Wednesday's Words on a Friday

 

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles. Sadly, Delores has now closed her blog forever due to other problems.

The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along to read it and add a few encouraging words.

This month the words/prompts are supplied by Cindi and can be found here

This week's prompt is: 

A picture is worth 1000 words. Write at least 100 words about the following image.

Here is my story:  (slightly more than 100 words)

While Daniel slept, Michael quietly repacked the suitcases and put them in the boot of the car, used alcohol wipes to clean all surfaces touched by both of them, then set his watch alarm for 3am and quickly fell asleep. When the alarm woke him, he gently shook Danny awake, telling him it was time to leave and he could continue sleeping in the car. He used cotton gloves to close the motel room door and to push the keys into the night-time slot by the office door, then quietly drove off into the night. He knew Daniel would have twice as many questions once he woke up and spent his driving time working out how much to tell him.

He decided to tell everything, Daniel was almost nine years old and smart enough to understand. Michael chose back roads as much as possible, skirting around small towns and passing quickly through larger ones without stopping. Just as the sky was beginning to lighten with the dawn, he reached his destination. Driving all the way around the old stone cottage, he parked the car in a small shed completely hidden from view by a grove of trees. Fishing in the small well, he found the large iron key and placed the suitcases inside the cottage, then went back to the car to wake Daniel.

Looking around sleepily, Daniel asked, “Where are we Dad?” “Come inside and I will tell you while we get a fire going and get warm. There are breakfast foods already inside I think,” said Michael. Starting a fire in the old stove was easier than he remembered and as they crunched dry cereals and drank juice, Michael told Daniel the whole story. “You’ve watched a lot of crime shows on TV, Dan, so you know what lawyers do, they collect evidence, then go to court for the trial and put the bad guys in jail, right?”

“Yes,” said Daniel, “and Mum is a lawyer who does that, but why can’t she come with us and where is here exactly?” “Here,” said Michael, “is a very old cottage that once belonged to a relative of mine, a great grandmother’s cousin, I think, and as the older generations have died the cottage was passed on down and now it belongs to me. So we are going to live here for the whole of the school holidays and hopefully Mum can join us. But in the meantime, the people she is trying to put in jail, have got relatives who don’t want that to happen. These guys are really, really bad, so until the trial and after, Mum is being kept hidden away by the police, so the bad guys can’t hurt her to stop the trial.”

“They might kill her and come after us??” said Daniel with wide eyes. “That’s why we had to run away without Mum?” “That’s right,” said Michael. “But your Mum is safe and absolutely no one but her and me know about this place and she doesn’t even know how to get here, so no one can follow her.”
“Then how will she find us when the trial is over?’ asked Daniel. Michael said, “The Police chief and I have worked out a system of coded messages to be put in certain newspapers and when we get the right message, I will go to a certain town in the middle of the night and Mum will be brought there too and I will bring her here.”

“Will I have to wait here all by myself?” asked Dan. “Yes,” said Michael, “and when Mum gets here we all have to have different names, just like in Witness Protection. So starting now, you decide what your new name will be, because when school starts you have to be used to it. Try to think of something with the same initial so we don’t have to re-label all your school things. Our last name will still be Smith, because it is so common.”

“There’s not much that starts with D,” said Daniel, “and I don’t like Donald” “You’ll think of something,” said Michael. “I am going to be Martin and your Mum will probably be Elizabeth, she’s always liked that name.” “I will be David,” said Daniel.