For anyone who might be interested in writing on a topic - it can be brief - here is an exercise from writers group to play with. If you like, email me your take on it, and in a few days I'll post them all. It's always fun to see how many versions turn up.The topic is:
THEY FOUND A WEDDING DRESS IN THE LAKE.
Go!
Never having done writing exercises, I decided to take your challenge and go with my instant response. I'm posting it here as it's only a snippet. I don't think I'll continue, but it does provide an interesting look into my head!
ReplyDelete“They found a wedding dress in the lake...an uncommon occurrence in itself, yet stranger still was that the garment clothed the recognizable remains of a burly, bearded man of considerable girth. In their small, wooden boat, Tommy Reid and his son Lyle struggled between disbelief and an almost hysterical urge to laugh, as they tried to process what was coming toward them. No explanation seemed plausible for a sight like this. Could it be a twisted joke perpetrated by a pal? Yet Tommy was sure he knew no one that bizarre, let alone that creative. He was a quiet man with quiet friends…
A closer look at the body floating ever nearer to them revealed this was only too real. The urge to laugh was quickly replaced with grim horror as father and son took in the fish-pecked eyes and the pearly sheen of adipocere coating what flesh poked through the shredded remains of once-white organza……”
That was fun...thanks, Sherry!
Lynette
This is absolutely HILARIOUS! Too funny! And so well writen. THANK YOU, Lynette - I doubt anyone can top this. Will post mine soon.......so much fun!
ReplyDeleteThey found a wedding dress in the lake. It was balled up in a gray, sodden heap. It wasnt until one of the men shook it and stretched it down, that you could tell what kind of garment it was. It was narrow-waisted and slim; one could tell the girl intended to wear it had been a slight creature. The bodice was modest. Pinned to it, on the right side, was the crumpled remains of what had been a corsage. Along the hem was a solitary ruffle that went around its entire circumference.
ReplyDeleteGiven the corsage, it seemed the dress had been discarded - lost? removed? - after the ceremony, or at least after the girl had finished dressing for the occasion.
What could have happened? Perhaps she had been murdered, by her groom or by a man she rejected when she accepted the groom's proposal. Perhaps she was a runaway bride, petrified at the foot of the aisle leading to the altar and to the rest of her life. Maybe she had leaped up behind a passing horseback rider, shouting "Hurry! Hurry!", had been let off at the other end of the lake, had begged a portion of the rider's clothing, enough for decency's sake, and had stripped off the offending and identifying dress, burying it in the lake under a large rock, and disappearing into the future forever, never to be heard from again.
Or maybe the bride and groom had come camping to a nearby campsite and the groom had flung her dress off in a frenzy of impatience. Maybe the tide had risen in the night and slurped up the dress, forgotten in the morning's flurry of departure.
Perhaps the bride-to-be's sister was secretly in love with the intended groom and had stolen her sister's gown, drowning it (in lieu of drowning her sister) in hopes of delaying the ceremony long enough for the groom to take note he was marrying the inferior sister.
Maybe the wedding had been called off and the bride, in a rage of insult and injury, had balled the gown into the garbage. Maybe an old hobo, digging about in the landfill, had found it and taken it to his lady love to pledge his troth. As both were bathing in the lake preparatory to taking their vows, a raven (Trickster) had swooped down, stolen the gown with a raucous "caw!" and taken it to the far end of the lake where, in the passing of time and unfolding of seasons, it had slowly made its way into deeper water.
It likely was murder. If it was the bride who died, she can now be seen on nights during the full moon, her spectral form in gauzy white, patrolling the shore, looking for foolish lovers so she can warn them of love's perils. If the groom was the murderer, he had separated her from her dress the better to conceal her identity and his crime. He has never been caught, her body never found. Only in the DNA to be discovered on this dress will Justice ever catch up with him.
I can feel the murdered brid'e satisfaction now. She is smiling evilly. Perhaps he was wise to kill her! Perhaps it was self-defense. Perhaps he will be caught and put in jail, where he will begin a long correspondence with an on-line pen pal who will see him as the Wronged Victim, the Unjustly Accused. Perhaps they will correspond for a very long time. He will serve eight years out of fifteen, let out for good behavior. By now his pen pal will have moved into a house, to welcome her hero home. She will have a job, will totally set him up as to wardrobe and accoutrements and a car - his choice of car - they will settle into life together.
One morning he will wake up and see her watching him, smiling evilly. Soon there will be another dress in the lake.
This time, it will never be found. He will live out the rest of his life in her house, in comfort. He might get a dog. But I hope he doesnt. Especially a dog that smiles!
Hah..well done. Sherry!
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to picture the harried groom and his twisted maidens. And I particularly liked the visual of the Spirit Bride in her relentless quest to warn of love's peril! We were definitely in touch with our dark side for this exercise. LOL...
I too, hope our anti-hero does not get a smiling dog!
Lynette