S is for Show, not Tell

   The shadows lengthen, creating eerie shapes that stretch and stretch and finally melt together as the sun vanishes behind the buildings. I lift my shoulders against the chill breeze as I step off the main road and into the alley; the shortcut will get me home sooner. I think of Ma’s cooking and my stomach answers with an uncomfortable twist.

   Something falls behind me and I glance over my shoulder. Is that the figure of a person? I stop and turn fully. There is no one there. After a moment I continue on my way, my legs carrying me faster this time.

   But I’m certain now that there’s a second pair of footsteps, an answering echo to my own hurried gait. When I stop they stop. I feel the heavy weight of watching eyes on me. This time I don’t bother to look behind; I just run.

   My feet pound the cobbled pavement and breath fills my lungs in gasps. I round a corner and grab hold of the side of a dumpster, pulling myself behind it. My boots slip on some sticky substance and I hit the ground, but I’m behind the dumpster now, out of sight.

   The stink of rotting rubbish fills my nose and mouth, but I ignore it. I peer into the near darkness, my heart hammering against my ribcage, my eyes roving with saccadic movements.

   Waiting.

   Waiting.

   And then I hear it: the quiet crunch of footsteps. He moves without hesitation around the side of the dumpster, blocking out the dim light as he looms above me. His image shimmers before my eyes as tears swell, balance, and then tumble down my cheeks. I taste salt on my lips.

   “Please,” I whisper.

   He stretches a hand towards me.

In this 293 words excerpt you're supposed to be able to figure out (without me telling you) that:

• it's dusk
• I'm scared and hungry
• I think someone is following me

I also had to use the random words shimmer, saccadic, substance and salt and try to incorporate all five senses. Oh yeah, and there are 27 S words in there (which doesn't come close to Rach Harrie's 41, but hey, I tried!).

You can check out the other Show, not Tell entries here.

First Crusader Challenge - Vote For What YOU Think!

If you're not a crusader and you want to know more about this craziness... click here.

1. I wear some form of shoe approximately 99% of the time because I really don't like my feet to feel dirty! And of course there's the danger of being cut by broken glass or some dodgy person's accidentally-dropped blade, of course.




2. I have a friend who bloviates ALL the time, and quite honestly I'm embarrassed sometimes to be around him... I mean, no one needs to speak as though they're in the presence of some eighteenth century queen of England!




3. I correct people's pronunciation. I know it drives them nuts, but the correct pronunciation just demands to be spoken every time someone says it the wrong way! Sometimes I have to bite my tongue and just not say it (like if it were my boss or someone I just met!), but my poor boyfriend may just strangle me when I tell him once again how to pronounce schnitzel (come ON! It's not snitchel!!).




4. I can usually see things from someone else's point of view as well as my own. This must have made me quite an easy child to raise because when my mother said things like, No, you may not sleep over at your boyfriend's house when his parents are out, I kinda had to agree with her!




5. I've been going on holiday to this mountain resort since I was about six. We go on long hikes, row boats across the lake, and there's even this little animal park where children can play with and feed the rabbits, guinea pigs, pigeons and other fuliguline creatures.




6. I can't go a day without writing something, even if it's short. I carry a notebook around with me in my handbag/school bag so that I don't miss a single idea!




I may have revealed something about myself that isn't strictly true... I hope you managed to guess what it is ;-)

Crusader Challenge #2

You may not know this about me, but

I jumped off a cliff once! Well, technically it was called gorge swinging. And it. was. TERRIFYING!

That's it over there --------->

The Zambezi Swing. The exact one I did! Backwards like that! (That's not me though. That's a guy. I'm not a guy.)

You may not know this about me, but I have a tongue piercing. Yup. This sensible, introverted girl decided it was a good idea to get a piece of metal shoved through her tongue. And when I became a teacher and opened my mouth to shout at my naughty class for the first time, all I got in response was looks of wonder and, "Ooh, you have a tongue ring? You're so kewl!"

You may not know this about me, but I have a tattoo. Mmm hmm. Another sensible move on my part. Sensible because it's NOT a skull/skeleton/umbrella/some other gross or random picture. Sensible because it's NOT somewhere on my stomch where it will swell up one day when I have a baby. (Um... seriously hope I don't wind up with fat ankles one day!)

You may not know this about me, but I love Wikipedia-ing things. For example, once I figured out that kartoffelpuffer was NOT a completely ridiculous and imaginary word made up by the fabulous Rachael Harrie, Wikipedia informed me that kartoffelpuffer = a shallow-fried pancake of grated potato, flour and egg.
Thanks, Wikipedia!

~

This post was written as part of Rachael Harrie's Writers' Platform-Building Crusade (so you can blame her for the words skeleton, umbrella and kartoffelpuffer!). Go check it out if you want to know more about why we write awesomely random things!

Crusader Challenge #1

I sat down to write the other day (tonight, in fact) and the electricity went out. Seriously. I am blogging by candlelight! To top it off, the internet has been down all day... I thought I was going to miss posting this crusade entry, however...

cell phone + data bundle + blue tooth + laptop with battery

+ tech-minded boyfriend = temporary internet access!

So. I sat down to write—right now—and nonsense spewed forth from my normally sane fingertips...

Sweets and Mars

and spun glass jars,

quidditch games

and glitter stars.

Jelly beans

and kings and queens,

rubber ducks

and silver dreams.

Elephant tails

and ghostly wails,

fairy dust

and tasty snails.

Candy canes

And bright blue flames,

little men

with golden manes.

Bang!

I wasn’t sure how to end it. Bang! seemed like a good option :-)

This post of nonsense was inspired by Rachael Harrie’s first Crusader Challenge. Click on over to this post to find out more about the Writers’ Online Platform-Building Crusade. You too could be a part of it!

So let’s just review...

1. Wrote a post beginning with “I sat down to write the other day and...” – check!

2. Included the random words, Mars, quidditch and elephant – check!

3. Link back to the original post – check!

4. Following ALL my fellow crusaders – check!

5. Put a blogroll of the crusaders’ blogs on my blog – check!

Looks like I’m all done! So, from the (literally) darkest tip of Africa, I bid you good night :-)