Bring me sunshine in a cup.
Katie waited, sitting on the cotton, yellow blanket they had laid over the grass, both legs bent to her right side. The heat of the sun's rays emanated in full force on her blue, flowing skirt and plain, black blouse. She pulled her curly hair away from her face, holding it in her hands at the back of her head as she observed the nature surrounding her at the park.
I'm such a spaz! she thought to herself, patiently awaiting Robert's return. I've been an athlete all my life, and I pick now to trip and twist my ankle. Idiot. She pulled off her sandals and examined her foot, comparing one leg to the other. It's already swelling. Sigh.
Robert came into view then, his red shirt bobbing into focus as he jogged toward her from the parking lot. She watched as she took notice of his strong shoulders, how his T-shirt fit just perfectly snug on his arms and across his chest, how perfect his lean legs looked in dark blue jeans...
"This is the best I could find in my truck," he said as he began wrapping an orange handkerchief tightly around her swelling ankle, concern clearly displaying in his eyes. "Tell me if it's too tight."
"No, that feels just fine..." Katie sighed, wishing with all her might that she could just dig deep enough to find the courage to say...
"Okay, let's get you home to ice that ankle," Robert interrupted her thoughts. He helped her stand up, quickly rolled up the blanket and draped it over his left arm, and swiftly swooped Katie up, holding her against his chest. She rested her head on his muscular shoulder, shielding her eyes from the sun as he walked toward the truck.
Katie waited, sitting on the cotton, yellow blanket they had laid over the grass, both legs bent to her right side. The heat of the sun's rays emanated in full force on her blue, flowing skirt and plain, black blouse. She pulled her curly hair away from her face, holding it in her hands at the back of her head as she observed the nature surrounding her at the park.
I'm such a spaz! she thought to herself, patiently awaiting Robert's return. I've been an athlete all my life, and I pick now to trip and twist my ankle. Idiot. She pulled off her sandals and examined her foot, comparing one leg to the other. It's already swelling. Sigh.
Robert came into view then, his red shirt bobbing into focus as he jogged toward her from the parking lot. She watched as she took notice of his strong shoulders, how his T-shirt fit just perfectly snug on his arms and across his chest, how perfect his lean legs looked in dark blue jeans...
"This is the best I could find in my truck," he said as he began wrapping an orange handkerchief tightly around her swelling ankle, concern clearly displaying in his eyes. "Tell me if it's too tight."
"No, that feels just fine..." Katie sighed, wishing with all her might that she could just dig deep enough to find the courage to say...
"Okay, let's get you home to ice that ankle," Robert interrupted her thoughts. He helped her stand up, quickly rolled up the blanket and draped it over his left arm, and swiftly swooped Katie up, holding her against his chest. She rested her head on his muscular shoulder, shielding her eyes from the sun as he walked toward the truck.
The full prompt: Sunshine in a cup. Write the words of Emily Dickinson: "Bring me sunshine in a cup" at the top of your page. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Write the first words that come into your head after the prompt. Don't take you pen off the page (or fingers off the keyboard). Stop only when the buzzer rings!
Okay, I confess. I used just a little more time than five minutes. I just had to finish my thoughts ;-) Although I didn't get to where I wanted the ending to land just yet. Maybe I'll continue this story in other posts. Jump on over to inkpaperpen to read the rest of the posts and add your own!
I like this - maybe you can do this as a rewrite to end it as you wish - will look forward to maybe hearing what she wanted to say to him? Very romantic...
ReplyDeletekate
This is really sweet. Now I want to know what she can't say!!
ReplyDeleteI wonder what she was going to say? I'd love to read more of this story, it has piqued my curiosity! Well done!
ReplyDeleteI sense a romance! Continue with this piece if you feel like you'd like to take it somewhere? I like the colours you chose in the piece, they reflected the weather and gave us some lovely images.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest re-working this line of dialogue:"I've been an athlete all my life, and I pick now to trip and twist my ankle." I assume it is Katie's stream of thought? I'm not sure if it read as naturally as it could have? What do you think?
Thanks everyone! I'm not sure if I will do a rewrite or just continue with the story. But now that I read it over, I realize I used the same word more than once in a couple sentences... Grr.
ReplyDeleteGill - Yes, she was thinking that to herself as she waited for Robert to return. I used italics for her first thought to specify that she was thinking to herself, but maybe I could have written it better. Of course I can see what I meant, because I wrote it, but maybe others don't read it like I do. Something to ponder for a possible rewrite.