Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: build-a-bear workshop, man bites dog, opulent, disparaging, lipstick stain, preponderance, smoky quartz, clothes pin, meticulous, falling leaves
Mini Challenge: moisturizing, pickles, seat belt, flip-flop, Chicago
Sarah Beth sniffed the pungent autumn air as the descent of falling leaves cascaded in a dazzling swath around her. Delirious. She inhaled again. Garments flapped degenerately in the breeze, barely tethered to a militia of clothes pins that held them captive. Like seat belts restraining a wily toddler, she mused. She remembered with amazing clarity how she had tackled Jamie, her wildebeest, on their way to Ezekial Day Care, the only second shift provider within 25 miles. He fiercely protested the separation imposed on them . “Pickles”, she inveighed. “We’ll be there quicker than you can say ‘hey nonny non my boyfriends back’. “ A clip she had innocently borrowed from the AM radio blaring the latest Motown hits.
Hanes undergarments thick with folds. They will take longer to dry than the rest. A shirt saturated with a tell tale lipstick stain, frisaged out of them to preserve the façade of a respectable Chicago enclave. The maid had meticulously applied a special moisturizing potion to erase the stain. Frayed Lanz flannels undulating reticently. Homespun frocks spreading their wings like an opulent flock of geese. Secrets lay waiting to be uncovered.
Meanwhile , in an adjacent suburb. Lucretia drove her darling Hallie to a Build a bear work shop. Hallie, conceived in a “man bites dog” kind of way, but every bit her own. Every bit her own. When Lucretia had given up all hope of new life, Hallie had announced herself. Only Lucretia’s siblings remained unrelentingly disparaging. Hallie. She inhaled the sweetness of her daughter. Secrets lay waiting to be uncovered.
The leaves. They wanted to be kites.
Sarah Beth clutched the smoky quartz amulet tucked securely in her pouch.
Hallie had insisted on wearing flip-flops and Lucretia had indulged her.
They arrived at the designated site, amazed at the preponderance of russet and gold in distinct stages of decay.
