‘Double Espresso’ offers two stories for the price of one, a double hit of wordplay. The same prompt, two tales (one of 100 words, another of 50).
All writers, I am sure, have dreamt - at one time or another - of the perfect place to write. A pile of notebooks on a walnut desk, a bookcase full of inspiration, cafés close at hand for people-watching, and a park down the street for bracing walks between bouts of incredible productivity.
Words would flow if only there was that place.
I started writing a reflection on just such an idea after we were in Paris earlier this year … but the truth is more prosaic - the place may be perfect but there is no guarantee that the words will invite themselves along as a house guest.
For many, the ideal might be the isolated ‘cabin in the wood’ but, for me, a garret loft, a Parisian pied-à-terre has all the dreamy romance I need to seduce the words. These tales are written with thanks to Carole Aubrée-Dumont for a skylight view of Sacré-Cœur and a reminder of the idea of an apartment hideaway, the perfect prompt for coffee-break fiction.
If you’re sitting comfortably, let us begin.
Fading Light
Golden tones from the skylight pierced the gathering gloom, picking out closely-typed letters. Rhythmic tapping echoed from wooden floorboards to the low ceiling, before being arraigned magically on a manuscript loosely piled on the polished walnut desk. Tap-tap-pause. Thoughts unfurling in the eaves of a building where a renowned novelist once penned her finest work. This pale writer was faint with hunger but she feared the words would abandon her if she neglected them, even for a moment. Tomorrow, the typewriter must be returned. Tonight though, flickering candlelight would summon a final chapter from the darkness. Tonight, it must end.
(100 words)
Cat Burglar
Its elegance made her purr, this exclusive pied-à-terre filled with understated treasures. She dropped in through the skylight, her arrival cushioned by generous Turkish pile. Her buyer needed the statuette but she craved Manet’s sketchbook. Glinting moonlight caught her eye, the gun barrel her full attention.
“Can I help you?”
A new location for writing releases the baggage for a few hours, just long enough to set free a new idea or two worthy of exploration. I am always on the lookout for those warm, comfortable spots that reflect a writer's energy.
I thoroughly enjoyed both stories, Barrie. Beautifully crafted!