Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

Conversations Overheard

So, I found out this morning that Beth is mad at Sue. It seems that Sue's younger sister (who's only in Middle School, for crying out loud) is dating Josh, the captain of the High School football team. Sue knew this, and although she also knew that Beth has an awful crush on Josh, she chose not to mention her sister's romantic connection. Needless to say, that was not a very pleasant conversation.

Speaking of unpleasant conversations, Rob Matthews had a row with his wife this morning. When the credit card statement arrived, Janet opened it, and was quite perplexed by a charge she didn't recognize. For over four thousand dollars. I won't tell you exactly what Rob was wasting their money on, but let's just say that when the phone rang in Rob's office, he wasn't expecting such a firestorm on the other end.

Peter's been trying for years to get out from under a load of debt, so he wasn't too happy to get a call from his sister Brianna in Seattle, saying that she'd been laid off from her job at the Donut Barn, and needed a bit of cash to make it through the month. Of course, it didn't help that Brianna's husband is a lazy good-for-nothing who spends his days sitting in front of a television set watching movies and playing the latest made-from-a-movie video games.

Reverend Timmons just about blew a gasket (in a rather unclergyish manner) when he was reviewing the church finances and discovered a seven percent discrepancy between the numbers he expected to see, and the numbers he was seeing. A phone call to the treasurer provided an answer the good reverend did not want to hear; someone was skimming money off the top of the Sunday morning offerings.

Tina didn't show up on the set of her new movie yesterday. In fact, she hasn't showed up all week long. The production company is trying to keep her disappearing act a secret, but sooner or later word is going to get out. Only the producer knows the truth; Tina's bulemia has gotten the best of her, and she's checked into one of those expensive celebrity rehab places. The director calls every morning to check on her, and every morning the doctors tell him to stop calling, because he's not family and they can't release information.

All in all, I can't help thinking, the human life is a messy, dirty, ugly thing, and most people just don't know whether they're coming or going.

I'm glad I'm just a telephone pole.

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