I’ve decided that doing all of the writing prompts from 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts, Volume 2 will make me crazy and while that may lead to some inventive writing in its own right, I cherish my mental well-being just enough to not risk it for the sake of describing if I was a piece of macaroni, what shape would I be?
Having said that, I am still going to work from a prompt each day, whether it’s from the above-mentioned book or elsewhere.
Tonight I’m using prompt #14 from 25 Creative Writing Prompts as featured on writingforward.com.
Prompt: Write about nature. Include the following words: hard drive, stapler, phone, car, billboard.
Story:
When the time for my vacation came around I decided to go on vacation, being a logical and sensible person. I was tired from working in my high-tech position at a powerful technology company, working on super computers and other technical machines. I needed a break, to get away from it all for a little while. Two weeks, to be precise. I needed to visit Nature and touch trees and roll in the grass.
I booked a week at a fabulous yet quaint resort a co-worker recommended. I was going to have so much fun it would be illegal, as they say. I wouldn’t do anything actually illegal, of course, because that would be against the law.
I arrived at the resort right on time and checked in at the front desk upon arrival. The nice young lady at the counter handed me a small envelope. Inside it were two key cards.
“Gosh,” I said to her, “I was hoping for a simple key. I work with these fancy cards every day!” I laughed and she smiled and then turned away from me. I went to my room, changed into a snazzy pair of plaid shorts, a nice t-shirt from my company and a pair of open-toe sandals. It was warm so I took my socks off, allowing my toes to wiggle freely. Wiggle, toes, wiggle. Ah, vacation!
I went to a bar near the pool and ordered a drink. “I’d like something fruity and sweet, with one of those cute little paper umbrellas in it,” I told the bartender. “Of course, you can substitute some other object if you don’t have little paper umbrellas,” I added. He smiled and turned away from me. When he turned back he offered me a wide, fluted glass filled with a lime green fluid of some sort. Sticking out of the fluid was a miniature hard drive. I noted to the bartender that while this was very cute, it was perhaps not entirely sanitary. He laughed and laughed and told me I was crazy and please just go away. I laughed, too, it was all pretty crazy and funny. I found a free chaise lounge and sat down, putting the drink on an accompanying table. The hard drive looked like it was leaking grease. The bartender never asked for money so I didn’t mind too much.
I settled back into the chair, relaxing in the cool shade of a stapler tree. Wait, I thought, that can’t be right! I looked up and the tree was indeed a large red stapler, standing on end, topped with the fronds of a palm tree. This must be a theme resort, I thought, which made sense since my co-worker was a “nerd” and loved these kinds of things. No wonder he recommended it!
My eyes fluttered open and I realized I had dozed off. How relaxing! The sound of my ringing phone had stirred me out of my slumber. I flipped it open and took the call. It was my car telling me it had run over a billboard. It was crying. Stupid car.
I wasn’t going to let a “smart” car ruin my vacation, though. I told it to clean up the mess and have the bill sent to the company, as it was technically a company car. It honked affirmatively and hung up.
I went back inside and asked the young lady at the front desk if she knew the best place to find trees, to get close to nature. She suggested Yosemite Park, which was over two thousand miles away. Then she laughed and turned away from me. I knew she wanted to make it an adventure, so I also laughed, then did a Google search on my laptop and found a local park that was filled with trees. I called the car to ask if it could pick me up and it had composed itself enough to assure me it could be at the resort in fifteen minutes. I told it to drive carefully and it growled its engine at me. What a saucy car.
Unfortunately the car did not diagnose its condition properly after the billboard incident and it plowed into a copse of trees when we arrived at the park, due to malfunctioning brakes. I broke both legs, bringing my vacation to an early end.
I did touch a tree, though, albeit with my head when I went through the windshield. I think about the irony and laugh and laugh. Ah vacation!
~fin~
Alternately, this is what I first wrote after looking at the prompt. It actually follows the rule of being short-short:
On vacation I relaxed in the cool shade of a stapler tree, sipping on my hard drive julep. Suddenly my phone rang. It was my car telling me it had just run over a billboard. It was crying. Stupid car.
