I wrote yesterday about various jottings I’d made – notes of things seen, observed, thought, heard, imagined, which might be prompts for something else. The ‘something else‘ could be a short story, something for the writing group, a blog here, part of one of my self-challenges, or just yet another ‘something else’ on my many lists of something elses! However, what I wrote merely as an example of what I meant, has somewhat haunted me… Oh dear, now I’ve written ‘haunted’, that has triggered something else, to take the story in a whole different direction:
A woman in a forties style light summer suit, is hurrying to sneak out of a house she’s visiting, gathering up her coat and hat which were laid on a chair in a paved hall with a glazed front door, the sun streaming through the coloured glass. Who is she? Why is she in a hurry, in fact, it’s almost a furtive scurry! She doesn’t look back as she closes the door silently, but we are still in the hall, maybe standing on the stair, and we don’t know where she goes. Does she hurry away on foot? Has she a bicycle, or maybe a car, or maybe a taxi, or maybe a car with a friend in the driving seat – it’s an open-top car, by the way!
(Once again, the updated set-up here on WordPress means I can’t organise the layout of this page as I want. Very simple things, indents, editing various aspects, idiosyncrasies which are part of my style or for a specific reason, the compulsion to use blocks… I could go on.)
So this woman quickly and unobtrusively exiting this house, has no name – as yet. In my mind’s eye she’s about thirty-ish, slim, dark haired (cut in a 1940’s-style bob) wearing a pale green linen suit with a cream blouse, and the coat she grabs is a pale taupe, belted and with a wide collar. She is not rushing or panicking, she is calm and in control, shows no anxiety but maybe a sort of determination – she’s definitely on her way to do something, and probably something unplanned before she came to this house.
So this house that the as yet nameless woman (maybe Laura) is leaving – definitely going somewhere else, is a late Victorian country property, not huge but big enough to accommodate a modest family and servants (yes, even quite ordinary families would have had a maid or a housekeeper, and some help in the garden) There is a large downstairs room at the front, and the chair on which Laura’s coat was laid is by this door. There is a dining room at the back, as well as the kitchen and scullery (oh and maybe it is double fronted and there’s another room to the left of the staircase)
Laura has been in the garden, a guest at some sort of garden party, but how she’s related to the family of the house or to another guest, I have no idea. She’s not married so she has come alone or with a friend or sister. What has made her leave?She doesn’t have another appointment, she’s not feeling ill or upset, there hasn’t been an emergency which caused a telephone call to the house summoning her elsewhere… She must have learnt something or heard something or overheard something from a conversation among the other guests – but who are they? Who are the hosts? And above all, who is the observer on the stairs? Apart from him being a man in smart summer clothes, trousers, a sports jacket, open-necked shirt and maybe a cravat – who is he? I suggested yesterday he might be Mike Scott, a character from another story, a reporter and writer for a local newspaper, and maybe he is – or maybe he isn’t!
Gosh, I’m intrigued!! What on earth is it all about? What’s happened? What’s going to happen? I will let you know when I find the answers!
Gosh, I’m intrigued!! What on earth is it all about?
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Here’s something I wrote about my intrepid but lugubrious reporter, Mike Scott:
ttps://loiselsden.com/2018/05/26/imagining-the-1950s
Lois Elsden 