The 100 Word Challenge, back under the firm, loving control of Velvet Verbosity, resides at velvetverbosity.com. My entry this week is called "Stepping Out".
My friend Erin caught up to me right in front of the door to the lecture hall. The wood and frosted glass looked tired, just like the students who filed past us.
“Let’s ditch,” she said.
Tall, broad, smart, blonde and engaged to be married, Erin’s idea- to sit on the front steps in the March sun and talk about Robert Heinlein novels- beat the living heck out of listening to some idiot blather about biochemistry. Sensibly assenting, I grabbed an iced tea and joined her. I didn’t get my money’s worth from school that day, but I learned something.
“Let’s ditch,” she said.
Tall, broad, smart, blonde and engaged to be married, Erin’s idea- to sit on the front steps in the March sun and talk about Robert Heinlein novels- beat the living heck out of listening to some idiot blather about biochemistry. Sensibly assenting, I grabbed an iced tea and joined her. I didn’t get my money’s worth from school that day, but I learned something.
Maybe it's the mention of Heinlein, but this made me smile. Great job.
ReplyDeleteVery good. I like this a lot...touching in a gentle way...
ReplyDeleteSounds like a lovely way to spend a spring day.
ReplyDelete'Twas, actually. This actually happened, more or less, although the class was Law and we went to a bakery and had bagels.
ReplyDeleteYou commented on my blog and made me feel better. Then I come here, read this, and it made me smile at its understated sweetness. I also found something else to focus on for a while.
ReplyDeleteThank you, for all those things. :)
Thank you, E.
ReplyDeleteBTW-that word "broad". Anyone offended by that? I have been trying for a long time to find a good word for women like that. It's not fat, not large-but kind of Amazonian. Think Lisa Leslie or Rebecca Lobo or maybe Martina Navratilova. Someone who, on the basketball court, you would have trouble moving out of the low post. Not just tall, but womanly- solidly built, with broad shoulders and hips. I want just one word that says that without being derogatory or insulting or sexist or even sexual, with a vaguely complimentary tinge.
Any ideas?
First thing that popped into my mind was "sturdy". Robust? Well built? Maybe athletic? Hardy? Broad wasn't offensive to me, but the image it conjured was "wide". For me, at least.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of one word off the top of my head, but it's a challenge!
ReplyDeleteI haven't done one in a while but I used to do "word portraits", an exercise where I would write a paragraph or two just describing someone I met. I started doing this because I noticed in my writing that I describing the presence of another person was one of the most difficult parts of writing for me.
I found listing off adjectives just didn't capture the real feeling of a person. A.S. Byatt does a stunning job of describing the characters in her novel, "Possession". That's what I aspire to.