Sherry Morris's Blog, page 5

Out of the Mouths of Boys

Today was quite eye-popping and giggly for me. Gotta laugh, not taking things harsh thank goodness. Strange boys have been telling me things I knew and had been meaning to do something about.
I have a new video doorbell. I saw boys canvassing the neighborhood today, figured they were either selling something or saving souls. I didn't bother answering, rather I went to the restroom. When I later played the incident on my phone, it was two boys in really dapper band uniforms. While they were waiting for a response, Boy one explained the workings of the doorbell. Boy two observed, "A problem with white houses is they show dirt." 
I absolutely had a fit of laughter. I recently installed two solar spotlights to shine on my front door to illuminate the house number for first responders. Instead of spiders catching mosquitos under the porch light, they are now cocooning around the whole door. I'd just noticed this and had put cleaning it on my mental to-do list. It will be done tomorrow morning.
This evening, I posted the above photograph on Twitter as a writing prompt. A young man responded with a story start about a family of five losing their cameras. I praised him and he then added " Also, the elderly lady in row 3, her teeth fall out and land in Mrs. Dooras' hair"
Another gotcha! I'm the lady in row 3 but I'm not chronologically elderly yet. I know I need a makeover, time to get to my hairdresser.
Out of the mouths of babes.

Writing Prompt #40: Bad Dream

Your character is sleep deprived. Why? Is there a newborn baby in the house? Is your character a patient in the emergency room at the hospital and they keep prodding him/her? Is your character under interrogation at the police station/undisclosed location? Is he/she attempting a record breaking athletic attempt such as swimming a great distance? Something entirely different?

Your character is finally able to doze off. And has the most terrifying nightmare of his/her life. What is he/she most afraid of? His or her enemy is using this personal fright item on the one person/animal dearest to your character and he/she is helpless to save him/her.

End the scene.

Your character then wakes up, heart pounding, drenched in perspiration and totally terrified, afraid to open his/her eyes. There is a noise. Something in the room. Someone in the room.

Writing Prompt #39: Some Like it Hot

It's the hottest day and night on record. Ten degrees hotter than it's ever been before.

How does this heat change your setting?

What adjustments do your characters need to make to go about their daily lives?

What if your protagonist must be outside in this heat? What if he/she is stranded? On the verge of heat stroke?

The only path out is through a fire. Is it a building, a forest, an atmosphere or perhaps it literally is raining fire?

Your protagonist makes it out of the fire and into a cool climate controlled room. He/she is late. There is Hell to pay.

Writing Prompt #38 Active Shooter

Your character is on vacation with his/her relative (spouse, grandparent, parent, child, sibling, cousin, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew). They are in an unfamiliar crowded marketplace with shops lining a maze of enclosed open-air mall areas. Your protagonist has realized he/she wandered away from the relative and is looking for him/her.

Shoppers are pushing through, nervously blurting "Go to the back!"

Your character assumes there must be a small fire. Not really concerned, but surprised by the rush of people, your character looks around for the relative who is nowhere to be found.

Rapid-fire shots explode from the front of the store.  Does your character see the shooter? Where is the relative? How many people are shot? Is there a stampede of people running to the back of the store? Trampling of merchandise? What is in the back? A dressing room? Storage room? Exit to tunnels? Exit to another danger? (lions, aliens, 1,000' drop, hostile country, portal to Hell etc)

Your character is extremely stressed because he/she does not know where the relative is or if the relative is a victim, hostage or hero.

There is no cell phone service or landlines or internet.

Suddenly the lights go out...

Writing Prompt #37 Renovation

Your character's home is being renovated. He/She must remove all contents from the dining room and pull up and remove the carpet.

Is he/she reluctant, procrastinating or overjoyed to do the work?

What does he/she find tucked away?

Does he/she drop and break anything?

What is under the rug?

Whom/what does he/she encounter when carrying the carpet to the trashcan or dumpster?

What time of day is it? Season?

Does he/she have anyone to help?

There is a knock at the door...

Beware of Nature

I only weed our mulch beds while my husband mows the lawn. Why? Because we have snakes in our world and I'm terrified of them. Alive, dead, on TV, in the movies, YouTube or photograph. No difference in my flight response.

We live in a planned community and our yard backs to woods and a lake. Our family happens upon them several times every year. Black snakes, copper heads, corn snakes. Yikes! My toddler once emerged from under the Weeping Willow proudly showing me the baby snake in her fist. I did not want to be her mother at that instant but I was, so I knocked it from her hand, scooped her up and ran into the house making non-human noises.

One 4th of July we were lighting fireworks in the cul-de-sac and I happened to glimpse a copperhead slithering next to the porch. He was still on property the next day. My teen aged son wrangled him into a container and transported him to an undisclosed location. I told him he was the bravest man I knew.

I can't get all the weeds pulled while my husband mows, so I prioritize, starting with the front yard, because that's the facade the world sees. I then move to the side of the house in the backyard and make sure the weeds are not encroaching next to the two conditioning units.

About 10 days ago, I had the front yard weeds under control and I was quickly pulling nuthatch and crab grass from the rock lined bed around the air conditioners, very worried I'd pick up a snake. I've dug one up before planting flowers. Anyhow, I successfully got the area weeded as my husband finished mowing.

He left for work and that night the upstairs air conditioner kept cycling back on as soon as it stopped. It really wasn't cooling much. So I turned it off and had a miserable night trying to sleep in an 86 degree Fahrenheit room with the windows barely emitting a breeze. Another night of this until my husband returned from work and we left on vacation.

Upon our return, he turned it on, still the same result. I went online and researched, thinking it was our high tech Nest thermostat gone bad. I did the hard reset, no change. Our air conditioner was only 3 years old and under warranty, so we strongly assumed it was the thermostat. He bought a cheap thermostat at Lowes, hooked it up and nope, no change. He decided to go outside and have a look.

