Thursday, January 6, 2011

Mile High with Nowhere to Go

I warned you all that I'd be attempting to do some creative writing if I got my nerve up this next blogging year.  So today I'm giving it a shot, and I'll be linking up with The Red Dress Club.  The link up isn't until tomorrow (Friday), so you still have time to write and join in.  I will eagerly await your comments, suggestions, hate letters, or whatever else you'd like to tell me about my writing.



Your assignment is to write a short piece - fiction, non-fiction, poetry, whatevs - in which each sentence starts with a the next letter of the alphabet. Starting with "A." So, yes, your finished product will consist of 26 sentences.

Air North wasn't such a bad airline to work for, from a flight attendant perspective.  Barbara enjoyed seeing new cities and meeting so many people, even though her feet always ached by the end of the day.  Cross country flights were the worst, and today their journey would take them from Atlanta to Seattle -- one long jaunt to be sure.  Despite all this, Barbara was in a great mood because she'd won $40 on a scratcher lottery ticket earlier that day; and she planned to put it towards frosting her roots at A Cut Above next week.  Everyone knew that blond flight attendants were much more desired than brunettes.  Five aisles behind where Barbara was straightening the sugar and cream on her cart, in the first class cabin, the flight attendant call button was on.  Gripping the overhead compartment for support as they hit a small bit of turbulence, Barbara glanced at the man in question.  He was balding and broad-shouldered, with a mustache and a paunchy stomach that looked overflowed and crammed, even in the roomier first class seats. 

"I bet he's going to be the type that is air sick," she thought to herself as she made her way toward him, her common-sense black pumps easing across the stubby blue carpet.  Just as she stopped to address him, he raised his glaring brown eyes toward her and shoved back his laptop.

"Kind of you to bother coming back here.  Like I haven't been waiting for freaking ten minutes already," he bellowed.
"My apologies, sir.  Now I'd love to be of assistance," Barbara stammered, uncertain.
"Obviously you would," he said, dripping in sarcasm. "Pray God tell me you can get me a double Scotch and some fried conch back there.  Quickly!"
Repulsed by this belligerent man, Barbara felt her palms grow sweaty and her heart start thumping rapidly, heavily, ominously.  She'd been having these random attacks of nerves lately - unpredictable but terrifying nonetheless.  Trembling slightly, she tried to calm her breathing, but she felt the heat of deep flushing spread across her face.  Undulating waves of gray flashed across her vision, and she saw the man's puffy lips moving but she couldn't hear his words anymore.  Very carefully, her hands squeezed the sides of the polyester plane seats, as she tried, desperately, to remain on her feet.  Wobbling beads of sweat gently beaded on her so carefully powdered forehead.  X-ray vision eyes loomed from the man, from his seat-mate, from all of the passengers on the plane as they glared through Barbara and her facade to stay cool.  Yes, it was time to fall into the gray lines, the fuzzy darkness that had built in the back of her skull, as she panted for air. 
"Zut Alors," she muttered as she closed her weighted eyes and sank to the dingy aisle floor, oblivious to the fact that she didn't know a word of French.

27 comments:

  1. Wow, I like it. What's interesting how the form pushes you into directions you may not have gone otherwise. When I'm working on a poem and sticking to a formula it feels so constricting. Wonder, what letter is missing above though... :-)

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  2. This. Was. Awesome.. and I am hoping that she secretly told him where he could stick it as she passed out lol

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  3. Gah! Steve, I can't believe I missed "W", LOL. Okay, slight edit ;-) Thanks for pointing that out!

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  4. A wonderful story, Lis.
    But I want to have a blog so I can play too.
    Can you believe I am too dumb to make one?
    Dumber than a sack of diapers!
    Even third-graders know how to blog.
    Figuring it out is beyond me, though.
    Guess I will just have to miss out.
    Happy to read yours, in any event.
    Ignore my whining please.
    Justmom :-)

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  5. What a fun idea! Great story. I am hoping there will be a follow up to it so we find out why she was passing out and suddenly speaking french! :-)

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  6. Brilliant piece!!! I agree with Steve - interesting how following each letter may wind you into a different stream than you would have followed otherwise. You did a great job (even if you missed "W" the first time around!) It was a great read!!! If you didn't know the ABCs were involved, you wouldn't pick it out since you created it all so well!

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  7. I love this! A prompt at every period. You did great. Who cares about the "w"? It's an over-rated letter anyhow! :)

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  8. Enjoyed your story! I think I'd still be stuck on "a"!

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  9. Good job, Baby Girl! I love the assignment...:)JP

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  10. AWESOME! I can't wait to read what happens.... Gloria

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  11. Very entertaining and what a wonderful way to beat the blog writing slump!

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  12. Fantastic job, Lisa! I'm thrilled your doing the creative writing gig, and even more excited that you linked up for this today. Great job w/ the decription of the nasty passenger. I hate jerks on airplanes!!!
    ;-)

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  13. Love it! The last line was super awesome! Visiting from TRDC.

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  14. This was great, and even though I knew it was coming I still wish that she had punched him or gotten the scotch and poured it over his head instead of passing out. The brilliance is that her passing out is probably a more likely scenario.

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  15. That was fantastic! I loved the "Zut alors!" at the end. (Je parle le francais, aussi! Un peu...)

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  16. I loved your tale. Thanks for inspiring me to exercise my writing muscles. :o)

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  17. Very compelling story. Good job, good solutions, I loved it all:)

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  18. Hmm..the French! What is going on with our Barbara? A fun read!

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  19. What a great story, I hope that jerk felt bad! LOL!!

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  20. This is sensational. And the ending is just fab.

    Have a great weekend.

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  21. I thought you did a great job with this prompt. Loving the French troubleshooting.

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  22. Wow! This was a fantastic piece! I'm so glad you stopped by my blog, so that I could find yours! I'll be following now....

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  23. Oh such fun, I felt for her I really did. Hope she's recovering nicely...

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  24. Fun! I enjoyed your vignette with dialog to boot! I am intrigued by Barbara.

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Thanks for taking the time to comment. I love hearing from my readers!