The purpose of “weekend reflections” is to develop writing skills, increase vocabulary, and---yes—have some fun! So I hope every weekend to list ten words to be used for posts (which will be linked to from here) for the following week.(By the way, these words are randomly chosen, not with any story in mind. I write my piece several days after I choose the words.) Please follow any links from Mr. Linkey, below, and leave comments! So you have the opportunity to be challenged and write today a piece with this week’s words, or at your leisure to compose a piece to post the next weekend, with next week’s vocabulary list.
By the way, I have discovered that the fiction that emerges is often a very good medium to express feelings, experiences, and even opinions that are impossible in regular writing, as in real life our thoughts and experiences often touch and effect real people who can be hurt. Fiction also gives us the chance to project ourselves or another personality into a situation that they may never had had in real life. But if we do it in an honest way, the story should ring true.
Rules:
1. Use all 10 words in a short vignette (or if you’re in a hurry, 5 words in two or three sentences). You can use derivatives (incline/inclined/inclination) of words, at least occasionally.
2. Since many of the readers of this blog are religious, please keep your subject matter pretty “pareve” (clean), but no missionizing as we have all sorts of people here…..
3. If you want, you can add in a bit of explanation, reflection, at the end.
4. Link to here through the Mr. Linkey widget at the bottom of my page. Post the URL of the specific post.
This week’s words:
Spill – chuckle – window – nuisance – insert – flamboyant – discussion – solitary – burnish – fester
MY PIECE
Marge glanced at the puddle of milk rather dispassionately. She would have even chuckled if not for fear that Susan would hear and get the wrong idea. It wasn’t like she WANTED Susan to spill the milk, but the mother of 5 had experienced enough growing toddlers to realize that to get flustered over the nuisance of spilled milk would be counter productive.
Her daughter Susan, a cheeky kid with a rather flamboyant personality had been a bit of a nuisance for the last hour. She certainly did not look ripe for a discussion about overturned drinking cups. Susan now stood at the solitary window in the living room, and within moments had picked up a small unburnished metal spoon. She was already attempting to insert it through the window’s guard rails to the great expanse that existed beyond. Unbidden, the recurring festering hunch that Marge had been trying to ignore arose as would a phantom in the night. Susan was not cut from the same fabric as the remainder of her children. Something was different, and perhaps something was wrong.
NOTE:
The realization that your child is not the standard “cut of the cloth”, that there is something beyond what you have acknowledged, is a difficult one for parents. I experienced it in regards to Ricki’s second diagnosis (ADHD), which we arrived at after a long process. However, I suspect that the acceptance of the idea is much more difficult for a mother whose child has been, up to the present, “normal”.
I also want to point out that I do not consider the ADHD “wrong”, (per the last sentence of the story). The ADHD is a “different” state that needs to be dealt with in whichever way is best for the child and those surrounding him. However, Marge, at this stage certainly still does see it as a “bad” thing.
Next week’s words
Slighted – accessibility – cream puff – masculine – button – intrinsic – alight – flaxen – caveat - obtuse
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