SoCS

SoCS — A Loner Living Alone

Fandango9 Comments

For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has asked us to use the words “loan” and “lone.”

My parents and a lot of my friends call me a “lone wolf.” And I suppose some could argue that’s an apt description of me. I live alone in a four-story apartment building in my town’s central business district. I live on the fourth floor and there are only two units on that floor. Mine and the unoccupied unit across the hall from mine.

I like living alone. I work from home and I rarely leave the confines of my comfortable apartment. I admit that I’m a bit of an introvert so I don’t enjoy being out and about surrounded by loud, boistrous crowds. And between DoorDash for meals and Amazon for just about everything else, I am all set.

One morning there was a knock at my door. That was strange because the building has a security system where guests gave to be buzzed in, and I didn’t get buzzed. I looked through the peephole in my door and saw a young woman, hands on her hips, standing there. She knocked again, waited a minute, and then I heard her say, “I know you’re in there. I can see your eyeball peeking out at me. Will you open the door, please?”

I opened the door and saw this woman, probably in her mid-to-late twenties. Auburn hair. Attractive. “I am in the process of starting to move into the apartment across the hall from you and I wanted to let you know that the movers will be here in about 30 minutes with my stuff and it may be a bit noisy.”

“Okay,” I said. “Thanks for the heads-up.” Then I started to close the door but she put her hand up to block it from closing.

“I’m sorry, this may sound trite, but could I borrow a cup of sugar from you? I started to brew some fresh coffee in my coffee maker, but I realized that I didn’t have any sugar.”

“You want me to loan you a cup of sugar?” I asked.

“Well, yes, I suppose you can call it a loan,” she said. Once I get moved in and can get to the grocery store, I’ll replace your sugar.” Then she looked at me, smiled, and said, “Or you could simply invite me in and we can have some coffee together, which is much better than having coffee alone, isn’t it?”

I smiled back at her, gestured for her to come in, and thought, My days of living as a lone wolf might be coming to an end.

SoCS — Take Note

Fandango6 Comments

For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has asked us to use the word “note.”

I love listening to music, but please take note, when it comes to reading music, I cannot read a note

And speaking about being unable to read, I cannot read my own handwriting. So I use my Notes app on my iPhone to write myself notes, grocery shopping lists, blog post ideas, reminders, and any other things to take note of.

I have another note taking app on my iPhone. It’s called “Simplenote,” and that is where I write the first drafts of many of my blog posts. Like this one, for instance. Then I copy and paste from Simplenote to Jetpack/WordPress app on my iPhone.

SoCS/MLMM Saturday Mix Lucky Dip — Hodgepodge

Fandango5 Comments

“Whatcha doing, Jon?” his roommate asked him.

“I’m writing a script for a film,” Jon said.

“Cool, will you show it to me?” Archie asked.

“Well, I’m only on page one, so there’s not much to show you at this point,” Jon said, “but I can tell you about it.”

“Yes, please do,” Archie said.”

“It’s got a little bit of everything in it,” Jon explained. “It’s an action/adventure film with exploding hand grenades and it’s a musical comedy, too. It starts out with this woman, hat on her head, reading a self-help book when she decides she needs to turn over a new leaf. She fixes herself some bacon and eggs for breakfast. Then she grabs her baby boy, puts it him the baby carriage, and heads out onto the bustling streets of Manhattan. And that’s when the adventure begins.”

“Sounds like a bit of a hodgepodge if you ask me,” Archie said. “I think you ought to focus on one or two elements rather than on everything under the sun.”

“Don’t worry,” Jon said. “I’m only on page one. It will all come together by the end. I’ll prove to you what a great film show it will be.”

Written for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Saturday Mix Lucky Dip, where the story cubes are person in a hat reading a book, egg and bacon, pram, music note, leaf, grenade, and filmstrip.

Also for Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, where the word is “show.”

Multiple Prompts Saturday

Fandango13 Comments

Like I told the officer, Detective, there was no way he was doing it. And that was that, I thought. Things weren’t great between them; she was beginning to grate on his nerves. Then he called me yesterday and told me about her ultimatum. I asked him what he was going to do and he said he was going to let her expire. “Her,” not “it.”

(Exactly 66 words)

Written for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Story Starter Saturday Mix, where the story starter is “There was no way he was doing it. And that was that…”

Also written for Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consiousness Saturday prompt, where the words are great and grate.

Also written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the prompt is expire in exactly 66 words.

Photo credit: istockphoto.com.

SoCS — Old 78s

Fandango6 Comments

For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has asked us use words that end with “ound.”

After our mother died a few years behind our father, my two sisters and I went up to the attic in their old house to look around and to see if the as anything of value stored up there. I was looking in a far corner of the large attic when I found a stash of old 78 RPM records sitting on top of a mound of what looked like dirty laundry.

I called my sisters over, pointed to the old 78s and said, “these vintage records are bound to have some value.” I started looking at each record, holding them up to see if they were perfectly round with no chips or scratches. I remembered that the was an old Victrola record player in the living room on the ground floor so I said, “Let’s grab a handful, put them on the record player, and see how they sound.”

It turned out that most of the old 78s were in great shape. One of my sisters worked at the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC, and she was friends with the guy who was the radio station manager. She asked him about the records and what he thought they might be worth. Most of them were from the Swing and Big Band era and many included some of the biggest names in music at the time.

He estimated that, depending upon the condition of most of the records, they could be worth two to three grand. He mentioned that he had DJs who had shows featuring music from the Swing era and from the Big Ban era and would love it if we would loan his station some of the collection we’d found in our parents’ attic, but we decided instead to gift the entire collection to the radio station.

We thought that was a very sound decision, and the station manager was astounded and very grateful by our generosity.