| 2.28.2007 |
| A Day In The Life of Mazani McDaniels |
For a workshop that I am giving. See this post... Mazani McDaniels looked at himself in the mirror. He was looking good today. He stretched himself so that he stood his full six feet tall. He stroked his neatly trimmed goatee as he admired his raw umber skin. He flexed his toned chest muscles. He smiled at himself in the mirror. His hard work at the gym was finally starting to pay off. He was beginning to get some definition in his muscle. He was beginning to see the chest line forming down the middle of his chest. He couldn't wait until the summer time so that he could show off his new muscles.
Mazzi, as he was called, wiped his feet on the rug in front of the sink before exiting the bathroom to his bedroom. He looked down at his feet. The rest of him was perfect, but his feet were jacked up. His skin was cracked. His toe nails never seemed to grow right. He had corns on his little toes. Mazzi thought to himself, "Why did I have to wear my brother's hand-me-down, too tight shoes?"
Mazzi quickly whipped the towel from around his waist and threw it on the bed. He went to his closet and grabbed some clothes. Today was going to be a good day.
Mazzi smiled as he walked out of his apartment building. It was 7:00 in the morning, so he knew that the ladies who lived in his building would be walking outside to leave for work. Mazzi didn't have to be at work until 10:00, but he liked to go outside at seven and run around the apartment complex to get his cardio workout. Actually, Mazzi just liked to have the ladies gawking at him.
Mazzi was outside stretching on the end of the stairwell when Shelia walked down the stairs. She stared at his rear end as he was bending over. Mazzi could feel the woman staring at him, so he stayed posed in that position a few extra seconds to let Shelia get a good look. Finally, he stood up and said, "Hi. Ms. Shelia. Have a good day at work." Shelia smiled at him wickedly and responded, "You too." She switched to her car.
Mazzi was about to start his run when Cassandra walked up to her car from the adjoining apartment building. She stopped by Mazzi and said, "You are starting to look good." Mazzi smiled, "What do you mean starting?" Cassandra laughed, "You need to quit it." Mazzi laughed as he said, "Have a good day at work." Cassandra said, "You, too," as she walked off.
Mazzi started his jog. People often reprimanded him these days because of his "over confidence" in himself, but he knew differently. Only four years earlier, Mazzi was a scrawny kid that everyone used to tease by calling him Angel Hair, after the thin pasta bearing the same name. He grew tired of being called that a enrolled in a gym and began working on his body. He wasn't over confident. He was self-confident. He finally felt good about his body.
He still had his flaws, though. He talked with a lisp. When he got nervous or excited, his lisp got work. He normally talked slowly because that was the only way that his lisp wasn't so obvious, but that only caused people to mock him because he talked so slowly. Mazzi was working on this aspect of himself. He had an excellent speech therapist who was working with him. The only thing that Mazzi wanted to change was to make the process go faster. That was his other weakness, he had no patience. ***
Mazzi was walking to his apartment building from his car. He had a long day at work and he was very tired. He just wanted to go lie down on his couch and watch Sports Center on ESPN. Everything at work had gone crazy; reports were missing, files weren't in the right places, and the printer broke in the middle of printing out a document that he needed for a meeting. He was about ready to scream.
Mazzi had made about ten steps when he heard Mrs. Fisher yell his name. He blew a long exasperated breath before he smiled and then turned towards the elderly lady. Mazzi liked Mrs. Fisher. She was always nice to him whenever she saw him. She was a nice old lady. Mazzi walked towards Mrs. Fisher and said, "Hello, Mrs. Fisher. What do you need?" when he reached her. She said, "I need a little help with the bags. This little old lady got a happy at the grocery store and bought more than she could handle." Mazzi smiled and grabbed the bags from Mrs. Fisher's car. He did not mind helping the old lady. He did not mind helping anyone at all.
