Esther Chilton

This week’s writing prompt is:

CITIES

One of my favourite cities is Rome. I’ll never forget the way the Colosseum took my breath away as I stood in the middle, the sights and sounds of the years before playing out before me. Nor the creamy taste of the delicious pasta as it slid down my throat. What cities have you been to? What special memories do they hold, or perhaps a city could be the backdrop for a story or poem.

You don’t have to share your work, but I always enjoy seeing what you come up with if the prompt gives you inspiration. Your last prompt was LETTERS AND DIARIES. Here’s the work you shared:

Tessa Dean:

June 29, 2020

Dear Diary,

Well, today was the day I have been waiting for. I have been waiting as patiently as possible for this day to arrive, and I never thought it would happen. 

Bob and I have been writing to each other online for years, and I never thought he would get around to asking me out. He always told me he had a wife and that he couldn’t get involved with me, but over the years, he has let on that he has had other women in his life despite what he told me. I never knew if he had slipped when talking about another woman. I was interested despite the fact he was married. That didn’t bother me so much. We had talked on the phone at times and exchanged pictures so I had this deep down feeling that was growing in me. I don’t know how you fall in love with someone you have never met. I have no idea if the pictures he sent me were really him, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to meet in person.

This afternoon, he called and asked me to meet him tomorrow at a local diner for lunch. He didn’t live in my area, he said, so he would have to make a long drive to meet me. He was willing to make the drive since he didn’t want to chance running into his wife. I am so excited. I hope he has some feelings for me and that this isn’t just a simple lunch date. I don’t want to be the other woman, but he insisted this was just a lunch between friends.

I must admit I feel guilty about meeting him behind his wife’s back, but I can’t control my steadily growing feelings for him. He told me to meet him at the local mall, and we would drive together to the diner. 

Good night, dear diary!

June 30, 2020

Dear Diary,

I am so mad. He was late getting to the mall, and despite the fact that two hours had passed, I was still waiting for him. He never called me to let me know he was going to be late, and when I tried to call him, he never answered.

Finally, a car pulled up next to me in the empty part of the mall parking lot where I was waiting. I didn’t recognize the person, but couldn’t imagine why they were parked right next to me since I was in a remote area of the mall.

He rolled down his window and said, “Hi, Jackie. I am glad that you waited for me to get here. I got caught up in traffic.” 

I was stunned. Who was this, and how did he know me? “Who are you,” I asked him.

“I’m Bob. Who else would I be?”

“Bob? You don’t look like your pictures.” I didn’t say anything else as I pondered what was going on. This guy was heavy and pretty ugly. The only thing I recognized was his voice. That was the same since we had been talking on the phone. I had fallen in love with the guy in the pictures, who was very handsome. “What is going on here?” I asked him.

“I’m sorry, but I never send my real picture. I want to see if we are compatible before meeting a woman.”

“I can’t believe you deliberately lied to me. I trusted you to be who you said you were, and now you show up and are totally different from the pictures. This is not cool. I am leaving now. Don’t you ever contact me again.”

“Oh well, your loss.”

I left and didn’t look back. I immediately deleted all my contact info for him, and now I am back to being friendless. I can’t believe I wasted three years on this nutcase. I am glad I never told anyone about him. What a fool I am!

Good night, diary!

SexagenarianScribbler:

I found my pen friend through  the Tony Blackburn fan club. 

He had opened a boutique in  my home town and my friend and I queued up to get his autograph.

I hadn’t brought any paper so he signed my hand. I didn’t wash it for weeks!

In those days, letters were hand written, on pretty coloured paper; I still have the very first one sent to me.

Now, fifty-five years later, we are still corresponding , with our letters ‘written’ on a computer.

We have a long way to go to beat the record of over eighty-three years.

And both Londoners born and bred, we now live in the same county , but no, we have never met!

Sharon Harvey sent in her thoughts on the previous prompt of BOOKS:

Books. What does that word (no pun intended!) mean to me? It means reading a deliciously good book and also learning from it. 

For me I prefer a good old-fashioned book in my hand. I love to also later on in life, make notes on the page to remind me of things or descriptions etc. 

So for me a book has many purposes, to read and to learn from. 

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