Let’s get started. Sometimes everyone needs a nudge. Take the passage below and write a short scene or short story. Shoot for at least 200 words.
Every day I went to the same drive up window for a morning coffee. Cream and two sugars, it was my ritual. Blindly I passed out my money and took my change and coffee. Only today, mixed in with my change, the young girl pressed into my palm …
Dori…your flash fiction made me laugh out loud.
Love your site — looking forward to hearing more.
Every day I went to the same drive up window for a morning coffee. Cream and two sugars, it was my ritual. Blindly I passed out my money and took my change and coffee. Only today, mixed in with my change, the young girl pressed into my palm her mother’s palm reading card. I waited two weeks before I showed up at her door. I waited a month before I asked her out. It didn’t work out, but the girl at the window, kept smiling and gave me a free coffee.
Every day I went to the same drive up window for a morning coffee. Cream and two sugars, it was my ritual. Blindly I passed out my money and took my change and coffee. Only today, mixed in with my change, the young girl pressed into my palm an enamel pin. She pressed it in hard, and it pierced my skin. When I pulled it out of my hand, after I managed to staunch the flow of blood, I noticed tiny lettering on the broach. It said ‘help me. I am being held prisoner by a system that makes me work minimum wage to barely survive without health care or a good place to live or the chance to be anyone that I remotely thought I could be one day.” Whew! The tiny letters gave me a headache. My hand throbbed. I took a pill and tossed the pin. Bitch.
Fair Trade. “Every day I went to the same drive up window for a morning coffee. Cream and two sugars, it was my ritual. Blindly I passed out my money and took my change and coffee. Only today, mixed in with my change, the young girl pressed into my palm a note that said, ‘This is NOT fair trade coffee. Drink it bad be damned. You have been warned.’ I thought, Oh crap! Not another f****** tree-hugger. I can’t do anything today without a s*** load of guilt dumped on me. With everything I buy or eat, I’m stomping on someone’s political view, ruining their life, or I’m contracting some disease. I remember my childhood and how my leftover string beans had some connection to a kid China starving to death.
I thought about going in to complain to the manager about said ‘f****** tree-hugger‘. Short on time, I sip my coffee and drive off. I saw the yellow light ahead and gunned it. I looked to my left – just as the Starbucks semi slammed into my car. So Attorney Haymond, you think we got a case?”