storytelling

Miss Demeaner

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“I don’t have the slightest idea what you are talking about,” she said in a high-pitched voice that she barely recognized as her own as she grasped her dignity and her purse tighter and proceeded to leave the department store before anyone tried to detain her further.

Heart beating wildly, she willed herself to walk with a calm gait and not to look back, as she felt a flush of perspiration begin to bead above her lip.

It wasn’t until the subway cars closed and the car pulled away from the platform that she let herself begin to relax, followed by a rush of adrenaline as she felt her bag for the outline of the lipstick she had managed to nick in her first-ever taste of a life of crime.

Inspired by TheDaily Post Word Prompt: slight

Herbal Reverie

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“Allow me to speak candidly,” she said with earnestness to no one in particular before finding herself poised halfway between the kitchen and the veranda staring out the window.

And just like that, the realization that had prompted the remark in the first place drifted out of her consciousness and on to wherever such realizations go when unattended.

And so it was that she sat down once again to a cup of camomile tea and a romance novel to while away a long day’s afternoon.

Inspired by The Daily Word Prompt: candid

Soup Stock

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“Yeah, that’s right. I’m allergic to you,” she muttered under her breath to no one in particular as she watched Phil Peters walk away from the water cooler in order to catch up to the passing ample sway of Georgina Johnson’s hips – which always seemed to be in some kind of competition with her tight knit skirts for space.

She continued to appear very involved in stirring the Cup-a-Soup she had just filled with hot water but inside her heart plummeted several stories to its usual bed of disappointment and resentment as she once again caught her own narrow, rather restrained-looking hips from the corner of her eye.

And upon hearing the annoying tinkle of Georgina’s thin, high-pitched laugh – the laugh she only pulled out for unsuspecting admirers – she turned her back to them both and made a beleaguered beeline for her desk.

 

Inspired by The Daily Word prompt: allergic

Thawed Out

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“I’m sorry, sir, but we have no reservation under that name,” she said in a put-on pseudo-British accent to no one in particular just as the timer on the microwave turned over to zero and made its angry announcement that her TV dinner was heated through.

“You’ll have to make other arrangements for this evening’s repast.”

And with that, she delivered her meal with a sly, self-satisfied smile and a flourish to the folding tray at the Laz E boy recliner in front of the TV, eager to return to her beloved The Price is Right reruns.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: reservation

The Post

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“It’s frigging miraculous,” she said to no one in particular as she spied and then finally recovered the tiny silver backing of her left faux diamond stud earring from under the refrigerator using a straightened wire hanger with a piece of well-chewed gum stuck to its end.

She stuck it back on its post before dusting off the lint that had stuck to the knees of her velour pantsuit during her search.

And with that, she returned to Judge Judy reruns with a renewed sense of hope for the world.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: marvelous

A Fine Pour

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There was an elegance to the way she poured coffee, a slight turn of her wrist that turned the stream just so as it finished filling the cup.

It was subtle – even she wasn’t aware of this remnant of her former life – and it did not register for most, but a discerning eye such as his now and then caught it.

And for the slightest of instants, the diner was transformed into a four star hotel, and the coffee, a fine Bordeaux.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: elegance

You’ve Been Served

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“Mercy me!” she exclaimed to no one in particular as she almost dropped the full tray of assorted cookies she had just painstakingly arranged and was about to take out to serve to members of the Ladies of the Lake Tea Group.

Looking down to see what had created the slip that had almost been her undoing, she eyed a small pool of what appeared to be milk on the linoleum floor – evidence of what could surely be deemed criminal carelessness, as just moments before, against her better judgement, she had succumbed to pressure from Myrna to allow her to serve the coffee, a mistake that reinforced her privately held poor opinion of Myrna’s character.

She took it upon herself to rearrange the cookies and the more arduous task of rearranging her expression from one of annoyance to one of the pleasant politeness she was known for, and with an almost imperceptible sigh, she headed out to return to the girls.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: mercy