Wednesday, February 01, 2006

A Story Written by You and Me

When I was in junior high I used to play this game with my friends at school and with my sisters on roadtrips. It's a writing game that can be a lot of fun. Here is what you do: the first person (in this case me) in a couple of paragraphs writes the beginning of a story. It doesn't matter what it's about, but ideally the author will stop writing right at a critical or suspenseful moment, and then pass the story to the next person. The next person picks up right where the first person left off, they write a few more paragraphs leaving a new suspenseful moment at the end for the next person to fill it in. And then the next person does the same thing, and so on and so forth. We usually passed it around several times so we all had lots of chances to write. When I played it with my sisters, we would get pretty mean, but looking back on them, they were hilarious!

Okay, so I have started the story and I hope that the rest of you will post your continuations of the story in the comments. Be sure to make the story pick up where the last commentor left off, and not where I did (unless you are the first person to comment). You are allowed to come back and post anytime you want. It should be a lot of fun-- so here goes! (Remember to keep it clean and inoffensive.)


The Story

It was a rainy evening and the children were finally in bed. The young and tired mother parted the curtains in her room to look down on her little street and listen to the rain. She reviewed her day in her mind-- it had been overcast and she and her children had been stuck inside all day long. Between watching Baby Einstein, breaking up little squabbles and wiping yogurt off of multiple types of surfaces, she hadn't had a moment to herself. And to top it off, it had been ramen special for dinner again. To say her day hadn't been glamorous would have been an understatement. Pretty unexciting and dull indeed. When would it end? she asked herself as she let out a sigh.

Right about now she would have loved to either curl up with a book or converse with her husband (who happened to be working on the computer in the next room), but she was so exhausted that she knew she must sleep instead. Oh well, she thought, another time, perhaps. She climbed into bed and closed her eyes. Sometimes at night as she fell asleep, she pretended that she was someone else. A princess or someone, and that her queen sized bed which seemed too small, was actually a huge four poster bed with a canopy and she was in a castle sleeping in a white nightdress on satin sheets. Tonight was no exception, and in her pretending she soon fell asleep and started to dream.

In her dream she was the royal princess that she had imagined. She was asleep in the four poster bed, and when she awoke in the morning it was a leisurely hour, and servants brought her children to her-- already bathed, fed and dressed. They played pleasantly together, the mother and her babes, until the toddler's diaper needed to be changed, at which point a nurse maid came and took care of it. Luxury! Lunch was taken in the dining hall, the Princess Mom did not have to think about it, prepare it or clean up after it. After the meal the children were put down for a nap, and the young mother had some time to herself. (Not that she had to wait for naptime to have time alone, she could have had anytime she wanted in this Fantasy Land). She was a bit tired, but instead of sleeping she decided to take a stroll in the garden. She got on her shoes and jacket and headed out. It was a crisp day, but as she approached the garden she saw something strange. It was something she had never seen before, and as she approached it--- oh my! It was a.....

6 comments:

Kathryn Thompson said...

smallish gold box with light peeking out through a crack in the lid.

As she walked closer, she realized that the box was bigger than she had first thought.

The waist-high hope chest was covered in intricate, leafy designs which seemed to be swirling about in a bustle of activity.

She was amazed, curious and afraid to open it and discover the mystery hiding in the blueish light that radiated from its core.

"Looking for something?" he asked.

She looked up, startled to see...

WarriorWife said...

sand--blue sparkly radiating sand that reminded the princess mom of really happy dancing blue dust bunnies.

Even though the sand was enchanting, the princess felt something about it--like it couldn't be trusted. That just seemed odd and silly to her; she didn't trust the dust? All the same, she started to back away.

As she did, the troll, whom she had forgotten about, whispered "touch it..."

"No, thank you," the princess hesitated, "that's alright."

But just as she turned away from the box, the troll giggled and twirled and pushed her toward the opened chest. She lost her balance, her hands flew out, and she touched the blue swirling sand. Instantly...

sweet mama entropy said...

the sand closed around her hands, her arms. And then the movement stopped. Her hands rested on the bottom of the chest. Nothing had happened.

Behind her the troll cackled wildly. Before she could speak, the hairy little thing had disappeared.

Nothing happened, she reassured herself as she made her way back to the castle. But as servants opened doors for her, she didn't seem to notice. She was too lost in thought.

Just then her oldest child came scampering toward her.

"Awake already," the Princess playfully scolded, as the young child leapt into her arms.

She held her child to her, but suddenly her baby began to slip through her fingers, like the blue swirling sand in the chest.

Before she could scream, her child was gone.

The princess grasped the edge of a table for support and it to began to slip through her fingers.

This time she did scream and in ran a multitde of servants. "Don't come any nearer," she shrieked hysterically...

Stephanie said...

"dinner time," she thought.

Just then, Hannah, one of the housekeepers came in. She looked at the wild eyed princess and seemed to understand what had happened.

"You've been talking to that troll, haven't you?" she asked.

"Why, yes," said the princess.

"Well come on, dearie, let's get you into the bath. You don't need to be worrying about all of that."

Once the princess was in the warm bath, she started to relax, and she started to drift off. And very soon she was...

Erin said...

Sorry to disappoint you, I'm writing in regards to the story. Just posted for the fact you might check here before you email, and the fact that the hubby might have just sent an email to Charming. Anyway...Potluck dinner/b-day party sunday for J. Let us know if you can make it. Sorry for the lame post!

Ortensia Norton said...

How was she going fight this fear? Why did she need to fight this fear? Fear was something she had always lived with. She had never known any other life. And though at different moments of her life she had caught glimpses of total peace, she did not know how to extend that peace for longer than that glimpse.