I decided to post the first week’s results from The Writing Prompt Rorschach Challenge! Enjoy. I’ll post the second week’s results, plus the analysis next week. In the meantime, enjoy! Monday: I wrote this in the morning, before work. I was tired, but calm, and drinking coffee.
Prompt: You arrive at work to find that something is missing and has been replaced with something else.
“Monday again.” the sigh could not help but escape me. I dropped myself into the desk chair and looked around the office. The light on the phone was blinking: a message.
I picked up the phone and pushed the blinking button.
“Are you there? Can you hear me?” It was a child’s voice speaking to me.
It was a moment before I could respond. I looked down again, and I was talking into the face of Spiderman, his eyes speakers and his mouth a microphone, and a little walkie talkie antenna sticking out over his ear.
Suddenly, it was summer, and I was eleven years old.
Tuesday: I wrote this late at night, before I went to bed. I was tired, but in a good mood. It had been a fun day.
Prompt: During your morning coffee, you open the newspaper and read something shocking about someone you know.
The story was amusing, truly. I laughed as I read it. Someone had gone into one of those stores you have to be eighteen to get into, stolen a rather elaborate marital aid, and ran from the shop. What made it even more entertaining, was the fact that someone else was waiting outside in the car. The car sped off down the street before the person who worked there could even get the number on the license plate.
The fact that it was planned, a sort of “heist” was what got me laughing the hardest.
I was still laughing as I related the story to my elderly grandmother, who had the taste for naughty humor that only comes with the sense of self old age grants. But, she didn’t laugh as I told the story.
She only blushed.
Wednesday: I wrote this on notebook paper during my shift at work. It was a slightly stressful shift, and I was tense and a little annoyed.
Prompt: You go swimming and while you’re at the pool, you meet someone from very far away, who is in need of your help.
It was the summer of 2012. What a vibrant and exciting summer, and one I will never forget. It was the first warm day, and the pools had just opened. I was happy to go. Singing to myself as I got into my swimsuit, I stood under the required shower and entered the pool area.
I could see that there was someone in the lane reserved for those who only want to swim laps. I'd always rather just swim around, so I ignored that part of the pool anyway. Yet, I noticed that the person swimming there was amazing.
He doubled everyone else's speed, and his form was like something I'd seen on TV.
He came up to take a breath and shook the water out of his brown hair.
"You're Michael Phelps!" I said.
He grinned a crooked toothed smile at me.
"I'm lost. I'm supposed to be in London. Can you help me?"
Thursday: I wrote this after lunch. I was feeling a little sick, and had a headache that day.
Prompt: Write about the best possible way to meet the love of your life.
Today, I went to a writer’s group. I was bored as we shared our work. It was the usual range, nothing really bad, but nothing struck me as exceptional either. I include my own work in this assessment. A listless feeling was beginning to creep over me.
I was looking out the window, when I heard a poem that made me turn around and pay attention. The reader was a young man, about my own age. I could feel the smile spreading across my face without my willing it.
When the leader of the group asked up to divide ourselves into critique groups, I did not hesitate.
Friday: This is another late night one. I was quite tired. Interesting to note: BCITW (Best Cat in the World) was on my bed. I believe he inspired it.
Prompt: It’s the end of a long work day. All you want to do is relax, but something keeps preventing it.
It had been an exceptionally difficult shift, at the end of an amazingly difficult week. I wanted nothing but to make some tea, sit in my chair, and watch my favorite TV show.
If you'd offered me the moon, but I had to work one more shift to get it, I would have had to respectfully decline.
I went to make the tea, but there I found my cat, Logan, on the counter. I put him gently on the ground and made the tea, sighing in frustration. I sat down and put on the TV, but I heard him meowing in the kitchen. I realized that I’d forgotten to feed him. After I filled his dish, I realized that the little jerk had coughed up a hair ball on the floor. So, I had to spend ten minutes cleaning up the carpet.
When people ask me “Why do you keep a cat?” I always answer “Because, he helps me relax.”