Hey, Readerland. The Ogre is back for Day 18. Fourteen days left in this escapade. I hope you're enjoying it and I appreciate you joining me for the ride.
So, last writer's group meeting today before submission on the steampunk story. I'm going to make the last edits and repost it for my writing group and then hopefully have it submitted by, at the latest, midweek next week. I'm excited. And a little nervous.
Okay, time to get this challenge rolling. What's the challenge for today?
13. A character is crossing the road. Something bad happens. Describe it. No -- don't let it just be
a car striking them. Too easy. Dig deeper. Once you find the conflict, add another. And another.
Each conflict must be worse than the last. Escalate, escalate, escalate.
Let's do it.
Frank was standing at the corner of Fulton and Waymore, waiting for the light to change so he could cross the street. A woman walked toward the corner from Frank's right and he took advantage to check her out.
She was probably only a couple of inches over five feet tall, but was wearing absurdly high heels, which put her close to six feet tall. Her hair was piled high and she was wearing a thick coat of unnecessary makeup. She was carrying a purse that Frank thought would have held a small whale.
'Typical' he thought as he watched her chatter away on her cell phone. He thought she might have been attractive if she wasn't 'ridiculous.' He shook his head and watched her stop in front of him and ignore the signal and step off of the curb into traffic.
There was the screeching of tires as the car in the near lane tried to stop before hitting her. The car hit her in the side of the knees, slamming her into the hood off the car. She bounced off of the hood and slid to the ground, limp as a rag doll. Blood ran down her cheek from where her head had hit the hood.
The man behind the wheel sat frozen for a moment before bursting into tears.
Frank had first-aid training, so he rushed over to the woman. He found a pulse and the girl was still breathing.
"Miss! Miss, can you hear me?" Frank yelled. No response. "Somebody call 9-1-1!"
As he was trying to determine whether her neck was broken, Frank noticed her wig had come off. He just shoved it out of the way and began gently feeling the back of her neck. It didn't feel broken, but he wasn't sure.
Frank looked up and saw that there were dozens of people gathered around him and the woman. "Everyone back up! We need room for the paramedics!" Nobody really did anything. "You! You!" he yelled, pointing at two of the people in the crowd. "Back them up! We need more room!"
Because someone had assumed control, the two men started pushing back the rest of the crowd.
Frank looked back down at the woman and noticed that several small plastic bags had fallen out of her purse, along with a wrapped stack of twenty dollar bills. The baggies were filled with a white powdery substance. Frank wasn't sure what the powder was for sure, but he had a pretty good guess. There were sirens in the distance, so Frank shoved the baggies and cash back into the woman's bag. 'Let the police deal with it,' he thought.
The police and paramedics arrived. The police cordoned off the area while one of the paramedics spoke to Frank and the other secured the woman's neck with a brace.
"You know," the paramedic with the neck brace said. "She kind of looks like Cynthia Capriotti. I thought she had more hair, though."
"She had a wig on." Frank said. "I shoved it off to the side when I checked on her."
"Capriotti?" a cop asked. "You mean the crime family?"
"Yeah." The paramedic said. "It looks like her. Come on, Johnny. Let's get her in the truck and over to Mercy." The first repsonders gently lifted the gurney and placed the woman in the back.
"Scotty, does she look pregnant to you?" the other paramedic asked.
"Yeah, she does," Scotty said. "Maybe a couple of months, I guess. I'll radio it in."
"So, you want to tell me what happened?" one of the cops asked.
"Yeah, sure." Frank said. He told his story starting when the woman stepped off the curb and was hit by the car. He made sure to mention the powder and the money, as well as leaving the officer his contact information, just in case.
Okay, that'll do it. Not very good, but not every hit is a touchdown. Or some other sports metaphor that makes sense.
That's going to do it for today. For tomorrow, we have:
20. Pick five random words from a random word generator (like, say, this one) and incorporate
all of them into your writing exercise.
Just go to that page and click the number of words you want and it'll generate like a bad mother shut yo mouth!
Okay, I'm gonna get outta here and I will see you all tomorrow. Thanks for joining me and until next time, take care and be awesome to each other.
#WWWYKI
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