~ By Jeff Salter
Happy Friday. 🙂
Today, to kick off the weekend, we’ve got a writing prompt. Thank you to Jeff Salter for coming up with it!
Don’t be shy. Dive in and give this a shot. It’ll get you warmed up for a weekend of writing, and prompts are a great exercise in learning about your voice.
Have fun!
“It’s 7:30 in the evening and the laundromat is crowded. The man looks exhausted: he has three loads and only one machine is open, so you know he’ll be there for a while. You can tell by the contents of those baskets that all the clothes are probably his.
From the way he looks around the place, you can tell he’s probably never been to a laundromat before. He eyes your bag of chips and you realize intuitively that he hasn’t had his supper yet.
As he loads his first basket into the only vacant washer, you can see he didn’t even bring any detergent.”What’s the first bit of dialog?
And who says it?
Good luck. Feel free to share your writing in the comments. Or at least let us know how it went.
Have a great weekend!
Jeff Salter has completed ten novels and three novellas; nine of those titles have been published and one is due for release soon. He also co-authored two non-fiction books with a royalty publisher, in addition to an encyclopedia article and a signed chapter. Jeff has also published articles, book reviews, and over 120 poems. His writing has won nearly 40 awards, including several in national contests. He’s a retired librarian, a decorated Air Force veteran, and a published photo journalist. He’s married with two children and six grandchildren.
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“Come on. Let’s get you home.”
“I’m not drunk. And I’m not some wayward child you have to take care of.”
“No one said you were. You’d do the same thing if it were one of the guys.”
Pompous ass. Mike fitted his frame into his truck on the passenger side. “How come you’re able to drive?”
Jared started the engine. “You know me. I spend most of my time sipping on one bottle and checking out the women.” As he pulled into traffic, he continued, “I know. Sipping is for women. Not men.”
“Hell. If it works …” Even in the dark, Mike saw Jared’s teeth flash in a grin.
“So. You gonna share?”
“Share what,” Mike growled. He’d never shared a woman and damned if he would start now.
“I meant information. Not your woman.” Jared’s playboy chuckle filled the cab. He put the truck in gear. “She’s what’s got your mind occupied, isn’t she? You haven’t been yourself for days.”
Mike sighed as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yea. Cassie.”
“Cassie? The blonde from the Mexican restaurant.”
“The one and only.” Window down, Mike rested his elbow on the side of the door. “Can’t stop thinking about her.”
“She is a looker. Nice package too.”
Mike turned in his seat. “How come you didn’t make a play for her?”
Jared glanced from the two lanes of traffic. “She wasn’t interested. Now her friend, she’s another story.”
Okay, here’s mine:
—
The woman is first to speak and says something like this:
She: “Been a long day, hasn’t it?”
He: “Huh? Oh, yeah. Too long.”
She: “I’ve got some detergent you could borrow. Save you a trip to your truck.”
He: “Thanks. Forgot to bring any. Kinda on the fly.”
[She takes her bottle over to him.]
She: “I’d be happy to measure it out, if you’d like.”
He: “Measure?”
VERY NICE, Calle J. Brookes!
You wordlessly hand him your mostly full bottle of detergent. “Looks like you forgot something.”
He just stares at you from eyes that look like they’ve seen far too much. He gives you a halfhearted smile. His hand trembles when he takes the laundry soap from you. “Thank you. It’s been a while since I’ve done laundry.”
“Oh?” Surely his mother didn’t still wash his laundry? He had to be at least five years older than your own thirty-one.
“My wife…” His voice breaks as he says it. “She used to insist that I did laundry wrong and wouldn’t let me touch her machines. I turned her favorite white pants blue once. After that I wasn’t allowed.”
“I see.” Recently divorced? Widowed? You can’t help but wonder. But you were raised not to pry in other peoples’ business. Yeah, being helpful with the detergent was one thing, but peppering the guy with questions? Too rude. And you weren’t about to start…
He is rather handsome, and apparently single, why not help out & see where it goes? She grabbed her detergent, raked her fingers through her long curly hair, and took a deep breath. “Come here often”, she asked with a slight grin. He turned toward her, his deep blue eyes gazing into hers almost took her breath away. “
I hope we get lots of responses to this prompt.
Eager to see what my fellow members come up with