Wednesday's Words on a Friday

On Wednesdays, assorted people have been taking monthly turns at putting up a selection of six (or twelve) words which is called “Words for Wednesday”.

We have taken over this meme from Delores, who had been having computer problems

This month the meme continues here, with words supplied by Susan Kane.

Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write.   

Each week we are given a choice of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music or an image.   What we do with those prompts is up to us:  a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or treating them with ignore...

Some of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on their own blog.  I would really like it if as many people as possible joined into this fun meme.  If you are posting on your own blog - let us know so that we can come along and applaud.

I’m hopeless at poetry so I always do a story.

It’s a fun challenge…why not join in?

This week's words are:

1. wall

2. mail carrier

3. cool

4. flourish

5. wedding

6. creep

and/or

1. poll

2. graduate

3. floor

4. message

5. breakdown

6. exclusive

and this sentence:

'Half the names on the list had already been crossed off.' 

Here is my story:

She'd been so excited to finally graduate and be free of books and exams. Not that she didn't like learning, but Alexis felt there was so much more out there, so much knowledge to be gained from real life experiences. A quick poll amongst her friends showed that none of them thought the way she did. All of them were headed off to college after the summer.

Last summer, Alexis had helped her cousin John with his wedding catering business, helping set up the tables, then going back later to collect the crockery and linens etc and deliver them to the laundry. She'd briefly thought maybe this could be her chosen career, until one of the casual waiters had begun following her around, the creep constantly asking her out and trying to touch her. John found out and fired him, mentioning at the same time the man was married and his wife was in hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown. It was the only reason he'd given the man a chance to earn some money, John explained. Alexis thought the breakdown was probably due to the man's unrelenting chase of younger women, she'd heard the other girls talking one night while packing away the glassware. 

This summer, Alexis thought she'd try finding work somewhere a little cooler. Arriving home from the graduation ceremony, she hung her bag and hat on the wall hook, then climbed the stairs to the second floor, going to the front room where her mother sat in bed, recovering from a badly sprained ankle. "Hi Mum, how's the ankle? Still throbbing? Dad's gone back to work, the ceremony was pretty good, nobody forgot their gowns or fell off the stage, nothing exciting; do you need anything? I'm about to get a glass of iced tea, would you like one?"

"An iced tea would be heavenly right now," said Jo, "and would you mind drawing the blind a little lower? The sun will be coming in the window soon and I'd prefer the shade." Alexis pulled the blind halfway down and skipped off downstairs to get the iced teas. 

Once she'd handed Jo her glass and replumped her pillows, Alexis pulled a sheet of paper out of her pocket. On it was written the names and addresses of several of their relatives, spread all over the country. 

Jo had a copy and on her paper, half the names on the list had already been crossed off. She'd had a busy morning phoning them and asking if they were prepared to have Alexis for a few weeks while she tried her hand at whatever jobs might be available in their towns. So far, only three had been willing. A disappointing result, but the summer had only just begun and now that school was finished, she had no need to limit herself to exclusively summer jobs. 

Jo said, "I was about to phone your cousin Harvey, he's a mail carrier for FedEx, I thought maybe he could help you get a trial there, see how things go, but I remembered he's on holiday right now. Should I call him anyway?"  "Yes, why not?" said Alexis. "Even if I have to wait a while, there's no reason I couldn't try mail sorting or whatever it is they do, later in the year." With a theatrical flourish, and her favourite pink pen, Jo wrote "leave a message" next to Harvey's phone number. "His wife Ellie is pregnant again, if you don't find any work there, perhaps you could stay and help her out a while after the baby is born."
"Good idea," said Alexis, "that way I'll find out if I am comfortable handling babies and toddlers before I try working at a childcare centre."