He thumbed yesterday’s newspaper, penlessly crossed out the employers he had called on. “Why did they place the ads if they aren’t hiring?” There were no more circles for him to cross out tomorrow.
“I believe in you.” She said it automatically now, a tuneless reply to his every utterance the last two weeks. It meant everything from, “Dinner’s almost ready, sweetheart,” to, “What are we going to do? What are we … .” He had cleaned the table of its clutter of bills, hidden the landlord’s statement in the piano.
“This was tuned this year. What is this clunky sound? Do y—”
* * * *
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The WordPress Daily Prompt for August 13 asks, “What’s messier right now—your bedroom or you computer’s desktop (or your favorite device’s home screen)? Tell us how and why it got to that state.”
Today’s Alterna-Prompt, “The Blog Propellant,” asks us to use one of four “straight forward, uncomplicated, simple images to inspire fabulous stories or poems that will astound and amaze all who read them. Oh, but you only get 100 words, and no less than 50. And, your story must be open-ended.”
“Room in New York.” Click for full size.
Painting: “Room in New York,” 1932, Edward Hopper (1882–1967). Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
The Gad About Town 
YAY! Mark came out to play! This is fun. Thx for participating, and as always, thanks for promoting TBP. Big smile fr me!
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I’m glad. That word limit did exactly what it was supposed to do. I just am not sure what that is. 😉 Each sentence is the survivor of a litter of three or four, a far lower ratio than the yield seen in my typical loquacious meander.
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A lacking in loquaciousness litter of…a lot of runts, if only 1 out of 3 or 4 survived 😉 It is maddening, yes? But I also find it fun. Hope you jump in again!
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I love Edward Hopper. And this little bit of dialogue fits perfectly. Yes, you did cut the loquacious down to lo, didn’t you? Proud of you, Mark.
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