Thursday 2 June 2011

Writing Prompt #3: Write about a silence.

Ummmm...
so yeah,
I'm well aware that it's not Wednesday.
But give a girl a break,
I was so sick yesterday,
that I was sobbing uncontrollably at a Disney (copyright) movie
(although the stallion, Spirit, had a pretty rough life,
and still managed to beat the odds and find his way back home...sniff).

Anyway,
enough of my snivelling,
and on to the writer's prompt. :)
Writing about silence today.
No editing.
Just writing.

********************************

It sat between them like a wall of ice--impenetrable, formidable.  The man rubbed his hands together before placing them on the steering wheel.  The woman stared straight ahead her eyes fixated on a tiny crack in the glass before her.  Despite the heat she was wearing a heavy shawl that made her look far more elderly and frail then she actually was.
"This will be fun," the man said plastering a smile to his face.  The woman didn't even bother to look over as he put the car in drive and pulled away from their house.  She looked out the side window at the tulips and daffodils that were thrusting their colourful crowns at the spring sun.  She wished she could spend the day with them dipping her hands into the rich soil, finding the hidden worms beneath the loam, and feeling the sun warming the back of her legs.  Instead...
"My mother really appreciates us coming to visit her."  The man said, a tapping his fingers on the wheel as they waited at the stop light.  The woman couldn't help but look over at him one eyebrow raised like an exclamation point of anger.  His smile faltered under her glare--he was relieved when the light turned green.  The woman thought about his mother, seemingly so cheerful when her boy, her only son came to visit her in the home.  She chatted so willingly and told him all about the friends she was making.  How he had made her so proud.  But when he left, the mother would fill the room with an awful silence, thick and heavy with hatred.  For that hussy who had stolen her son from her.  No one deserved to be with her boy...even after ten years of marriage, that girl was still not worthy.
"Hey, you should have brought some spring flowers from your garden.  She would have loved that!"  The man made one last desperate attempt.  The woman shook trying to control herself, but it was too late.  She sighed and out came a rant so violent that the man wondered if his ears looked singed.
...perhaps the silence had been better after all.

3 comments:

  1. I think it would be really cool in this piece if the woman were the one driving.

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  2. @ ella: That's true. Although I might fear for everyone's safety if that was the case. lol I'll keep your idea in mind. I was just thinking that the wife wouldn't want to have any part in moving closer to the destination so the man better well drive himself!

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  3. Wow, you need to spend more time with my mother. I'll setup a play date for you 2 to work out your issues lol

    Love you dear, remember her barks worse than her bite

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