Every few weeks at work, a word is chosen at random, and folks make doodles inspired by the word. The artists on staff participate in the greatest numbers, but others join in too. Last time, two fellow members of the tech team submitted a haiku and a photograph, so I pledged to myself that I would write a super-short story for the next word.
And the next word turned out to be…handrail. I made a noble attempt at a story, but it wasn’t working, so I ended up submitting a little scene. Here it is:
During the first week of school, the building is still under renovation, unfinished from the summer, and students have been warned not to fraternize with construction workers. (“Fraternize” has appeared on the vocabulary list of each 9th grade English class.) The school is in flux. Every day, courtyards disappear, and hallways close up, then open again, angled in new ways. Lockers rearrange themselves during 2nd and 3rd periods. In the staircase between science and history, a handrail has begun to climb the wall, inching towards the ceiling.
Even better, here’s what everyone else did, on the Creative Juices blog!