Succinct Scenes 2013

Image by Ezra Jeffrey

Enjoy these 30- to 75-word creative scenes. 

1. Crow Food
Rain hits the roof. Each drop has held back until the count of three. Shingles rattle, and you look up from your book just in time to see the front edge of the storm pass each window along a wall. Lightning and thunder are simultaneous. Glass bends a little, so you naturally get up and stand as close to it as you can to see into the yard. Outside, a single crow marches about in the open torrent, water pouring over its slick feathers. It picks something from a tuft of grass and flies away.

2. Elevator Antics
Your friend and you enter a building and wait over 5 minutes for an elevator. So many people get in line that most of them have to stay behind for the next turn when your ride finally arrives. You take this packed elevator to the fourth floor. As soon as you get off, your friend and you walk all the way back down the steps to level two. You were both too embarrassed to stop at the second floor, which was the one you wanted all along. You laugh about this later.

3. The Saddest Moment
You’re listening to “Eleanor Rigby” when you hit a chipmunk on the way to work. Windshield wipers are still on after a recent rain. The little guy looks up at you. He really makes eye contact, which is perhaps what causes him to lose focus. He darts. You can barely feel an animal that small beneath the front left wheel.

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