Time Travel

(Agh!  I don't know what's happening!  I always remember to post on Mondays!  Now I've forgotten two weeks in a row.)

Actually, I do know what happened.  My husband and I were talking the other day about how I've been doing since the sudden death of my dad.  I said to him (thinking I was very clever) that I feel like I slipped on a banana peel at the end of April and I haven't stopped falling yet.  Every time I blink, another week has passed by.  My mind is still in April, but my body has passed through a time portal into June (almost July)!

So I'm going to take the idea and run with it for our prompt this week.  Alice went through the looking glass, Gregor went down a vent, and I've slipped on a banana peel.  What will happen to your character that will launch them into a new world?

Enjoy!

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My response:

I was the only one on the tram.  I guess the heat of the afternoon kept everyone else inside, and I would have been there, too, if it hadn't been for my mom's boyfriend, Brad.  He was the reason our annual retreat to the mountains had turned into a circus.

I stood on the platform until the tram arrived.  The operators worked behind one way glass, so I couldn't even see them as the tram approached.  No one else was coming, but I had to wait the requisite ten minutes before heading up the mountain.  That was fine by me.  I had my phone, and I didn't have three sets of hands trying to snatch it away from me.  Brad's kids thought it was so unfair that I had a phone and they didn't, and they wouldn't leave me alone with it.  Brad was even talking to my mom about whether she really thought I needed my own phone ... which is why I popped up and stormed out on my own in the heat.

We'd bought passes each day at what was, in the winter, a ski resort.  In the summer, it was a hiker's haven.  I loved it.  Indian paintbrushes nodded beneath the tram, and I spotted a moose and her calf in the shadows of the pines.  I took a deep breath and left Mom, Brad, and all that baggage in the condo behind me.

Then the tram shuddered.  I was only half way up the mountain.  The tram rocked back and forth, releasing the momentum it still had after the cables stopped.  Metal creaked.  A chill shot down my back and a pit opened where my stomach should have been.  My mind chided my body for overreacting.  Surely the tram would start moving again, soon.  It always did.

But I'd never been stopped on the tram all alone.  The terrifying thought hit me - what if they didn't know I was in here?  Had they stopped the tram for the night?  Would I be trapped until morning, hanging a hundred feet in the air over a treacherous mountain slope?! 

I could feel panic rising.

But no.  With more creaking and rocking, the tram started moving again.  I sighed and turned around, sinking down onto the bench in relief and pulling out my phone.  Sure enough, I'd freaked out over nothing.

It wasn't until the tram stopped at the top that I suspected anything.  The automatic doors levered themselves open, and an icy wind swept through the tram.  The hundred degree air vanished in a swirl of flurries. 

I blinked, standing up and heading towards the doors.  The railings and metal scaffolding that made up the tram stop were covered in white.  Out the windows, a blizzard raged. 

My chin hit the floor.

Chocolate

I have a bookmark that reads: Schokolade zergeht auf der Seele, sie schmilzt elegant ueber unseren Alltag und tropft direct in unser Herz.  (Forgive me for indulging in my German ...)

Translated:  Chocolate melts in our souls.  She melts elegantly over our daily lives and drops directly into our Hearts.

My first thought was to have the prompt suggest to change the word "chocolate" to something else and use that, but the more I tried the more I realized, there is just no replacing chocolate.

The Prompt:  Chocolate melts in our souls.  She melts elegantly over our daily lives and drops directly into our Hearts.

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My response:

I was tempted to knock the whole Ritter Sport display into my backpack.  It was nearly empty and would only cost about $30.  Besides, I needed to use up my Euros before I got on the plane.  Then Jessica stepped up beside me, her hands full of Milka and Toblerone Bars.  My hands reached out, and I grabbed the row of Marzipan Ritter Sport, then turned around to get some Milka for myself. 

Jessica and I headed to the register together.

"What on earth are you buying so much chocolate for?!" the cashier asked.

"We're flying back to America today."  Jessica explained.  "We can't get good chocolate like this back there."

The cashier shook her head.  "But you have so much other stuff in America to eat!"

Jessica and I exchanged dubious looks.  "Like what?"

The cashier's eyes grew wide.  "Donuts!"

Jessica and I both burst out laughing.  "Donuts?!  You want donuts?!"

She had a point, though.  Chocolate can be shipped.  Donuts ... not so much.

Then again, if she'd said, "Reeses Pieces," I would have agreed wholeheartedly. 

Character Swap

This prompt is brought to you by the ramblings of my mind during my half marathon:

Choose a scene from your life (memoir style) and insert one of your characters in your place.

Enjoy!

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My response:

"Why would any sane person want to run 13 miles all at once?" Emmaleen thought.  The first few weren't so bad, actually, and she'd followed her training regimen religiously.  But now, at ten plus miles, it was getting old.

"What's the point of this?" She argued with herself.

"To DO it.  To say you DID IT.  Because you CAN."

The lazy half of her was really getting annoyed with the ambitious half.  Still, the ambitious half had a point.  Unlike the young man in the wheelchair (who kept passing her back and forth - how embarrassing!), she actually had two working legs, two good feet, and she ought to be grateful for them.  And really, to get ten miles done and quit after all her training seemed like a race.

Her feet thudded against the ground in time with her chant.  "Just finish.  Just finish."

Just finish? 

What were the rules on that, precisely?  She just had to cross the finish line to collect her medal, right?

A small grin flashed across her lips. 

Street signs are actually quite large when you see them up close, and that large, orange construction sign looked a lot like her sled at home.  Emmaleen reached out with her Talent and yanked the sign from its foundation.  She brought it to hover in front of her and climbed on.  For a moment, she lay her cheek down against the sun-warmed metal.  Her pulse pounded through every inch of her body.  She sighed. 

Then she looked up, and the sign shot forward, carrying her with it.  She crossed the finish line two minutes later, setting a personal record.

Time

This post comes from my life this last weekend.  First I had the school carnival to help put on (two years of PTA VP done, and pass the baton to someone new!) and then I had the half marathon I've been training for (whoever invented this form of self-torture?!).  Both were things we'd been building up to for months, and then, suddenly, it's all over.  Thursday morning to Monday morning, and it feels like there was barely an hour in between.  All I have left is memories.  (Not true.  I have a new thank-you rose bush, a shiny medal and t-shirt, and a body full of complaining muscles.)

Also, my girls only have three days left in this school year.

The prompt for this week:  Time flew by.  She caught moments here and there, but mostly it swirled around her like a windstorm, ever circling, never stopping.

Enjoy!

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My response:

(I'm thinking a poem today ... Hmmm.  I never like my poems when I read them again ...)

Ode to a Half Marathon

Adrenaline
Neon Rayon Short Shorts
Port a Potties
Starting Line
Hope

Heart Pumping
Short Steps
Bumping Elbows
One Step Closer
Thrill

Rhythm
Rolling Hills
Conversation
River and Trees
Capable

Discomfort
Water Station
Cheering Crowd
Stretch Break
Stubborn

Soreness
Old Man Passing
Hill of Death
Gatorade is Manna
Too late to stop

Pain
"Just around the Corner!"
Popping joints
Can't breathe.
Finish line

Numb
Finisher's Medal
Group Hugs
Chocolate Milk
Done

Do I really have to walk to the car?

(How is this related to time, you ask?  Probably because it really did seem to fly by.  I expected to see my family at mile 6, so I was looking forward to that.  As I passed that point I realized we were nearly half done already.  Then again, miles 11 and 12 seemed endless, but still, they passed and it's all over.)