The phone rang. She picked it up and looked at the screen. “Finally.” She hit ignore and went back to eating her sandwich. There was a knock at the door. Mid-bite she breathed out hard through her nose and stood up to answer the door, taking her sandwich along for the ride. She opened the door and there he was, cape in hand.

“Look Linda,” he said, “I know what you’re thinking.” Linda stared blankly and then muttered, “Bullshit.” and closed the door. She turned her back to the door, but didn’t walk away. She just stood there and took another bite of her sandwich. She was starting to get thirsty, but she knew he was still out there standing exactly where he was before she shut the door. She swallowed, turned and opened the door again.

“Next time you want to “borrow” something, James, you should plan on returning it before the owner discovers it’s missing. I don’t lend out my shit to anybody. You took advantage of the situation, and then really fucked things up.” She finished her scolding and stared at him, but he said nothing, so she went on. “I saw you wearing it on Instagram. You fucking instagrammed yourself wearing my cape.”

James held out the mangled cape and feebly handed it to her. “Sorry.” She glared at him. “Sorry? You think sorry is going to cut it? What happens next time the police chief calls me to tell me there is a jumper on Bates tower? Huh? Am I going to tell him, ‘Well, you see sir, I had this guy over for drinks, and well…we got a little tipsy and I passed out.. And um he took my cape.. and tried to fly.. and landed in a tree. So, um, you see sir, I can’t really fly anymore.’ How’s that going to work out?!

James just stared at her, turned and walked away. Linda looked down in at the sandwich in one hand and the cape in the other and started to sob.

7 thoughts on “Making shit up

  1. I am so enjoying reading these H. I wish I had a friend who gave me writing assignments like this and was so good at it – the variety of topics is awesome. She should think about setting up a blog or website for writers where she gives out an assignment every day, writers can submit their works and then the social media community could pick a winner for each topic. It would be a huge hit. I would be delighted if you put the question at the top of the topic you’re writing about. I don’t always see them sequentially and it makes me super curious when I’m reading something of yours to know what the assignment was. Keep it up girl!
    Sherry

    1. Thanks Sheri! Laura did start posting the prompts on her blog, http://www.lamiki.com. I will let her know that she should also link to the stories that are generated by them. (And maybe make them easier to find from the home page). Great Idea!

      1. Great ideas, both of you! Here’s the collected list of the prompts, http://lamiki.com/writing-prompts/. I really like your idea, Sheri, of turning this into an ongoing project with more reciprocation. Perhaps when this project is up. Oh, and Harmony, I’ve been meaning to link back to those who wrote about each post. Just haven’t gotten there yet. (Perhaps tonight?)

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