Category: Four Elements Prompts

Banquets at San Simeon

  1. k-avatarCharacter – tour guide at San Simeon
  2. Setting – backseat
  3. Object – wind sock
  4. Situation – lost love

Banquets at San Simeon aren’t generally part of the tour, but inevitably two or three groups come through the hall while it’s being set up. The visitors gawk at the linen-draped tables and mounds of meat, fruit, and pastries.

Today there’s an ice sculpture, which in and of itself isn’t terribly notable. However the sight of it stops Muriel so abruptly that three gawking tourists bump into her. The sculpture freezes Muriel as it melts, dripping on a pyramid of oranges.

It’s her own nude form, reclining on a bench. She knows it’s her the same way she knows the bench is not a settee but the backseat of a ’74 Impala. The artist’s style is unmistakable.

Ernst has been here. Might be here still. Muriel abandons her group, not caring if they become lost and must remain at San Simeon forever. She dashes to the veranda overlooking the helipad. The wind sock morosely turns, north, to northeast, and back, as if wordlessly saying, “too late.”

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Jerome Hung His Pompadoured Head in Shame

  1. by jenCharacter – Elvis impersonator
  2. Setting – prison
  3. Object – engagement ring
  4. Situation – unplanned amputation

Jerome hung his pompadoured head in shame. He was no longer fit to wear the spangly jumpsuit. He’d have to sell his collection of blue suede shoes to pay for his lawyer. It was either that or Lola’s pretty pink engagement ring, and he could never do that to her. Any woman who could overlook what he did was worth her weight in bacon. If only Lola’s mother hadn’t reached for the sandwich just as he was about to cut it…

Well, at least he’d get the chance to perfect his “Jailhouse Rock” dance routine. Hopefully the other inmates would be understanding.

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I Knew I’d Find Him Here

  1. k-avatarCharacter – burned-out kindergarten teacher
  2. Setting – botanical garden
  3. Object – sunflower seeds
  4. Situation – 21st birthday

I knew I’d find him here. Mr. Rodkis, good old Mr Rodkis. He could never cut it with kids any older than 5 or 6, on account of that name.

“Sit down! Be quiet!” He’s bawling out the sunflowers now, although those chrysanthemums are only waiting for him to turn his back.

“That’s it, young lady,” addressed to an 8-foot plant. “You’re in time-out!”

I pincer out some more seeds from the pouch I bought at the gift shop. “Hey, Rodkis,” I want to call out, “I found your troublemaker’s baby sister.”

These tall blossoms are the Botanical Garden’s primary claim to fame. Sadly banal, as a claim to fame. Like Rodkis. I guess that’s why he always winds up here.

I thought it would feel triumphant to track him down on my 21st birthday, to look down on the cranky little man who’d looked down on me those 15 years ago.

But, in hindsight, I agree with my friends. This is a depressing place to spend my birthday.

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Bellissima Pouted and Simpered

  1. by jenCharacter – supermodel
  2. Setting – elevator
  3. Object – library card
  4. Situation – hazing

Bellissima pouted and simpered and flirted with the overweight businessman she shared the elevator with. In practically no time he consented to hand over his library card. This part of the scavenger hunt was almost too easy. Bellissima knew that the rest of her hazing would be more difficult, but it would be worth it to join the elite Sisterhood of Supermodels. They got the best parking places.

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Olga Pouted

  1. k-avatarCharacter – supermodel
  2. Setting – gazebo
  3. Object – fountain pen
  4. Situation – the last bunch of bananas…

Olga pouted. She smiled, a bashful sidelong smirk accompanied by come-hither eyes. She licked her lips. Nothing was working.

“I just don’t see your need for the pen. Something’s missing.” The photographer looked around helplessly.

Olga ran her tongue over the fountain pen.

Gary was a temperamental perfectionist, but he never missed a shot.

“That’s fantastic. But they’ll never run it.” He reached behind him, groping around on the table. “I’ve got it. We need more bananas.”

Gary located one last bunch amid the decimated fruit baskets and cold-cut trays. He raced into the gazebo and meticulously positioned the bright yellow fruit atop the mound already there.

Olga pouted.

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Anna Switched Off the Rerun of Gilligan’s Island

  1. by jenCharacter – Anna Graham
  2. Setting – Gilligan’s Island
  3. Object – handgun
  4. Situation – attic full of surprises

Anna switched off the rerun of Gilligan’s Island and stood at the bottom of the stairs. From behind the closed attic door came an incessant whirring noise. What was Telly up to now?

“Hey, Anna,” he shouted down to her. “Come on up! I have something incredible to show you!”

Anna sighed. Telly was always convinced that his latest invention was going to solve all their financial problems, but so far he hadn’t gotten a single patent. Anna slowly climbed the 12 stairs and opened the door.

“Surprise!” Telly yelled. He flipped the lights off and on several times and beamed at her. He wore his ratty t-shirt with the picture of the hand gun on it, surrounded by all the roses.

“Yes?” she asked.

“This will put Telly Graham Labs on the map!” he said, waving some sketches at her.

Anna glanced at the papers, but could not decipher them.

“What is it?” she asked. “And what is that sound?”

“Oh, that’s the cold fusion reactor. I need to figure out a way to cut down on the noise before I market it. But look at this! This is it! We’ll be rich!”

“Telly, honey, I can’t understand it.”