My husband said, "You are never going to believe this. A BIG snake got into the unit at precisely the time it kicked on. Mice had chewed their way in, that was how he was able to breech the housing..." I stopped him, I didn't want to hear anymore.

He removed the snake and the mouse nest (they had obviously been eaten) and crossed his fingers the air conditioner would resume cooling. It did. Thank goodness.

So, the lesson here is, if your A/C goes out, look inside the housing before you call for a repair. It may save you the cost of a service call.

Orlando

We were in Orlando this weekend. I wish this had happened to my characters, not to my husband and I:
Saturday afternoon we shopped at the Orlando Outlet Mall. It’s an open air mall with lots of courtyards and corridors lined with high-end stores. We always go to the Disney outlet and find something fun to bring our daughter. It’s a large L shaped store, crowded and we always get separated. I was in the front of the store for awhile, looked around and didn’t see my husband so I figured he was around the corner in the back. I rounded the corner to look for him when there was a rush of shoppers pushing through and yelling “Go to the back!”
We seemed to be evacuating, so my first thought was there must be a small fire. I didn’t see my husband. People were steadily pushing through to the back of the store when I heard rapid fire gunshots. It sounded like the shooter was at the entrance to the store. I didn’t see my husband so I ran to the back of the store with the hysterical crowd disappearing around a corner. I wondered how everyone could fit in a dressing room. We pushed through a door into a labyrinth of tunnels and ran like Hell until we reached exterior doors. A few people started out the doors until someone yelled for them to come back. We didn’t know where we were or where the shooter was. The tunnel was filled with hundreds of people.
I was terrified because I didn’t see my husband anywhere.  I texted him, which was very difficult because my fingers were trembling. Three texts, no response. I knew he had turned the sound up on his phone so I was scared to call him in case he was hiding or a hostage. But I tried to call him anyway, it wouldn’t go through. I prayed for him.

I felt like we were sitting ducks for the gunman. He could have taken us all out so easily. I didn't know when he would burst through the exit doors I was near or rush down from the other end of the tunnel in a blaze of horror. Maybe there was more than one shooter and they could execute us from both directions.
One lady with some sort of mall uniform on was with us and of no use. A young man was taking charge, trying to get us to be quiet and keep us from exiting. I had no idea who he was, and really didn’t trust him as a leader, because of his youth and obviously he didn’t work there.
I texted our daughter in Virginia. She couldn’t find anything online about a shooter and asked if the sounds could have been a car backfiring. No, there was no way a car could have been that far into the pedestrian courtyard.
I kept waiting for the police or mall security to give us instructions, rescue us, but nobody came. The crowd started moving again, some went outside some the other way through the tunnels. I found my husband in another tunnel, thank God! He was trying to call me but it wouldn’t go through. He thought he had texted me but he never sent it. So he knew I was out of the store, but I didn’t know he was. He had stayed in the store looking for me. An old lady cashier had made everyone evacuate. They were trampling a pile of clothing so he started to pick it up and she smacked his arm and yelled “Leave it!”
More people were leaving so we did too. It was a long way through the open air mall, people were running. I wanted to run but he insisted all was fine. I was really shocked that I was just hearing the first sirens; it was such a slow response. Maybe nobody could call 911. My husband had tried calling and texting but they didn’t go through, 911 doesn’t have text capability.
We made it to the parking garage and into a big traffic jam exodus. The cops were locking down the entrances but seemed unimpressed.
Our daughter finally found a news report online saying there was a fight in front of the food court (next to the Disney store) and people already on edge from the nightclub massacre panicked. There were no weapons.
But I heard gunshots. So did several people on Twitter who were in my vicinity. They are convinced there were gunshots. Someone posted it was an electrical problem. My husband said when electrical breakers blow they make a rapid fire popping sound.
No one saw a shooter or victims so I’m accepting it was an unfortunate series of events. But wow, was that terrifying! And I feel bad because I ran out without him while he was trying to save me.
My takeaway from it is don’t think you’ll never be in a place with an active shooter. Realize it is a probability and be prepared. I won’t be wandering off on my own anymore; I’ll stay with my companions. And I’m bringing pepper spray with me everywhere, not just in case of a dog fight when I walk Frank.
The only situation I know of where a civilian disarmed an active shooter was at a college and a student rushed the gunman as he was reloading, sprayed him in the eyes with pepper spray, took the rifle and ran and threw it in another room then came back and wrestled the shooter to the ground until the police arrived.
So when you enter a public building, look around for exits. Most places have a back door for deliveries. If there is an active shooter: First RUN. If you can’t run, HIDE. If you can’t hide, FIGHT back.

Wheat-free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Wheat-Free Toll House Cookies
2 1/4 cup almond flour1 tsp baking soda1 tsp salt1 cup butter (2 sticks)3/4 cup sugar3/4 cup packed brown sugar1 tsp vanilla1/2 tsp water2 eggs12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips1 cup walnuts
Preheat oven to 375°
Stir together almond flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Combine 1 cup butter with both sugars, vanilla and water. Beat until creamy. Beat in the eggs. Add flour mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate morsels and walnuts. 
Bake 8 to 11 minutes depending on if you want chewy, soft or crispy cookies. I bake pans of all three to please my family.

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Writing Prompt #36 Haircut

There is a special bond between client and hairdresser/barber. Your character has arrived at the barber shop/salon/hairdresser's home for a routine haircut/color/shave/mani-pedi/wax.

What if...
The premises are empty...
Your character's enemy is in the chair...
Your character realizes he/she forgot his/her wallet...
Your character becomes violently ill...
Your character overhears...?
There is an explosion or fire or earthquake...