A Thousand

Originally written 11/1/2018 for the 2018 Swinburne Microfiction Challenge (writing prompt: SPOKE). Revised for Yeah Write Challenge #395 required plot element: "catalyst."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the seventh century BC, legend says Helen of Troy had a face that launched a thousand ships.

In the twenty-first century AD, Helen of Seattle spoke a single sentence that launched a thousand actions.

When Mr. Harris heard it, he telephoned an attorney.

Gemma Smith wrote a beautiful essay about a woman who’d been her mentor and role model.

Travel agent Jan Bartholomew arranged a 5-star, all-inclusive vacation in the Greek islands for one of her favorite clients.

James Porter sighed and shook his head, momentarily adrift in memory.

Melinda Harris burst into tears.

Several dozen people spread the word on social media, and several hundred read about it and shared their own stories.

Seventy-four people sent emails. Another fifty-two wrote letters or mailed cards.

John Harris, estranged from his family for decades, felt both sadness and relief.

Mike Moore at Northview College drafted an entry for the "faculty updates" section of the website.

Mrs. Harris, who had expected the news, nodded and started thinking.

On November 1, 2018, her thumping heart belying her outward calm, Dr. Helen Ortega delivered the news to Mrs. Angela Harris, retired professor.

“I’m afraid it’s inoperable.”




Comments

  1. MynaNovember 13, 2018 at 7:50 PM

    I like the progression of the story. Each step is intriguing, building up to the revelation of the catalyst. The piece seems polished and professional Nicely done!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adulting (poetry challenge)

Image
My kids’ bookshelves are filled with books, and their heads with stories I’ve told them. I sneak zucchini into their muffins and cakes, And send them off to school and bed on time. When the kids are out of earshot, their daddy and I giggle at dirty jokes. Alone, I reread my favorite children’s books And dance free-spirited around the living room. My inner child needs nurturing too. Poetry challenge: Sevenling
Read more

You Will Survive Being Bested

Image
Think about how many times I have fallen Spirits are using me, larger voices callin' … And we never failed to fail, it was the easiest thing to do You will survive being bested Somebody fine will come along, make me forget about loving you - "Southern Cross", Crosby, Stills, & Nash A couple of weeks ago, I was in a mood. An intense, teenage mood: fierce, negative, and hard to get out of (for the record, I'm 20+ years past teenager-hood). It gripped me in its fist. I isolated myself, waiting for the storm to pass, not wanting to rain on my husband and kids. After some analysis, the cause of my mood became clear to me: an accumulation of recent events in which I felt like a failure. No specific event was devastating, but there sure were a lot of them: I’d spent too much money on Zulily (my guilty-pleasure shopping website). I’d consumed too much dessert and alcohol, and the bathroom scale displayed the evidence.  I missed a chiropractor appointmen...
Read more

I’ve Been Thinking About My Doorbell

Image
So I’ve been thinking about my doorbell. No, really. We just got it. It’s the Ring doorbell: My husband purchased this doorbell. It records 30 seconds of video every time it senses motion. If you’re a Luddite, like me, you may be thinking, “Isn’t that kind of nosy for a doorbell? Isn’t a doorbell’s job description, like, the simplest job description on earth? We, the human race, could be curing cancer, but we spent that money developing this?” So far, our Ring Doorbell has recorded: 18 visits by our mail carrier 36 trips to and from the school bus 15 visits by Amazon couriers delivering boxes (don’t judge, it’s the holidays) 157 times our next-door neighbor has walked from his side door to his driveway Our neighbor’s young adult son coming home at 2:30 AM A low-flying finch Me yelling at the dog  Useful? Debatable. But my husband is a gadget guy, so now we have it. I had my doubts about this doorbell. But I kinda like it. Having lived in big cities most of...
Read more