This is the final installment. Remember what we are doing? We are posting the work done one Saturday morning when we simply could not agree on a prompt. We each began writing with no pre-conceived starting point. We wrote for 10 minutes then moved our tablets to the left. Ten minutes each. Building on the story that was in the works. It was tricky! And fun.
Pat’s turn to begin:
It is interesting how one event, regardless of its magnitude, can completely alter the trajectory of your life.
For some it is getting married. For some it is having a child with an illness. For some it is winning a huge sum of money. For some it is a major invention.
Regardless of what else Alexander Graham Bell did with his life, one event is his legacy.
Was he kind? A good husband? A loving father? Was he witty or sarcastic or dull or rude? We have no idea.
When the idea took form and became alive, did he change? Did he ignore everyone and everything around him? Did he forget birthdays and miss special events? Did he remember them before his big event?
We do not know. All we know is that he invested the telephone. The same can be said of so many: Thomas Edison, Louis Pasteur, and so on.
Something occurred that turned all their previous goals into dust. That event took over and became their legacy.
Well, now a major event has happened to me. I sit with pen to paper gathering my thoughts of how I will handle it.
Prior I was just simple ol’ me. But, now, things will be different. Or they very soon will be.
Let me start by fully describing what has occurred. Perhaps it will help if I spell it all out:
Michelle steps in:
I got used to driving the Zamboni and got quite fast as I made my rounds around the ice rink. I pretended I was driving for NASCAR and was head-to-head with Jimmy Johnson. There would be times I pretended the girl at the snack bar was my wife and the audience around the rink were my adoring fans.
I would hear “Start your engines!” and take off at a steady pace. You can only go so fast in a machine that weighs several tons and scrapes ice.
Then one day I found myself in a NASCAR race — in the real deal. It was only after years of practice, local drag races, state competitions and then tryouts for the racing circuit.
I thought back to those days and smiled when I realized the girl from the snack bar was my new wife of two months. She stood in the stands, ready to cheer me on.
*****
Check in later this week for the finale!
Paddle Creek Writers 