Friday
Friday Flash Prompt: Make a Discovery
Write a flash. Here’s the prompt:
Under a bench in a park is a duffel bag with an old photo, a cd player, a flash drive, and candle inside. Whom do these items belong to, what do they mean to this character, and how did they end up in the park?
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posted on 24 Jan 2011, 11:36 AM
Hi Meghan,
I found this site through NYCMidnight---one of the judges is a regular blogger here.
I'm glad I found this place...lot's of great information. Thank you. Okay, well---here's my first attempt at flash fiction. You can be hard on me.
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Central Park is full of people, so many damn people, and you never know which one is there to kill you. I've already scanned the surrounding buildings and I'm certain that he's watching from the hotel window across from Tavern on the Green. I’ve transferred 150,000 dollars to the Cayman Island bank and now it's my turn to collect. I see the red duffel bag under the bench and a dirty homeless man sitting right on top of it, tapping his foot to some song that I can’t hear. "No need for an umbrella today, right?" I ask him, giving the code phrase. He shows diseased gums, wandering off smiling. Inside the taxi I resist the urge to look inside because the driver sees that I'm sweating and his paranoia level is elevated. "Stop here." I throw him a 50 and head inside the dingy apartment. The musty smell is overpowering. I crack a window then proceed to unzip the bag. I immediately plug in the CD player and press play; hearing the disgusting whirring sound before being rescued by Rachmaninov's piano concerto 2 in C minor, Op. 18 – ah yes! Yes! It’s all coming back to me now. I’m rifling through the kitchen drawers looking for the green Bic that I left here last year. The candle begins filling the room with cinnamon. I breathe deeply, knowing that it will all be over soon. I move toward the window and pull out the framed photo. The sun momentarily peeks out from behind the clouds, sending a glint of light into my consciousness. My mood changes as Nergal frowns back at me. I can hear him grumbling orders too fast to digest. I turn on the old desktop computer and wait forever. The customary sound of the flash drive being accepted by the USB port makes my mouth feel dry. Double-click, there you are. I hear laughter and realize that I am the one laughing. The blueprint involves isotopes of uranium (uranium-235, uranium-233) or plutonium-239. The fallout will be the beginning of the end.
posted on 18 Mar 2011, 5:53 PM
Hi Meghan
Your flash just popped up in my email today. Here's my response.
Casey strolled the park everyday, it was part of her routine, and there was her favorite bench, the one under the sprawling willow, almost the only pure bred left in the park. The engineered trees never shaded the same as the ones from the time before. But, no one came to the park anymore either.
Today as she sat, watching the shimmer of false mirages on the hot pavement, a metallic glimmer caught her eye. Standing, she left her bench, and made her way to an aged army duffle bag tucked under the bench across to hers. Gingerly, she prized the well worn bag from it's hiding spot and loosen the top. Someone had had this one for a long time, maybe from before the Land Wars.
“What have we here?” She wondered aloud, to no one in particular. As she spied inside the bag, there was an old photo, creased and worn with age, a cherished photo. It showed a young woman with long blonde hair smiling, holding a laughing baby. Along side of it, was an antique music player, she could just make out the word Sony. When she pushed on the top, it swung open. An old computer flash drive was hidden inside. She picked it up and turned it over, no clue to it's contents, and then returned it to the same place she'd found it. At the very bottom, was a fat chunky candle, ripples of dry wax flowed down it's sides.
“What an odd collection.” No clothing, no identification. She closed the bag, and slid it back into it's hiding spot. She headed back to her bench, waiting to see what happened next. She'd worn her protective clothing and her wide brimmed hat this morning, the UV warnings were not to be ignored.
Slipping a chilled bottle of eco-friendly water, sterilized and purified, from an oversized pocket, she sipped and watched, and finally, her patience paid off. Loping across the grass came a small person, girl or boy, from the dress, she couldn't tell. As she watched, the duffle was dragged out once more, and quickly open, contents checked. The figured slumped with relief, and swung a small messenger bag around it's body. The sound of zipper sliding greeted Casey's ears, and an elderly netbook was removed. She heard the old welcome sign on, and the whirl of an ancient hard drive. Casey hadn't seen one of those in years.
Slowly, she eased off her bench, and quietly made her way over to the figure hunched over the computer screen, grainy with age. “Hi there,” she said in her musical voice, “you know those are illegal, don't you?” The Ministry of Information not longer allowed personal computers or the use of information highway.
The figure, a young girl she could now see, paled and shrugged, her eyes instantly wary. Hurriedly she snapped the computer closed, removed the flash drive, hastily shoving it into her jean pocket.
“Don't worry, I won't tell. I'm not with the police, you're secret is safe. What's your name?”
posted on 25 Mar 2011, 4:33 PM
I must have walked by the bag several times without noticing it that week. The brambles in December are completely covered with snow and they are really creepy. I only noticed the duffel bag after I heard a grunt and small breathy “help.” Then I saw the old crone festooned in garbage bags crawling out from under the blue tarp at the edge of the path. I’m frightened of the homeless but I shuffled through the snow, pulled her up and pushed my steaming cup of coffee up to her lips. She slurped at the coffee slowly and seemed instantly better. Her eyes brightened as she looked me over and she laughed.
“Ya know sonny, I’ve asked at least ten people to stop and help me, none of them did. You’re the first one to stop. I’m actually fine.” She paused and pointed towards the snow covered bench and continued, “Under that bench is a park is my duffel bag. Bring it here.”
I brought the bag to her and she started to pull stuff out onto a dirty red scarf spread on the snow. “This bag now belongs to you. I want you to take it and find the building in that old photo, it’s in Cleveland Ohio. Listen to this cd in the cd player, it will tell you where the key is and where to find a laptop hidden in that building. You’ll need this candle to light your way. Once you have the laptop take it home and turn it on, it will only open up if you put the flash drive in it. It will make you rich beyond your dreams.”
You probably know what I was thinking.
As she stood up and grabbed my arm and shoved the bag hard enough at me that I fell backwards in the snow with the bag across my chest. I scrambled to my feet and she was gone and that’s why I’m a millionaire today. Next question?