Saturday, February 21, 2009

Writing Challenge

On Open salon, a writer there challenged other writers to expand on the Hemmingway one-liner that reads: For Sale, baby shoes, never worn. This was Hemmingway's attempt to tell a story in less than 10 words. Pithy and heart-touching. The writer wanted us to add to the story, so here are 2 attempts at that challenge.
I read all the entries of other writers and I wanted to try something that wasn't depressing and wasn't tied up in babies dying. While I can write depressive stuff, so many of the responses were in this vein that I wanted to offer up something a little less bleak or dark.

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.
They trudged through Babies R Us looking at everything and registering for nothing. They were both so disappointed to find out that they were having a boy. Not that they weren’t happy, just that they both wanted a girl SOOOOO bad! They are both glad he is healthy but they really wanted a girl. Now they had to change everything from pink to boy colors and all the little things they had bought had to be returned or sold.

At home, she sits in front of the computer and types:
For Sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.
Baby is a boy and the pink weeboks are just not gonna cut it.

She hopes that some mom out there will love them as much as she did.


Challenge respone #2
For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Why on earth had she picked up the stupid things?!?!? She had no baby, she was never going to have a baby. She didn’t know any one to give them too. She is thinking hard and her heart is beating too fast. She can not take them out of her pocket because someone will see her and figure out that she is shoplifting. She walks out the door as calmly as she can and goes home to her quiet suburban home with her sweet husband.

She sits at the computer and types:
For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.