[Fiction] Friday - July 31, 2009

This weeks challenge: It’s July 31st. What is Santa doing in downtown Los Angeles?

“It’s July 31st.
What is Santa doing in downtown Los Angeles?”

That headline was plastered over every newspaper in LA. Retail business was extremely low this summer and they had to boost business or many of them would go out of business. Somebody suggested a way to get sales going…they should start the holiday shopping off early with huge savings.

And that’s how the papers got their front-page story today.

But this was not just some scheme to get shoppers in the stores; this was a full-blown holiday at the mall. They pulled out all the stops. They lowered the temperature in the mall down to sixty-seven degrees. They put up all the decorations throughout the mall and stacked wrapped boxes from the floor to the ceiling. The music from all the speakers in the mall was the same you would hear as if it was Christmas Eve. Everyone who worked in the mall was asked to dress for the holiday, and they did.

They advertised all over TV about the big event with huge savings, holiday cheer and to top it all off, Santa and his elves.

Of course, with children being out of school they saw all the TV ads and begged their parents to go see Santa. Most every request was granted and even though most parents weren’t ready for it, they took their children to go see the jolly old man.

It worked, retail stores thrived and the following Monday the papers front pages were plastered with a new headline:

“Post Holiday Sale! Hurry for Year-End Savings”

copyright Uncle Tee Books

[Fiction Friday] - July 10, 2009

Write about a misunderstanding between three people.


“What time did you tell him?”

“I didn’t talk to him. He was out when I called so I talked to his wife and she said she would tell him.”

“So what was the message you left?”

“I told her to tell him eight o’clock, at the Civic Center…and that we would meet ‘em at the front doors, on top of the steps.”

“Okay, so where is he?”

“I don’t know…I’ll give him a call.”

“Is it ringing?”

"Yeah it rings but then it’s goin’ to voicemail. He must be on his way.”

“Well, I hope he gets here soon dude, the game’s gonna start in a few.”

“Yeah I know…lets give him a few more minutes and I’ll call him again.”

“You did tell her Saturday…today Saturday right?”

“Yeah, I talked to her yesterday, right after I talked to you and told her this Saturday.”

“Well if he didn’t get the message until this morning…do you think he thought you meant next Saturday?”

“I don’t know…what time you got?”

“Ten of eight.”

****************************

“Hey babe, what are you doin’ home?”

“What do mean…I live here.”

“Ha…ha. I thought you were goin’ out with the boys tonight? I left you a note.”

“Yeah I saw it this morning. It said the game is this Saturday.”

“Yeah, this Saturday…today…tonight Saturday.”

“You serious. I thought this Saturday meant this coming Saturday. Chuck me the remote, would ya.”

TV Announcer: “Well Bill, the word is that tonight’s game between the LA and Boston should be a great match up. One of those games you don’t want to miss.”

“Oh man…what time is it?”

“Ten of eight.”

copyright Uncle Tee Books

[Fiction] Friday - July 3, 2009

Where your character is committed to a drastic or extreme change

Two hours waiting in line…joking and laughing with friends…not thinking about what’s next. Feet hurting from standing for so long. Sweating from the humidity…or maybe from nerves and anticipation.

The sound of screams and machine-like mechanisms are getting louder and louder as the next step approaches. Looking back at all the faces who will also go through this experience…this test of will and bravery. They all have varying expressions but share the same look in their eyes every few minutes when the screaming goes through its cycle.

One more rotation of the system, one more cycle of screaming and clunking. Last chance to give in, to let the scare win.

Climbing in now, sitting and looking back at those wondering faces. The anticipation has reached its peak. Seat belt tight, bar moved back into position. Rolling forward, slowly.

‘Clunk…clunk…clunk…clunk…clunk…clunk’

Climbing out into the sunlight, higher and higher. Looking side to side at the landscape getting smaller and smaller. Everything is in sight now. Nearing the very top, clinching the bar, rolling over the peak…

“Ahhhh!!! Whoooo!!!” Screams are flying from the short train of cars as we zoom down the hill.

