So for awhile now I have been kicking around this idea. Most of my days are spent working and by working I mean tending to task upon task until I feel about as drained as a person who takes Twitter seriously. Mirth, joy, and whimsy are needed to balance out this serious task tending life scale, and a while back a thought baby burst into my consciousness, I should freewrite a story and then my readers can prompt me where to go next.
Here's how I envision this little narrative experiment in fun will go. In this post I am going to freewrite a story, and then I would love if you all would give me suggestions where to go next. It can be a word, a phrase, multiple words, a news headline, an image, whatever floats your boat! whichever comment gets the most upvotes will be the winner and I will freewrite the next part of the tale using the winning comment prompt.
With everything going on in the world and our streams constantly full of so much doom and gloom, I want to provide a bit of escape into the realm of fun, imaginary wanderlust, and enjoyment dangit! Also, I miss being creative, my brain feels a bit flat, and the best cure for boring is a dose of random and colorful!
So with that said, off I go:
"Is that the one George?" the man in faded denim overalls whispered as he clasped his cracked hands together.
"It sure is Dolph, we're gonna be rich!" George replied grasping his bright orange suspenders and stretching them out towards the sun.
"Peep" called the object of the men's adulation.
Dolph and George were farm laborers for C. T. McGee. Like their fathers before them, they had toiled and labored on the McGee estate for all of their years, from sun up to sundown.
"But George, this chick belongs to C.T. Sr., you know that," Dolph replied rubbing his massive dirt-stained hands through his short-cropped sandy brown hair.
"For far too long those McGee's have been living high on the hog off of our backs, this here little fellow is our ticket to easy street, Dolph, besides he doesn't even know this little fella exists."
The tiny yellow fluffball below them let out another chirp and walked up to Dolph's boot. The baby chick looked like every other chick in the hen house, but earlier in the day it had done something life-changing, so much so that George had dropped the bucket of feed he was carrying and ran to collect Dolph to show him.
Dolph knelt down next to the bird, "I just can't believe it can do it, I mean it can't be real?"
"What are ya trying to say, Dolph? That Mary Margaret put some of those special mushrooms we both know she hides in her cupboard in our oatmeal this morning? You know what you saw as well as I, and we are going to be rich!" George's wiry form broke into a jig. He let out a squeal of glee and snatched his cap off of his balding head in an act of all-out jubilation.
"What is going on here?" a voice demanded that had more sneer than self-righteous zealot at a Sunday church service.
Dolph popped to his feet and spun around, careful not to crush the little chick. George smacked his cap back on his wispy hair and turned to face the intruder.
C.T. Jr. stood before them.
Whereas C.T. Sr. had all the bearing and manner of an actual gentleman farmer, C.T. Jr. was all sniveling sycophant and opportunistic bully. His always weeping pale blue eyes bored into George and Dolph like accusatory beams of judgmental light.
"Nuthin sir, just admiring the new arrivals, our best layer Gertrude, hatched out quite a brood last night," Dolph replied. He shifted closer to George, sliding his worn work boot in front of the chick.
"My father doesn't pay you two to play nursemaids visiting the zoo!" C.T. Jr. spat. He was dressed as usual, in a custom-cut suit of the finest wool. There wasn't a speck of anything on his polished leather shoes, Dolph realized, nor was there any sign of farm life on any of the dandy's clothes.
C.T. Jr's eyes narrowed as he glanced down at the chick, "Why's that one away from its mother?" he demanded taking a step closer.
"Peep," the little chick called, stepping around Dolph's boot and cocking its head to peer up at the fancily attired man.
"I'll teach you two what happens to things who are idle and laze about where they don't belong!" C.T. Jr. growled as he drew his leg back.
Both George and Dolph gasped and started to lunge forward, but before they could intervene C.T. Jr's foot connected with the chick and...
Okay ya'll, let me have it, hit me with your prompts, I can't wait to see where the story goes from here!
And as not most of the time, the image in this post came from Pixabay and is cited to reflect it.