“a man of wide reading”

He’d always considered himself a learned man, well read, going deep into topics he found interesting, a jack-of-all-trades and ignoring the master-of-none. His insight was always welcomed in the circle he travelled, for everyone in them knew he was a man who knew things, “a man of wide reading,” they’d say. And he consumed their adoration like air, like water, their adoration the thing keeping him alive. It’s not easy, however, to be a man of wide reading. It requires time, patience, and the ability to remain curious about anythin and everything. This would seem appear, but it truly is not. For how is one to be curious about something like a stubbed toe, an egg that doesn’t hatch, or a lost set of keys. And yet…. It was only as he leaned into the things he’d previously ignored, only when he picked up the medical book he’d been avoiding based solely on it’s recommendation by someone whose tastes he found basic that he discovered a stubbed toe could be interesting, could actually be so much more, could be related to spinal chord injuries, brain injuries

5 Minute Stretch Exercises are a creation of Laura Munson and were learned at Haven Writing Retreats. Write for five minutes, no corrections or stopping.
This prompt was taken from The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick.

“you won’t fool anybody”

“You won’t fool anybody, dressed like that,” he sneered. “They’re all gonna know you’re trash.”

She considered pausing, the application of her lipstick almost complete, but didn’t. She finished out the bottom lip, pursed her lips together, grabbed a tissue and put it between her lips. A gentle press, the tissue rolled up and thrown away. She was slipping into her shoes, the ones from the thrift store that looked brand new but had cost her “only” three precious dollars.

“They all gonna know the minute you open your mouth and them bitchy little words start falling out.”

She had slipped the shoes on now, they fit her right foot perfectly but the one on the left was slightly too large. It had been a problem her whole life and she always tried to by a half-size bigger and let her right foot swim a little. But beggars can’t be choosers, or so she’d been told. She grabbed the same purse she’d been using

5 Minute Stretch Exercises are a creation of Laura Munson and were learned at Haven Writing Retreats. Write for five minutes, no corrections or stopping.
This prompt was taken from Making a Literary Life by Carolyn See.

“she locked the bathroom door”

They were a family that only locked doors when they were out: restaurants, hotels, gas stations. At home, the very idea of closing and locking a door was the antithesis of the home they’d created. The act of closing a door could be acceptable for a phone call or a nap, although even then doors tended to be left open, a quick retreat from one room to another, all that was required. The forethought required to close and lock a door, the meaning of the lock in particular, was not lost on anyone. Who were you keeping out and why, were we not a family? And yet. She locked the bathroom door, and not a quick closing and turning either, this was subtle, surreptitious, the door brought to a close with a slow and deliberate attempt at silence, the handle held at full rotation to keep metallic parts from clanging, the lock turned with bated breath and a prayer that it wouldn’t make an echoing click. Her face burned with the shame of it but she tried to ignore it.

5 Minute Stretch Exercises are a creation of Laura Munson and were learned at Haven Writing Retreats. Write for five minutes, no corrections or stopping.
This prompt was taken from Another Name for Madness by Marion Roach (Smith).