‘Bang’ to the right, ‘Bang’ to the left, up and down over the whoop-de-does, racing up through the corkscrew, around to the right, small climb to another peak, then whipping down and to the left, then right, one last big turn…

‘Screech’

The line of cars slows abruptly and creeps back under the canopy. Stopping and exiting the to the other side making room for the next set of roller coaster riders.

copyright Uncle Tee Books

New Children's Book Release - Fallen Star

I am proud to announce the release of my eighth children's book, Fallen Star. You can see it at www.UncleTeeBooks.com

It's a short story about a Fallen Star and then it educates children on what a fallen star is...check it out.

[Fiction] Friday - June 26th, 2009

Challenge - Your story involves an invasion of privacy.

Julie climbed the hardwood stairs, gripping the railing and humming the song she was listening to on her ipod. With each step she took, she was thinking of how she was going to start today’s entry. There were several topics she wanted to record, but which to start with was the challenge.

Leaving the stairway behind and dancing down the hall, she reached the door to her bedroom. It was shut all the way. She usually kept it open a few inches. Without giving it much thought she entered her large, purple painted room. Its décor consisted of pink and purple window drapery; white, pink and purple comforter, sheets and pillowcase and a large white oval shaped rug set askew. Her room also housed two very large dressers that surrounded the doorway to her walk-in closet. Among the scattered clothes and shoes that had not been put away, her desk and vanity hid camouflaged, covered with photos and notes, on the other side of her bed.

She pushed the door open, removed the buds from her ears and tossed them, along with the ipod, onto her bed. Spinning around and twirling to her desk she reached out for her favorite pen that she used only for her diary.

Scribbling a few lines on a piece of scrap paper on her desk she mutters, “Okay, good to go.”

As she walked over to her dresser where she secretly kept her diary she noticed that her sock drawer was open along with some socks laying over the edge of the finely crafted dresser drawer.

‘That’s not how I left it…’ she thought.

Digging through her socks to the back, where her diary is supposed to be, she finds that it’s gone.

“Mom! Have you been in my room!?!” She hollered without even standing up.

“NO!”

“UGH.” Julie grunts. “DYLAN!!”

She stands and stomps for the doorway where she finds her four year younger brother standing with her diary in his hands.

“Lookin’ for something?” He asks as he waives it around in the air.

“If you’ve read anything in there you’re dead!” She threatens, squinting and piercing her eyes right at him.

“That’s for me to know, and you to never find out.” He spouts back as he tosses it at her and runs out of the doorway.



copyright Uncle Tee Books

Illustration Friday - Drifting

 

copyright Uncle Tee Books

[Fiction] Friday - June 19, 2009

Include this line in your story…(your character) closed his/her eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped..

Tony stood there, at the edge of the pool, sweating. His skin was tacky from the globs of sunscreen that his mother caked on and his arms were angled out slightly to avoid sticking to his sides. His eyes were squinted from the bright reflection of the hazy sky above bouncing off the water.

The thermometer was just about at one hundreds degrees Fahrenheit. The weather report said it was going to be a hazy, hot and humid day, the first real scorcher of the summer. This was the beginning of a heat wave they predicted.

The waters glassy surface was flat even though it glistened thousands of sparkling spikes of sunlight. Tony bent one leg down and dipped his toes from his other foot in the water causing half circle waves to spread across the pool slowly.

“Feels pretty good.” Tony said to his father who was standing right next to him.

“Okay, let’s do it then…are you ready?” His father asked.

“I’m ready…” Tony replied. “I’ll go first.”

Tony closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped out as far as he could to reach the middle of the pool as he yelled, “Whoooohoooo!”

As he crashed through the flat surface of the water he felt the change in temperature from the hot humid air to the cold settled water at the bottom of the pool. He immediately pushed his feet to the floor and raised himself back up out of the water.

“Cold! Ahh…its still cold on the bottom!” He hollered as he stood up in the middle of the pool.

copyright www.UncleTeeBooks.com