Hotel Room in Prague
Jen and Kent both took a stab at this prompt. Who do you think did a better job? Why?
- Character – the human fly
- Setting – hotel room in Prague
- Object – camcorder
- Situation – inventing something
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.
Jen’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.