THE ENSEMBLE

7 October  2014

THE RULES:

1) Use the photo(s) and prompt to write a 500-word story; all elements of the prompt must be a feature in the brief story you create.

2) When 1 photo/5 words is the theme, the 5 words MUST be clearly referenced in your story. Variations on a word are allowed within reason (for example: adding  ‘s,’  ‘ed,’  ‘ing’ to the word to be grammatically correct); but creating a new, unrelated, word is not.

3) We ask that you keep your story to approximately 500 words (give or take). We aren’t counting but, please, no 1000-word entries.

4) In order to honour the community-purpose of the blog hop, please Do Not share photos and/or prompt words as your own. We ask that you please include the photo(s) and reference the blog hop in your post so your blog audience and the blog hop community may all be connected. Photos are the property of the hostess for the week, unless otherwise mentioned. Thank you so much for understanding! Let us know if you have questions on this. :)

5) Link your story via the hosts listed by the following Tuesday (direct link to story, not your whole blog, please). If you are unable or need help, contact your hop host: Leanne, Debb, Heather, or Tena.

6) Have Fun! Take your writing seriously, but let those creative juices flow! Don’t fret/panic/pass out/hyperventilate/lose sleep/run in fear over the blog hop; instead let this be an exercise in letting the imagination run wild while staying within the discipline of flash-fiction—short and compelling!

THE PHOTO:

Mandatory words:

blister

grease

frock

pirate

bishop

HERE IS MY SHORT STORY:

ENSEMBLE

Lucy could feel the blister forming on the sole of her foot.   Looking in the medicine cabinet she found some ointment and applied the soothing grease to the affected part. She remembered the funfair setting up when she had been jogging around the park and thought she would take the kids to it at the weekend.  Her little boy would love the pirate show they were advertising. 

On the living room mantelpiece stood an invitation.  It had arrived in the post encased in an ivory coloured envelope, thick paper, embossed with monogrammed initials on the front and back flap. She had opened the tissue lined envelope and withdrawn a delicately perfumed, gilt edge card with beautiful calligraphy printed on the inside.

‘Mr. and Mrs. Bishop requested the pleasure, blah, blah, blah.’  It was to be the social event of the year according to her mother, her cousin and her uncle and aunt’s only daughter was getting married next month to a lovely chap.  She had certainly done well for herself. 

Lucy thought back to her own wedding day.  She had waited for Dan to notice her in school but it wasn’t until after they had left school and were both working before he became aware of her.  She smiled to herself; he was certainly worth waiting for. Now her cousin, Amy, was marrying Bill and they seemed to be the perfect match. 

She down at her looked at her legs.  There it was that bothersome ‘training tan’ - white ankles and feet where she wore her trainers and socks was going to a bit of a bother when she wore that frock to the wedding.  Spray tan to even up the tan from her legs so that she could wear her strappy sandals.  

The only thing left to get was her hat.  Dan didn't know why she needed a hat but she had explained to him that it would finish off her whole ensemble.  A hat, matching shoes and clutch in the palest apricot colour to go with her chiffon dress that would just float above her knees and swirl in such a lady-like fashion that she, herself, would feel like the belle of the ball. 

Dan was quite happy to wear his best office suit to the wedding and nothing she could say would persuade him to fork out any more money than necessary.  He was quite happy, once she’d explained about the effect her whole outfit would make, to spend whatever it took to make it come together.  Lucy would not take advantage of his generosity knowing that they had to keep an eye on their finances but she would scour the shops in the High Street all day to find exactly what she wanted. 

Spray tan had been applied, her legs looked lovely and her frock, hat, shoes, clutch and just a few pieces of subtle jewellery set off the ensemble. Dan looked at Lucy with love in his eyes as they made their way to the church. 

Word count: 502