Mazzi finished carrying the groceries to Mrs. Fisher's apartment. Mrs. Fisher smiled at him, squeezed his cheek, and then said, "You sure are a sweet young man. We need more young men in the world like you." Mazzi smiled and left Mrs. Fisher's apartment.
Mazzi walked into his apartment. He could tell that his cousin was at the house because the smell of popcorn filled the house. Mazzi's 18 year-old cousin, Caroline Melton, was staying with him for awhile. She was having problems with her stepmother again. Caroline's father was on his fourth or fifth wife, Mazzi had lost count. Caroline's mother died tragically in a store robbery. Caroline saw the whole incident occur, so she had some emotional problems.
Caroline's father did not help the situation either. He was an old school playa at least that is what he said of himself. Most people just thought of him as an old man driving a sports car, dressing like a young cat, and having a wife much too young for him. Wenzburg Melton, Mad Milt, as he was called, was pushing close to 65 years of age. He had a wife that was 24 years old. No wonder Caroline and her stepmother argued on a regular basis. Caroline, who was sweet as she could be until you upset her, had tried to live with her stepmother, but her stepmother made impossible demands on Caroline. The woman wanted Caroline out of the house. The evil woman had told Milt on more than one occasion, but Milt was too busy being a playa to even address the situation. His household was going down the drain and he was out clubbing night after night.
Mazzi walked into the living room and smiled at Caroline who was lying on the couch eating popcorn and watching some music video. Mazzi said, "What's up, Cuz?" Caroline looked up at Mazzi and said, "Nothing."
Mazzi laughed, that was his cousin for you. He walked into his bedroom, closed the door, and changed into his workout clothes. He needed to go workout to let the day roll off of him.
Mazzi shook his head as he reached for the toilet paper. It did not roll from over the top like it was supposed to. He grunted and muttered something he should not have under his breath.
Caroline was forever putting the toilet paper on the roll wrong. She put the toilet paper on the roll so that it rolled from the bottom down. Everyone with any sense knew that the toilet paper should roll from the bottom under; at least that is how Mazzi felt about it.
Mazzi flexed his newly developed biceps. He was starting to look good. He finished in the bathroom and headed into the living room. His 18 year old cousin, Caroline was in her usual spot, lying on the couch eating popcorn. Mazzi walked over in front of Caroline, obstructing her view of the TV. "Dang, Mazz. Get out of the way. You ain't made of glass." Mazzi did not move. He said, "How many times do I have to tell you to put the toilet paper on the roller the right way?" Caroline smiled, "You are too anal, man. I be forgetting, ok." Mazzi made a face, "It's I forget, not I be forgetting." Caroline laughed, "Whatever. I forget sometimes. Geez, does it matter which way the toilet paper rolls anyway?" Mazzi huffed, "Yes, it does."
Caroline made a face and switched sides on the couch so that she could see the TV. Mazzi moved in front of Caroline. Caroline threw a pillow at Mazzi. Mazzi picked the pillow up, "Quit throwing my stuff around. You need to put the toilet paper of the roller the right way." Caroline made a face, "I guess that's an order then." Mazzi blew a breath, "Do you have a better suggestion?" Caroline said, "Yes, I do. Just sit the roll of toilet paper on the back of the commode. That would solve the whole thing." Mazzi laughed, "You are crazy. Okay, let's do that." That was that, the toilet paper dilemma was solved.
Mazzi had been fighting with Caroline about everything in the apartment all day. She put the toilet paper on the roll wrong. She left the bread open. She left the peanut butter sitting out on the counter, opened with a knife sticking in it. Mazzi was about ready to scream. He walked into the living room again and stared at Caroline.
Caroline looked up at Mazzi, "What do you want now?" Mazzi glared at Caroline and held the tube of toothpaste out so that she could se it. Caroline huffed, "Is it your time of the month or something? You have been cranky all day."
