Brewing

I was on the way to somewhere and had the car radio on, listening to a music channel playing old songs. I hadn’t particularly chosen it, that was what the radio was tuned to when I got in. I was thinking of an idea for a story about the break up of a friendship. It’s very early stages, but the opening scenes are very vivid – a man waiting in a house,, looking out of the front window, waiting for his former friend to arrive, feeling a sense of dread.

As I’m just driving along a very old song is played, ‘Have you seen her‘ by the American group, the Chi-Lites. I’ve only just realised it was spelt this way – I thought it was Shi-Lights for some reason! They were a group from Chicago who first got together in the late 1950’s, ‘Have you seen her‘, was released in 1971 but was popular over here a year later. If you don’t know it you could guess from the title that it’s a love song about someone who has been dumped, and is now searching for their former girlfriend.

I guess it was because I was thinking of this idea of a story, which may have had a similar story-line, that somehow the words seemed sinister.

“One month ago today
I was happy as a lark
But now I go for walks
To the movies, maybe to the park
I have a seat on the same old bench…

Supposing the man wandering around asking after his missing wife,  rather than being ignorant of where she might be, in fact knows exactly where she (or her body) is? Supposing she’s not merely left him, but has had some harm come to her? Supposing in my proto-story one or other of the men was missing a wife/girlfriend, apparently disappeared. Had she left of her own accord, had she left her husband to be with his best friend? Had some harm come to her by one or other of the men? Was the best friend her secret lover?

I haven’t written anything yet, but the fact that a new story is brewing has made me feel quite cheerful! This isn’t something I have to do for my writing group, this isn’t the next part of one of my many unfinished stories, this is something new which will be complete (it’s going to be a short story) and maybe if I polish it up, then I can enter it for a writing competition!