Category: Fiction
By Kim Davis © 2011
Late, late, late! It seemed like no matter how early she started getting ready she just could not get out of the apartment on time. Now she was going to blow her interview with Dr. Bonham before she ever got there. Crap! Of course she had neglected to plan enough time to park, and totally ignored the fact that she didn’t know her way around the Northwestern campus. You could see the Bienen School of Music when you drove by… Who knew it would be so hard to get to it!
This story was originally a contest submission in the Fall WritersWeekly 24 hour Short Story Contest. It didn’t win, but I like it anyway…
“I must have taken a wrong turn after the river, Daddy. The pavement stopped a while back and there’s nowhere to turn around.”
“Hold on, honey, I’m trying to find it on the map.”
“You’re starting to break up some.”
“I don’t see any dirt roads in that area. I’m hearing another voice on the line. It’s like a whisper, can you hear it?”
“No, I’m just hearing you and static.”
“hang… now…”
“Did you hear that?!”
“Did I hear what, Dad?”
“Hang up… can’t help now…”
“That voice, Melissa… Melissa?”
The line was dead.
Part 1: Two Voices: Person #1
It was 5:59 a.m. as Larry made his way from the back storeroom up the big center aisle past the heaped sales tables to the glass doors. He could feel the tension in the air as the press of women bore down on the plate glass. He hoped it didn’t break before he could get the door open. He couldn’t stand Early Bird sales. Usually he tried to hide out in the stock room for the first fifteen or twenty minutes till the blood lust had calmed down a little on the sales floor.
I belong to a local writers guild, which over the past few years has grown from a tiny fledgeling group. We met once a month and read stories to five or six fellow writers. Now it has become a dynamic organization with goals and resources. Our very busy and innovative president has us working through Ursula K. Le Guin’s “Steering the Craft” this year. Wow! It’s fun!
Here’s a part of the last exercise we did.
