Story #2 – Women’s Memoirs, StoryMap: The Neverending Writing PromptTM – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
[NOTE: Our special discount on StoryMap ends Sunday, December 11, 2011 at midnight (Pacific time). The price increases from $12.97 to $14.97, our sale price for the rest of December. Then January 1, the price returns to its usual $19.97]
[Note: If you missed Part 1 yesterday, follow this link.] Then return here.
Yesterday, we left Brandi burrowing deep in her covers and trying to steal a few precious minutes of sleep before rising and getting into her day. At the same time that she tries to will herself back to sleep, however, she’s tempted by the aroma wafting in through her open window. It’s calling to her. What is it?
Keep reading all week, then enter our first Five Points Writing Prompt Contest. Our Women’s Memoirs StoryMap: The Neverending Writing PromptTM is the inspiration and backdrop for this story. We’re having great fun with this…and you can too. You’ll find the entry rules at the end of today’s story installment.
Snow Moon, No Moon (Pt. 2)
by Kendra Bonnett
“Who are you, today?” Brandi inhaled, filling her nose, lungs and whole head with the rich coffee scents drifting up from A Brewed Awakening. Guessing the brew of the day was a game at which she excelled. After all, she’d lived next door to the gourmet coffee emporium for the last 15 years. She drew in another long breath and let the aroma fill her nose…smooth, clean, medium-bodied, bright but not sharp, subtle flora notes…
“Kona!” she announced to the world as she bounded out of bed and headed for the bathroom.
In what seemed a single fluid movement, she had tossed off her comforter and started the shower. Only as she waited for hot water to reach her upstairs bathroom pipes, did she take in the fact that her feet were cold and wet and the bare oak planks of her bedroom floor were dusted with snow. She rubbed condensation from the bathroom window. It was still dark outside but she could see well enough to know that Five Points was cloaked in white this morning. Perfect weather for the Oklahoma town’s Snow Moon Festival.
Alice had finally climbed down out of bed, stretched every muscle and tendon from the tip of her big black nose to her wiry black tail, and padded into the bathroom. She settled on the braided rug as Brandi tested the water. Satisfied it was hot enough, she stepped into the shower. She turned, grabbed the edge of the shower curtain. “Alice, we must take breakfast to the SKEWS this morning.” Alice looked up just as Brandi snapped the curtain closed.
Brandi, scrubbed and coiffed, dressed in black jeans and black silk blouse. She accented her outfit with a heavy shawl-collar cardigan in her signature color…jade. She pulled on her favorite black-and-green, lizard-stamped leather cowboy boots. Her jeans were well pressed and so tight that if it weren’t for the sharp creases you might have thought they were spray painted onto her legs.
At 5’ 2” and 125 pounds, Brandi wasn’t fat, just pleasantly plump. Or, as her boyfriend Tim, an electrician with Southwest Solar, liked to say…soft in all the right places. And with a heart-shaped face framed by red-orange curls; wide, expressive, soft brown eyes; and a mouth that seemed to form a perpetual smile, Brandi was what people in town called cute.
Brandi checked herself in the full-length mirror one last time. Satisfied, she turned and headed for the stairs. As she bounced down the steps, she gave her dog a progress report: “We’re almost ready to go, Alice.”
Reaching the first-floor landing, she turned left into the kitchen, proceeded to the counter, then stopped just to the right of the dishwasher. She opened the top drawer and took out a used but serviceable paper sack. Grabbing the edge with her left hand, she gave the sack a quick shake to open it while at the same time she opened the cupboard directly overhead with her right. She set the open sack on the counter, thus freeing both hands to pull the heavy glass canister off the bottom shelf and set it on the counter. She unscrewed the lid and reached inside to grasp the handle of a small metal scoop. She started to dig deep into the contents. Thud.
The mixture of corn, soybeans, oats, wheat bran, orange sections, walnuts, peach stones, and cranberries that she’d glazed with locally harvested honey had fused into a hard mass. Unable to loosen even a few chunks, Brandi pirouetted 180 degrees on the heel of her right boot, spinning around to face the cooking island. She pulled open the drawer on her left and selected the 10” Henckels chef knife. Turning back to the canister, she began chipping away at the gorp-like mixture and finally freed enough to fill her paper sack.
“That’s it, Sweetie, we’re ready to get going.” On cue, Alice rose from her red-plaid L.L. Bean dog nest in front of the wood stove and moved toward the front door. Brandi, paper sack in her left hand, joined Alice. Before reaching for the knob, she snatched her black cowboy hat off its large wooden peg and stuffed it down tightly on her head. She grabbed her black fleece gloves, threw open the door, and they were off.
HOW TO ENTER OUR FIRST STORYMAP CONTEST
We’ll pick up the next installment of “Snow Moon, No Moon” tomorrow. But, as promised, here are the rules for writing your own Five Points story:
- Because all Five Points stories are based on StoryMap: The Neverending Writing Prompt, YOU MUST HAVE your own copy of StoryMap. We’ve made that very easy. We’ve slashed the price this week only. StoryMap regularly sells for $19.97. From now through Sunday, December 11, 2011, you can have your copy for just $12.97. After December 11, 2011, and through the end of the month, the price goes up to $14.97. Then, on January 1, 2012, the price will goes back to $19.97. So hurry…save…and get to writing.
- Follow this link to our Women’s Memoirs store to get your StoryMap at our SALE price.
- Read the installments of “Snow Moon, No Moon” all this week. On Friday, we’ll leave the story hanging and invite you to get creative and write a conclusion for our story. Remember, you’ll need a copy of StoryMap to participate.
- Because we are Women’s Memoirs, we want to tie this contest to an important aspect of life writing…writing about yourself. So, you must work yourself into the story. As the Snow Moon, No Moon unfolds, you’ll find both Matilda and Kendra worked into the plot. You’ll need to do the same. Come join us in Five Points.
- Email us your ending for our story by Wednesday, February 29, 2012, and we’ll publish your story, showcasing your work here on Women’s Memoirs. Send your story conclusion to Matilda (at) WomensMemoirs (dot) com
- Keep writing and using StoryMap to stretch your creative storytelling because we’ll be announcing more contests and StoryMap writing activities.
Remember, come back tomorrow (and all week) to read Five Points, OK: Snow Moon, No Moon. Then, after Friday’s installment (and with your own StoryMap in hand) you can begin writing your fabulously creative conclusion.
