Thursday, January 26, 2012

The Beginning of a Story that Doesn't have a Title. Yet.

When one day a small girl started on her schoolwork, she wondered aloud," I wonder what we shall do today. Probably something boring. As usual. Sit and work math problems, oral spelling tests, studying for the geography exam, reading Moby Dick, diagramming long, annoying sentences and conjugating complex Latin nouns. Another splendid day." She announced that last part with not a little sarcasm in her tone.
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"What did you say Sarah?" questioned Sarah's mother, for that was the girl's name.
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"Nothing Mother", came the reply. The only good part of today was that they had already called on Mrs. Roberts the day before.
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"Good", Sarah's mother continued, "Remember that we are also calling on Mrs. Roberts today. I haven't seen her in such a long time, and she sent a note requesting me to come and stop by."
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"But Mother, we visited Mrs. Roberts yesterday."
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"Well, she forgot to tell me something, and to give me my birthday present."
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Sarah knew there was nothing she could do to convince her mother to let her stay home. Her mother was very stubborn and when she had her mind set on something, there was no stopping her.
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Sarah knew that stopping by was supposed to mean saying hello, for an example :You were at the market purchasing groceries and you just happen to be passing by your friend's house, so you request "Mother, may you please stop so that I may say hello to Irene?" Then your mother pulls over, just as you requested, and you exchange the "Hello! How are you?"s and then proceed on your way home to attend to the tedious chore of putting away groceries. Well, when Sarah's mother stopped by somewhere, it wasn't like that. They would leave around 11 in the morning, visit with whomever they were visiting, and then stay for luncheon at the request of their hostes. This whole time Sarah would have to sit as straight as a board, and would almost wish she was at home studying useless boring work instead of having to hear one more story about how Delilah Markinston ruined Mrs. Parlingstore's baby shower, and then having to listen to more, and then stay for supper as well.
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But Mrs. Roberts was the worst.
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She had in her parlor those comfy chairs that you simply want to sink into, but Sarah had to sit on a hard wooden stool. And while the women snacked, no gorged is a much better word, on shortbread, tea, and cookies all day long, Sarah had to sit there, farthest away from the fire, on her hard little stool, starving. It wouldn't bother her as much if she got her meals, but at mealtimes she was given a tiny portion, and no second helpings while watching at the table stuffing themselves silly with roast beef, mashed potatoes, rolls, and salad and then cake and ice cream.
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Sarah loathed 'stopping by' at Mrs. Roberts.
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But this was how Sarah's life went, and this is where our story comes in.
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-Not relevant, but I just realized how weird the word 'yet' is.  Looking at the spelling, it is a weird word, and saying it is an equally weird experience.
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This was totally random, no thought at all put into it, that is, until the editing.  It's amazing what it takes to create a story, even if it was just a prologue.  And how much editing goes into it. :)

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