Welcome to one of the few remaining Fridays of this year. I don’t know about you, but I am surely ready to call it a wrap for 2020.
I was happy to see the UK and Canada both approve one of the new Covid vaccines this week and to see the news clips of Margaret Keenan of Coventry getting her jab (and following it up with a nice cup of tea). We seem to be close to getting on the vaccine train here as well, but that will do little to slow the people who are already infected and it is expected that it will be at least next fall before we are close to fully vaccinated. Death tolls here in the US have been between 2,000 to 3,000 per day for the past few weeks and that is projected to continue for quite a while. I shudder to think what January is going to be like.
In a more positive vein, the end of the year means it’s time for holiday celebrations. Sort of. For our virtual celebration at the Day Job, my team voted on whether we all wanted to order food delivered (individually) and have a virtual holiday lunch or receive a gift (of our choosing). I thought a virtual lunch could be fun, but the gift idea won out. For my gift, I chose a $50 donation to Heifer International toward the purchase of a goat. Seemed like a good idea. I’m sure the recipient is more likely to need the goat than I am to need some random gift. Plus, there is nothing to wrap, although I did see an amusing video just the other day on “how to wrap a goat.”
Now that that is all settled, I think I’ll pour a delightful warm beverage, cuddle up here on the couch in my fuzzy robe, and give today’s writing prompt and random words a try.
Care to join me?
For those of you working away on a story (whether a first draft or a polished version on its way to publication), if you’re not feeling random, we’d love to hear a bit – whether it’s a scene, a paragraph, or even a phrase that you are especially pleased with and would like to share.
If you don’t have a story in progress, or just want to work on something new, I hope either today’s random words or writing prompt will catch your creative fancy.
Ready?
What if: “Your character is looking for the perfect gift?
Feel free to interpret the “What” any way you choose (or ignore it completely) and include any (or all) of the following random words:
formal flamboyant cranberry boutique
mustache cannon devices drugstore
glutton chalk swindler definitive
plaid chair hunting erotic
I look forward to seeing your stories in the comments. If you’re not feeling in the writing mood today, or don’t have time, feel free to post suggestions you might have for future “what-if” prompts. Ideas are always welcome.
Happy writing to all!
Eight Ladies Writing 
I LOVED the idea of wrapping a goat….
The Christmas Goat
“Freddie, how am I supposed to wrap this goat?” Amorette Wilson sat back and frowned at the goat, which was busy chomping through the cranberry nut bread like a gluttonous pig. “I got this nice plaid ribbon on it, but that’s about it. It won’t go in the box.”
“A goat? Where did you get a goat?” Freddie put down the newspaper and looked at her from the formal Louis XIV chair he favored.
“I hunted it down at the drugstore. Where do you think I got it?”
“At your whatcha callit. Psychic reader. The Flamboyant Clairvoyant.”
“No, Freddie. The drugstore. Although I think I was swindled. The man who sold it to me swore the goat would go in the box. But he had a mustache, so…I shouldn’t have trusted him.”
“Did he have a cape, too?” Freddie asked. “That’d be the very definition of a villain.”
“He did have a cape!” Amorette watched as the goat finished off the cranberry nut bread and started nibbling on the plaid ribbon that hung precariously from its neck. “So, the box, Freddie. How do I get the goat in the box?”
“Shoot the cannon at it,” Freddie offered. “Scare the thing.”
“I’m not shooting it with the cannon!”
“Not saying you should hit it,” Freddie said. “Just, you know. Push it along.”
“No,” Amorette said. “Really, left to my own devices, I’d just put a leash on it. But the secret Santa rules are, it has to go in a box.”
Freddie went back to his newspaper. “Chalk to cheese, nobody will mind if it’s not in a box.”
“They’ll mind. Plus everybody will know what it is.”
“Tell you what!” Freddie put the newspaper down in excitement. “Forget the goat. Keep the goat. Very good thing, goats. Wrap up the erotica, old thing. They’ll love that.”
“Excellent idea, Freddie!” Amorette pushed the goat away from the fifteenth-century tapestry the goat was eying for a snack. “But what are we going to do with a goat?”
Loved this, Kay. So glad the goat-wrapping triggered your creativity.
“Wrap up the erotica, old thing” made me LOL.
oh, this made me smile! The dialogue reminded me of a certain British PM.