This is possibly my favourite piece done during the creative writing course. We picked a building in the city at random, the tutor gave us five objects and four characters, one of whom was to be our narrator, but all objects and characters were to be included. I’ll tell you at the end what the objects and characters were.
It was a good place to get out of the rain. I slipped past the lectern which spread itself across the corner, eagle’s wings outstretched. It looked like it could fly up and perch on the beams in the ceiling. It also looked like a useful dropbox if I needed one before leaving.
A crowd of people entered behind me, shaking off their umbrellas and generally getting in each others’ way. I mingled with them, spotting the drunk leering at the women and muttering to the men. One daft beggar let himself be accosted by the fish tank with the shark in it. He reached into his coat, then changed his mind and fished in his trouser pocket to give the drunk some coins. The drunk lurched against me, I lurched against the gent, apologised profusely, and went round the tank, dropping the now empty wallet into the golf buggy parked there.
I made my way to the end where a small boy was sitting on a suitcase eating a piece of Victoria sponge cake. He was gazing at a window as he brushed the crumbs from his mouth. I followed his gaze – stained glass, 16th Century by the look of it, Noah’s Ark and the Flood. Genesis if I remember rightly. Worth about £160,000, just for the lead.
I bought myself a cuppa and a piece of cake with the generosity of the gent. Three more wallets and a Kindle made their way into my pocket as people carelessly exposed their belongings as they bought their refreshments. An iPhone and a Rolex watch joined them as their owners watched the romantic couple who couldn’t keep their hands off each other.
Thanks, mate, I told the eagle as I left the evidence with him, making my way out through the heavy oak doors and back into the rain.
Got all the objects? The characters were the pickpocket (me), the small boy with a heavy suitcase, a drunk, and a woman meeting an illicit lover. The objects were the stained glass window, the fish tank with the shark, a golf buggy, a Victoria sponge and the lectern like the back of an eagle. I added a few more when doing this blog post, just to give you some more to choose from!
If you hop over to Damyanti’s blog at AtoZ Stories, you’ll find she’s featuring Princelings of the East there today. Thank you, Damyanti.
Don’t forget to enter our Giveaway – the prizes include copies of all my books plus some of our reviewed books during the AtoZ and earlier this year. And the Traveler in Black and White is at half price on Smashwords with the coupon code NY74H.
