sanitizing requirements, the kids groaned, then cried in unison, “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” in their best Vader voices. So on and so forth throughout the day.
As we watched the rest of the saga together as a family over the next two weeks, we found a new levity infused our captivity. Each and every time bad news threatened, we echoed Leia’s plea, “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope!” In this way, we laughed and joked through the remainder of our shelter in place lockdown.
Prompt: Ivory | Word Count: 100 words exactly | Genre: fiction
April 1, 2020
Carefully, Moira positioned the ivory comb in her sparse hair, then nodded her approval to her reflection. Harold gave her this comb for their wedding, 63 year ago. She’d always loved it. Once, it set off her chestnut locks. Now, it matched her greying white.
Today, Harold would release from quarantine. He’d been caught abroad at lockdown. His short two-day trip stretched to a month as he scrambled for flights and then isolated for two weeks to confirm he was healthy. Tonight he’d be back in her arms after their long separation. They could wait the rest out together.
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