Mazzi stared at Caroline for a few seconds, and then said, "The toothpaste should be squeezed from the bottom up, not in the middle of the tube. If you squeeze it from the bottom up, you will get more toothpaste out of the tube and the tube will be more presentable. Squeezing the tube from the middle wastes toothpaste; you know I can't stand to waste things. Squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom up; that is the proper way to do it."
Caroline laughed at Mazzi as she went back to watching her TV show. Mazzi knew that his speech had fallen on deaf ears. Labels: Workshop Exercises |
posted by Lady Boone @ 3:39 PM  |
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| 2.27.2007 |
| The Wedding Coordinator |
For a workshop that I am giving. See this post...
Briefly write about something you saw at a wedding that you liked or thought was funny.
Evan Smith was one of the deacons on call for a wedding that was being held at the Friendship Cathedral Church. He would not have normally been at the church for a wedding, but it was his week to open up the church. He usually managed to avoid working weddings at the church. He preferred to work the funerals that were held at the church.
He shook his head as he began to make his third walk through. About every 20 minutes, the deacon in charge was supposed to walk the hallways, the vestibule, and the sanctuary to ensure that everyone was in the right place and doing the right things. So far, things were going good.
Evan had worked at wedding or two before this and usually something crazy would eventually happen. He had been praying that this wedding would be different. In the back of his mind, he kept hearing, "Man, this is gonna be a crazy one and you know it. It's gonna be a crazy one." He knew that kept going through his mind because his sister had said, "You know you gotta tell me what happens today," before he left the house. Evan kept hoping for the best, but he was ready for the worst.
Evan turned up the long hallway of the church. The wedding coordinator was walking down the hallway towards him. She had too much stuff in her hands. Evan shook his head as he thought, "Why does she have all of that stuff in her hands? She is going to drop something." As she got closer to Evan, he began to look down at the floor. He did not want to look directly at the woman because he would have been staring at the wrong part of her anatomy. She had on a low cut blouse and she wasn't leaving much to Evan's imagination.
The woman smile at Evan as she got closer to him. He quickly smiled at her and then went back to looking at the floor. The wedding coordinator dropped some of the stuff that was in her hands. She uttered an expletive. Startled at what he had heard the woman say in the house of God, Evan looked up at the woman. The coordinator bent over to pick up her stuff. As Evan watched the woman, her GIRLS popped out of her blouse as if they were supposed to do that. The woman, unmoved, popped her GIRLS back into their rightful place, picked her stuff up off the floor, and walked down the hallway pasted Evan as if nothing had happened.
Evan stood speechless in the hallway for a few minutes. Once he regained his composure, he looked around to see if anyone else was in the hallway with him. He could not believe that he was the only who had witnessed the scene that had just unfolded. Evan shook himself out of the daze he was in. He started laughing so hard that he had to lean up against the wall to keep from falling over. No one was going to believe the story that he had to tell.Labels: Workshop Exercises |
| posted by Lady Boone @ 3:44 PM |
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| A Crazy Thing Happened at a Funeral |
For a workshop that I am giving. See this post...
Write a brief synopsis of something crazy that happened at a funeral that you went to or heard about.
Sarah Gitter was ushering at Devion Haule's funeral. The funeral was being held at her church, Greater Restoration Temple. She was still trying to figure out why she had volunteered to work the funeral. She kept telling herself that she was doing the work of the Lord, but her feet were hurting and she wanted to sit down some where.
The funeral was scheduled to start at 1:00 PM, so she had to be at the church at 11:30 to help set up for the funeral. People had started arriving for the funeral at 12:00. She had been standing up for an hour, handing out programs and escorting people to their seats.
It had been rumored that Devion was a member of a gang, but no one had any proof of that. From the looks of some of the guys coming to the funeral, it may have been true. Sarah had never seen so many guys in over-sized jeans and shirts at the church. Several of them had to be asked to remove their do-rags and hats. As Sarah escorted the young men to their seats, she prayed for each one.
