YOUR TURN

"Mike must really love you a lot," said my neighbor. "He was so excited when he showed me your presents that his hands were shaking."

She didn't know how much I needed to hear those words, and how they would continue to warm my heart, decades later. I knew my husband loved to give gifts, though we usually couldn't afford much. I just wasn't so sure that he also loved me.

Mike's drinking binges had kept us poor, as he bounced from job to job. So that Christmas, we were both surprised to realize that, after paying the bills we had a total of twenty dollars left to buy something for each other. Ten dollars bought a lot more in those days. Looking back, I have no idea what I bought for Mike that year. But I'll never forget what he gave me.

On Christmas morning, he smiled broadly as he carried a small stack of carefully wrapped presents to me, handling them as if they were fine crystal. One package contained green socks, another, red socks.

"I got those because your feet are always cold," he said. "And I know you love new socks." He was right about that.

The last two presents would probably seem odd to most people. One was a container of eye shadow, and the other, a tube of mascara. They were both the exact shades and brands I liked. I was baffled. Mike was not the type to pay attention to things like makeup, let alone to notice details like that.

"How did you know I needed these? They're perfect."

"I looked in your makeup bag to see what you were running out of. Then I wrote down the brands and the colors. I know how you like to look nice but there's never much money for you to spend on yourself."

My mouth fell open. I pictured my tall, rough-around-the-edges husband, stalking the makeup aisle at the drug store, checking the notes which were probably written on his hand, determined to find just the right things. And he did. My friends often complained that their husbands just ran out on Christmas Eve and bought any old thing. Most of them had more money than we did. They just didn't put much thought into their gifts.

It wasn't too many months after that when Mike's drinking escalated to the point that, for my physical safety, I had to say good-bye. Life with Mike had never been easy… he was a troubled soul with seriously destructive habits. But it wasn't all bad either. There were definitely more hard times than good. But the good times, like that Christmas, stand out like pockets of calm in a long storm. He knew me. He could've easily bought some meaningless ten-dollar trinket. Instead, he'd worked hard so he could see the smile on my face when I opened his treasures. Twenty years later, that Christmas still makes me smile. When I think of Mike, that's the memory I choose.

Teresa Ambord © 2007

Teresa Ambord lives in far northern California with her posse of pets. She works from home as a full-time writer for a business publication on the east coast, and for fun, she enjoys writing stories about her family. She volunteers for a pet rescue and serves as a foster parent for abused and abandoned animals.

Here's a fiction challenge. Answer the questions below to create a fiction story.

"You've found an old unfinished letter still crumpled in a typewriter in your attic. An envelop lays along side. It begins "I'm coming home." It's dated August 1945, and postmarked Sybil,Oregon.

Write about the holiday for the homecoming.
Write a complete profile of the letter-writer.
Write a complete profile of the intended recipient.
The letter continues with "Marcus won't like that."
Fill in the details about Marcus, and his reasons.
There is a faint sweet scent on the paper. What is it? Why is it there?
There is a tiny paw print on the paper. What marked it there? Why?
The envelop contains a return address,
a scrap of fine lace,
a tiny, flat, sealed packet,
and a small key.
Explain their presence and why they are important to the sender or the recipient."

Write a list of random words including nouns, verbs, adjectives. Include a current celebrity or politician, an event, weather condition, and a location. Be sure that your words are randomly selected. Then write a story using all of the words suggested.

Create a character by starting with just a name. Add details until that character develops a particular appearance associated with the name. Add an event. Now, determine the character's reaction or actions in the event. Determine how he/she will respond because of his/her personality traits. Have you chosen traits for him/her? Now, decide how he/she will OVERreact because of the event.

Take your ordinary snippet of a memory, maybe from childhood, writing it out. Now make it someone else's memory and change the outcome because of their personality and reactions.

Choose a family or group at another restaurant table and think of a story suggesting their reason for being there. It is interesting because one observes the tiny details such as mannerisms to tell the story. Lead their story to their home or destination. Keep them in your journal as a group that remains together throughout the week. What can you do with this information?

As a fiction writer, you will still need a creative edge. Answer the who, what, where and why for these scenes below:
Write about a new business opening in town. Write about the arrival of a celebrity in your town. You choose who that might be. Write about the development of a community program Write about how a community need is answered.

Discover ways how you might develop a random list of words for creative writing. Choose words associated with a particular situation in your home, workplace, school or public place. Choose words associated with a particular activity. How may these be used in an unfamiliar way?

Here are some other websites for writing prompts:

Creative Writing Prompts.com
Creativity Portal
Emily Hanlon: The Fiction Writer's Journey
Free Writing Prompts Writers Digest
Journal Sparks
Meredith Sue Willis' Writing Exercise Page
Mike Barker's Writing Exercises
The Prompt Writer
The Write Prompts http://squidoo.com/writeprompts
Writing Fix
Writing the Journey


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"Let my words drop as the rain,my speech distill as the dew, as the droplets on the fresh grass and as showers on the herbs" Deuteronomy 32:2,3 "I proclaim the name of the Lord and ascribe greatness to our God!"