Friday, July 30, 2010

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge: Week 120


It's week 120 of the Weekly Wordzzle Challenge. These words seem to have brought out the darkness in me. Very gloomy stories today of love lost and betrayed. I did manage to get a little optimism and love into my mega at least. Looking forward to what others have come up with.



Words for this week's 10-word challenge were:
sharp, dump truck, charcoal, traffic light, digestive system, argumentative, fireflies, chocolate, volume, options
And for the mini: parameters, shoplifting, adoption, threats, lemonade



My 10-word:

The overloaded dump truck, radio blaring at an ear-splitting volume, ran the traffic light, taking a sharp right turn dripping a trail of charcoal bits in its wake. Outraged, Margaret wanted to pull over and call the police, but her husband was against it. She wasn't normally argumentative, but her digestive system was in knots and her head ache was so severe that she was seeing fireflies behind her eyes. The chocolate cake she had just polished off at the restaurant was not resting comfortably in her stomach and she was feeling overwhelmed with a jumble of emotions. Howard, her husband of 25 years, had taken her to lunch to tell her that he was in love with another woman. Not that she was really surprised. She had known on some level, but now it was real. She couldn't do anything about that, she decided, but she could turn that damned truck driver in. Pulling over, she picked up her phone and called the police. As thought that act had unlocked some power within her, she turned to Howard and said. "I expect you to be out of the house before dinner.... and out of my life for good. My lawyer will call you tomorrow. And I think you should get out of the car now. Find your own way home."



My mini:

"Thank God," Joe thought, sipping a lemonade and chewing on a cookie - that the adoption never went through. It has been shocking enough when Mary had been arrested for shoplifting, but this morning he had learned from the FBI that the parameters of her criminality were so extensive that she was on their list was both shocking and devastating. They had told him he was lucky because she was known as a "black widow" and that the threat to his life was very real. She was suspected of having married and disposed of two other husbands before him. They had shown him very convincing proof of what they were saying. How could he have sensed nothing, he wondered? He had loved her with is whole heart and not just because she was beautiful. He loved her intelligence, her laughter, her wit, never sensing that to her he was a disposable source of income. What was as bad as the shock and the hurt was the fear that he would probably never be able to trust in love again. "At least I'm still alive," he whispered to himself, feeling very much, despite those words, that she had poisoned his heart so that - at this moment anyway - life did not feel much worth living.



My mega:

Sitting at the traffic light waiting for it to turn green, Martin Sharp was surprised at the volume of traffic this late at night. Fireflies Cafe, his favorite haunt, was only a block away and he could feel his digestive system gearing up for the delights to come: pink lemonade, charcoal broiled steak, salad and the option of either baked potato or French fries, followed by coffee and the best chocolate cake in the whole world. He'd would take a few minutes to read glance through the newspaper - probably not the best thing for his digestion - full, as it was with stories about threats to world peace, the adoption of a new anti-gay marriage legislation and, more locally, a plague of shoplifting at the local shopping mall. Best of all, perhaps was the mildly argumentative chit-chat with Amanda, the beautiful (in his eyes, at least) waitress. Pulling his dump truck into parking lot, he was glad to see that it was almost empty. Amanda was free to chat when it wasn't too busy. He was hoping to eventually expand the parameters of their relationship to include dating and maybe even marriage. For tonight, though, he looked forward to a wonderful meal and her beautiful smile.



***********



Words for next week's 10-word challenge are: swiss cheese, operation, frantic, quizzical, control, shallow, wedding, paranoid, orange, marginal


And for the mini: pepper, island, quintuplets, organic, treaty



Thank you for playing! Newcomers can check here for some guidelines (and they are only guidelines, not rules) to make the process more fun.


Enjoy! See you next week!



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4 comments:

Argent said...

I rather like your 2 darker pieces - the characters came across as strong and interesting. Your mega was more hopeful and I liked all the descriptions of what Martin was going to eat. I think you handled the words effortlessly this week. I'm up now.

Unknown said...

I realy like the 10 worder it's punchy and the ending made me smile
"As thought that act had unlocked some power within her, she turned to Howard and said. "I expect you to be out of the house before dinner.... and out of my life for good. My lawyer will call you tomorrow. And I think you should get out of the car now. Find your own way home."

The mini was a dark pleasure too
As for the mega my hat id off to you! (I've tried and for some reason I just can't create a mega lol)

Don't Feed The Pixies said...

it must be a week for dark stories - i am back this week and enjoyed yours

The Bug said...

As usual I enjoyed your stories - but I think my favorite was the woman who kicked her husband out of her car LOL.