The funeral went according to the program. Sarah kept silently wishing that the viewing of the body would have been at the beginning of the funeral rather than at the end of the funeral.
The preacher preached a sermon that would have caused the biggest sinner sitting in the congregation to come to the Lord. After his sermon, the preacher had an altar call that was full of young men and women crying out to God. It was an amazing site.
It was finally time for the funeral procession to begin. Sarah took a long deep breath and got ready to escort each row down the aisle.
Row by row, person by person, people went to view the body. Only on or two people cried. No one fell out. No one needed help to walk back to their seat. Sarah was happy, but scared at the same time. They were getting closer to the family rows. That was going to be the true test of her salvation.
There were five rows that held the family. Sarah had reached the first row of family members. Most of the people had started to cry. The first row walked to view the body without incident. Sarah blew a deep breath.
The second row stood up. The people in this row were crying louder than the people on the previous row. Several people were being held up by someone else. Sarah had to catch a young lady who almost fell down as she walked out into the aisle. A couple of people in the third row had started to wail before the people in the second row were through looking at the body.
The third row stood up. They were crying and bawling even louder than the second row as if they were in a contest to see who could cry the loudest. Most of the people from this row walked down the aisle holding someone else. Several people could barely walk without help. A tall muscular young man was crying so hard that two of the funeral home workers had to help carry him down the aisle to view the body.
The fourth row stood up. Two ladies had to sit back down because they were weeping. One young man was aggressively trying to get people from making him go view the body, but some old lady kept trying to make him go. Finally, Sis. Corinth, the head of the usher board and Sarah's co-usher for the day said, "Leave him alone. You all just go." After the lady left the young man sitting on the seat, he fell over and moaned as he lay down on the seat.
It was time for the fifth and final row to view the body. These people were the main relatives of the deceased. They were his mother, father, sisters, and brothers. This was always the hardest row for Sarah to do because these were the people who usually had the hardest time viewing the body.
The first person on the row went to view the body. This older man stared at the deceased young man and cried for a few minutes and then went back to his seat. Next, a young lady was escorted up to the body by an older woman. The older woman was okay. She looked at Devion and said, "Good bye, son." The young lady fell over on the body and began howling. Sarah and Sis. Corinth went over to help the older lady with the young lady. Sis. Corinth looked at the older lady and said, "We can hold. You can go have a seat." The older lady reluctantly let the young lady go and headed back to her seat. The young lady cried for a long time. Sarah looked at Sis. Corinth. Sis. Corinth looked at Sarah. They both knew to pray for the young lady that they were trying to hold up. Sarah looked down at the body. The young lady had begun to slobber on the body. Sarah blew a long deep breath and then nodded at Sis. Corinth. Sis. Corinth looked down at the body. She shook her head and asked one of the funeral home workers to get her some Kleenex. The funeral home worker handed Sarah the Kleenex. Sarah wiped the slobber off of the body as she held the young lady up. Finally, Sis. Corinth said, "Let's take her back to her seat." Sarah complied with the order that was given to her. The other people on the last row viewed the body, each one wailing loudly. Finally, the last person had viewed the body. Sarah took a breath. It was almost over.
The funeral home workers walked up to the casket and began closing the casket. As the casket was closed, people began weeping, wailing, and howling like crazy. Sarah shook her head and thought, "Lord, will this ever be over."Labels: Workshop Exercises |
| posted by Lady Boone @ 3:42 PM |
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| Definition of A Short Story |
MSN Encarta Dictionary
Noun
A work of prose fiction that is shorter than a novel
Wikipedia
A short story is a form of short fictional narrative prose. Short stories tend to be more concise and to the point than longer works of fiction, such as novellas (in the modern sense of this term) and novels.
Mrs. D. Boone
A story that I write that is shorter than a novel. It can be from 500 words to 15,000 words. |
| posted by Lady Boone @ 12:59 PM |
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