“It’s an in-the-peel orange juicer! We’ll be rich!”

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Xavier Knew

  1. k-avatarCharacter – retired pearl diver
  2. Setting – dead end
  3. Object – Geiger counter
  4. Situation – obscene phone call

Xavier knew what few others even thought to suspect, things hidden in the inky depths of the sea. Forced into early retirement over the Bimini Road Incident, he scraped by on a consultant’s income, unable to line up a big score without drawing down the wrath of an international conspiracy bent on keeping the Deep Things forever secret.

And now he walked quickly, sure he was being tailed. Damn! If only he hadn’t agreed to make that one last dive. His shadows were cool, professional, relentless. And they could zero in on him wherever he went by following the clicking of a Geiger counter, which would betray his presence ever since he retrieved the launch codes from the crippled Trident sub.

He turned into an alley and jogged to the first bend. It dead-ended behind a dentist’s office. Peering back out to the street he saw the men seeking him with their electromagnetic bloodhound. They came into the alley, but slowed. Xavier held his breath. The waste disposal containers from the dentist were masking his own signal! If he just kept silent…

His phone rang — why didn’t he set it on vibrate? He instantly silenced it and hissed, “Hello?” into the mouthpiece.

“I’m calling for Mr. Hunt, first name Mike. Is he there?”

The situation was worse than Xavier had feared. It wasn’t the CIA or NSA tailing him. The obscene phone call was the signature motif of the Pearl Divers Union, local 308, and they frowned upon scab sinkers.

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“Welcome Back”

  1. by jenCharacter – inventor of the spank-o-matic
  2. Setting – the Ghost Planet
  3. Object – a single electron
  4. Situation – lost piece of jewelry

“Welcome back to Space Ghost Coast to Coast. I’m your host, Brak. Space Ghost is busy right now, so he can’t sit behind the desk.”

“He’s busy being spanked,” Zorak said. Then he laughed gratingly and blinked audibly. “Pa-dunk.”

Moltar pulled some levers and showed a replay of the first guest segment.

Space Ghost is heckling a nebbishy-looking guy about his invention, the Spank-O-Matic. Space Ghost cannot grasp the concept. The man, Phil, invites Space Ghost to try his invention and Space Ghost falls for it. Once Space Ghost is all strapped in, Phil removes his mask and reveals himself to be Zorak.

Canned laughter plays while Space Ghost is spanked.

Moltar pulled some more levers and showed Brak attempting to interview a single electron. The electron was getting the better of him.

Zorak ducked down inside his pod and popped back up holding an earring.

“Hey, Zorak,” said Moltar. “What’re you doing with Black Widow’s earring?”

“Umm. Err,” Zorak mumbled.

Canned laughter accompanied a knowing look between Brak and Moltar.

Zorak blushed.

Run credits.

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“No Pushing!”

  1. k-avatarCharacter – burned-out kindergarten teacher
  2. Setting – DMV
  3. Object – pile of sawdust
  4. Situation – lost a piece of jewelry

“No pushing! Remember our manners, children.”

The weary throng queueing for license and registration issues tried to ignore Cyril, just as they tried to ignore the shrill whine of saws and the incessant pounding of hammers. Tried and failed.

“This field trip will be over soon,” Cyril shouted. “Now, nobody is to leave this room until I say. There’s a little job I need to do over here, and I want everyone to just be still and use your inside voices.”

Cyril knelt next to the plastic sheeting marking the construction zone, frantically sifting through a pile of sawdust in search of the candy bracelet he didn’t remember eating during the first hour he’d stood in line.

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Hotel Room in Prague

Jen and Kent both took a stab at this prompt. Who do you think did a better job? Why?

  1. Character – the human fly
  2. Setting – hotel room in Prague
  3. Object – camcorder
  4. Situation – inventing something

k-avatar

Kent’s Take

Spike always loved climbing in the old cities, clambering over all the ornamental stonework and making faces at the other gargoyles.

But he mostly hated climbing hotels. Other buildings’ occupants could usually be counted on to be thoroughly sick of whatever sad excuse for a view lay beyond the window, but in hotels everyone is still getting used to the scenery. And paranoid as hell that some lunatic might come in over the ledge and do some hideous thing that the papers will hush up to protect tourism.

At the fifth floor of the Prague Hilton, Spike heard moaning. Slowly he pulled himself high enough to glance in. The first thing he saw was the camcorder on a tripod. The next thing took him some moments to comprehend. It was something that had never occurred to him, although it looked like fun.

He climbed on, secret witness to an invention of passion.

 

by jenJen’s Take

By Eastern European standards, the room was luxurious. By Misty’s Vegas standards it was merely not squalid. But it would do.

The light on the camcorder blinked steadily, letting Misty know that her every move was being recorded for later broadcast by Czech television.

Shifting her weight entirely to her left hand, Misty slowly, slowly lowered her knees toward the floor while pointing her toes toward the gilt ceiling and flourishing madly with her right hand.

The chandelier she hung from swayed slightly and Misty worked with the movement, augmenting it until she was swinging several inches in each direction. Her movements stabilized the arc, controlled it, and she was ready for the final motion, the twist that would make this move her own.

Taking a deep breath, Misty thrust her feet outward and her head down, while simultaneously rotating clockwise.

It was beautiful.

Prague would forever be known as the city where “The Nightingale” was invented.

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