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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday and Sandee at Comedy Plus.
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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts that encourages us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.
This month, i am providing the prompts. You can write your story on your blog and leave a link here, or write your story in the comments, your choice.
Pick words from one list, or both, use them all, or use none. The whole point is to get us writing, so please have fun with it!
This week's words are:
sustenance
booth
street
hint
syrup
drab
and/or
older
cardboard
wounded
front
empty
astonished
She knew she was going to need SUSTENANCE for the day ahead, so she pulled in to the cheap eats fast food place knowing she'd pay for it later in sluggishness from lack of good nutrition. Right now, time was more important.
As she walked in, she spotted him at a BOOTH, standing with his back to the room. Jeans, layers of shirts and an olive DRAB green jacket, boots, nondescript baseball cap. Skinny, the kind of skinny that says he's a STREET person, and the demeanor that says he's not been able to clean up in a while and he knows it. He was OLDER than she was, gray hair and gray stubble on his chin, she knew he more than likely had bad teeth. His backpack, probably containing all his worldly possessions, was on the table in FRONT of him.
In his hand was change, and he was counting pennies, probably hoping to have enough to get something to eat before he headed out to the street corner nearby to hold up his CARDBOARD sign, Homeless, Please Help.
She wondered what his story was, although she knew it didn't really matter. Maybe an alcoholic, maybe on drugs, maybe on nothing but suffering PTSD, maybe a homeless veteran. No matter, he was a WOUNDED human being, someone whose mother had once loved him and envisioned more for him than this ragged existence.
Although she wasn't rich by any stretch of the imagination, she made it month to month most months and only once in so often had to go without food the last day before pay. Right now she had a ten spot in her wallet, more than he might see if the weather stayed cold and gray and people didn't want to open their windows to pass out a buck because it was drizzling.
Except for the workers and him, the place was EMPTY. Pretending not to notice him, she stepped to the counter and placed her order, cushioning it with an second large hash browns. When the cashier passed her the change, she put the coins in her pocket and walked toward him as if going past, and slipped him the "folding money" as her dad had always called dollar bills.
"Thank you so much!" he said, and she smiled.
"You're welcome," she said. "And I'll give you a HINT. If you like the French toast sticks, the five piece order is $2.39, but the three piece order is only a dollar. Order two of the three pieces and you not only get six pieces, you get them with tax for less than an order of the five pieces, and you get two containers of SYRUP!"
"Thanks again!" he said, and walked up to the counter. "I'll take two of your three piece French toast sticks." He looked over at her and winked. "My mother used to make French toast for me, I haven't had any in a long time."
"Two nineteen is your total," the cashier said, and after he got his change she said to him, "See, one five piece would have been twenty cents more than that, plus more tax on top!"
"You're right," he said, "I'll remember that."
At that moment, her order was up, and she grabbed her bag. Reaching in, she took her second large hash brown order, the one she knew was too much, and pulled it out. As she walked past him again, she handed it to him, and he looked at her, ASTONISHED.
"Thank you, again!" he said. He looked like he was holding back tears.
"You're welcome, and I hope you have a wonderful day," she said as she headed out. She knew she would, and really did hope things would get better for him.
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Today is:
American Circus Day -- the first circus in the US opened this day in Philadelphia in 1793
Anniversary of the Second Republic -- Republic of Guinea
Day Sacred to Bona Dea and Day of Proserpina's Rise from the Underworld -- Ancient Roman Calendar
Don't Go to Work Unless it's Fun Day -- and unless you have a really great job, we know your decision
Find-A-Rainbow Day -- a day to paint bright and colorful wishes for your friends, family, and sweetheart; if you actually find a rainbow in the sky, that's a plus, send a pic to the RainbowBrite site
Hanshi a/k/a Cold Food Festival -- China (second day of the Quingming Festival)
Lailat al Miraj -- Islam (observance of Mohammed's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem; begins at sundown, local customs and dates may vary)
National Chocolate Mousse Day
National Day of Hope -- US; recognizing victims of child abuse and neglect, a day to recommit to make the world safe for children
National Walking Day -- US (sponsored by the American Heart Association)
Overcome a Handicap Day -- on the day, in 1981, when one-legged Canadian high jumper Arnie Boldt cleared 6 feet 8¼ inches, only about a foot under the world record at the time
Paraprofessional Appreciation Day -- honoring the contributions of paraprofessionals everywhere
Pony Express Day -- US; inaugurated this day in 1860
Second Republic Day -- Guinea
Shower Dance -- Fairy Calendar
St. Irene of Thessalonica's Day (Patron of girls, peace)
St. Richard of Chichester's Day (called Ricardus, ri for ridens meaning "laughing", car for carus meaning "dear", dus for dulcis meaning "sweet"; Patron of coachmen and of the Diocese of Chichester, Sussex, England)
Tweed Day -- a day to consider the costs of political corruption, on the birth anniversary of "Boss" Tweed
Whole Grain Sampling Day -- sponsored by the Whole Grains Council
World Party Day -- anyone and everyone is invited to join the party
Anniversaries Today:
Isle Royale National Park is established in Michigan, US, 1940
Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England, 1043
Birthdays Today:
Amanda Bynes, 1986
Leona Lewis, 1985
Cobie Smulders, 1982
Jamie Bamber, 1973
Jennie Garth, 1972
Picabo Street, 1971
Robert Chapin, 1964
Eddie Murphy, 1961
David Hyde Pierce, 1959
Alec Baldwin, 1958
Bernie Parent, 1945
Tony Orlando, 1944
Leona Lewis, 1943
Marsha Mason, 1942
Wayne Newton, 1942
Jane Goodall, 1934
Calvin "Baby Vet" Graham, 1930
Max Frankel, 1930
Virgil "Gus" Grissom, 1926
Jan Merlin, 1925
Marlon Brando, 1924
Doris Day, 1924
Herb Caen, 1916
Sally Rand, 1904
Henry Robinson Luce, 1898
Leslie Howard, 1893
John Burroughs, 1837
William Magear "Boss" Tweed, 1823
Edward Everett Hale, 1822
Washington Irving, 1783
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"Endgame"(Play), 1957
"TV Guide"(Publication), 1953
Today in History:
Edward the Confessor is crowned king of England, 1043
The US Pony Express begins its first run, 1860
Gottlieb Daimler receives a German patent for his engine, 1885
Trial of the libel case instigated by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality, 1895
The US House of Representatives accept the "American's Creed," a patriotic contest winner by William Tyler Page, as the official creed of the US, 1918
The building of the RMS Queen Mary is commissioned, 1929
President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, 1948
Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, 1968
The first portable cell phone call is made in New York City, 1973
Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default, 1975
Conventional-Train World Speed Record: a French TGV train on the LGV Est high speed line sets an official new world speed record, 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph), 2007
Australia formally adopts the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, 2009
Following the News International phone hacking scandal, James Murdock resigns as Chairman of BskyB, 2012
France outlaws the hiring of models who do not meet new Body Mass Index (BMI) minimums for a certain period of time before and during a modeling job; the law aims to prevent promotion of anorexia among models and people who emulate them, 2015