The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually
taken over as a moveable feast with many participants supplying the Words.
When Delores closed her
blog forever due to other problems, Elephant's Child (Sue) took over
the role of coordinator.
Now, after Sue's demise it is still to be
discerned who will take over this role, River is doing it for the rest
of 2025, but maybe Lissa will eventually be our new coordinator.
No matter what, how, where or who the aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to our mind.
This month the words are supplied by Lissa and are to be found on her blog.
If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please leave a comment on
River's blog, then we can come along and read it and add a few encouraging
words.
It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.
So Please,
remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples'
stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this
one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need
encouragement.
We were given these words:
Black eye
Car wash
Mud bath
Jelly bean
Duct tape
In the early summer just before the end of the first year on Unicorn Farm, Jelly beans were not yet a thing in Denmark, so I did not use that word.
After Susan's brush with a viper she had a black eye, not a big and swollen one, only black, so that everybody stared at her, and then looked away. Susan felt inordinately discomforted by this, she did not like being the centre of any form of attention. Tuesday in the evening, dad asked if she needed her bike for the trip to the beach the next day.
Susan replied in the negative. "It's too cold for the beach anyway, and I do not like the way everybody looks at me with this black eye."
"It sure looks impressing," Dad said. "If you feel like it, come down to my work after school, then we can get your bike, and I can run the car through the car wash. I can do without the van tomorrow. The car looks like it took a mud bath recently." Dad smiled. The car had been quite dirty for some time, and mum had been after him to wash it.
"Oh, can I come too," Linda said. "Then Susan and I can stay in the car while it's being washed. You promised that we could some day."
"That could be fun," Susan said, silently hoping that Linda would not spoil the fun by chickening out or teasing her.
"We could do that," Dad said, "but then you'll have to bike home, Susan, there's not room for both of you and the bike in the car."
"Can do," Susan answered. "It's not that far, and I'd like to see if it's fine, and me too after that stunt. If I'm not you'll have to write me a note excusing me from Thursday's tennis lessons."
"Deal!" Dad said.
Next day after school Susan found Linda waiting for her at the school gate. Together they walked through town, down to dad's shop. As they reached the candy store they were tempted to go inside. "Do you have any money?" Linda asked.
"Not much," Susan replied. "And you?"
"Nope, not a coin left," Linda said. "I was so hungry yesterday at school, and Karin and me went to the baker's just across the road."
Susan knew Karin from earlier, she as almost as hungry as Lucy-from-the-mision as daddy always called her. Linda was generous and had probably paid for her own and Karin's baked goods.
"Oh, look," Linda said, "they have gotten new stock of the strong and sour drops."
They had been sold out for over a week, and Susan especially loved the sour ones. The candy had strange names like Rat poison and Suicide. Nuts and spikes were more logical, being shaped like this.
Susan ended up spending the rest of her pocket money on candy.
Dad came out of the shop the moment they arrived, and gave the girls a big hug. The seat next to the driver's seat was taken up by a big crate of tools, cables and wires, explaining whey there was not room for both girls and a bike.
They jumped into the car, Susan behind the crate, and Linda behind dad. At the car wash dad got out and told the girls to stay put. Then he spoke at length to the owner, and returned, pulled a roll of duct tape from the crate and put some over one of tha lamps.
"The glass broke," he explained, "and water and electricity are not good friends."
Then he drove the car into the car wash and made sure all windows were closed tightly. "Now you stay here. and see what happens. I'll run the shortest cycle. It will be loud, but you won't get wet. In case of panic, honk the horn ... but please try to don't. I had to persuade the owner!"
The washing procedure began, water splashed against the car, big yellow and black striped brushes ran over it making scouring sounds. It was not as fun as they had imagined. It was very loud, and the gushes of water and the brushes pushing made the car wobble and shake. They ate all the candy, and then the gusts of warm air drying the car off blew over them like a desert storm and dad returned.
"We survived," Linda said.
"It was not very fun, actually," Susan said. "But at least we have tried it."
"I think you learned a lesson today," Dad said. He drove the now sparkling car to the bike repair shop.
"Come with me, Susan," he said. Then we can get your bike.
It was fast, Susan got her bike back while Dad paid, and then she pedalled home, first carefully, then faster and faster. Both she and the bike were good as new.
February 4 question - Many writers have written about the experience of rereading their work years later. Have you reread any of your early works? What was that experience like for you?My answer - Searching through an old binder recently, I actually found one of the first things I ever wrote: "A Tale of Kittens". I think I was 5 or 6 years old when I wrote it, laboriously typing away on an old typewriter.
I was surprised. It was long, 5 pages in uneven typing, and actually good! Lots of echoes from books the then me had read, but put together in creative ways and with nice passages to make it all come together as a working story - and a happy ending.
If only I could go back in time, give that small, lonely girl a hug and tell her to keep it up ...
