The brew machine delivers a cup of steaming stuff faster than usual. There is more time to fool with the clock. The clock is in the pantry, and the pantry door closes after fetching it. Another dial appears on the back of the clock for the first time. There is a small clock face and a dial. The word ‘alarm’ is beside the face. Looking at my watch, the local time is nine o’clock. So if the alarm is set for Ten o’clock, it will give me an hour in the past.
The alarm is set, and the day and year are chosen: November 24, 1923. Now, to pull the pin to engage. Whoa, that was fast. According to the stadium sign, the location is Forbes Field. That’s a stadium that was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It looks like the game is over since most are leaving. Inside is a giant scoreboard with the names Carnegie Tech and Visitor. It looks like the visitors won the game 23 to zero.
A program is on one of the seats, and the visitors have been identified. It is Knute Rockne’s Notre Dame football team. It looks like the game was a little one-sided. The local folks don’t look too happy, but the Notre Dame folks are all singing and laughing.
A guy from the radio station is interviewing Rockne, saying that the game didn’t reflect his team’s strength. He mentions that they could have done more but decided to allow some first-year members to get some experience. That seems reasonable since, for Notre Dame, the score seems modest indeed.
A bell goes off, and my living room replaces Forbes Field. In my hand, the program has turned into a message from Linda Hill. It reads. Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “something that closes.” Write about the first thing that pops into your head that closes. Enjoy!
To see how others handled the prompt, visit Linda’s post. Here is the link. https://lindaghill.com/2023/11/24/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-25-2023/
Something That Closes by John W. Howell © 2023
“The pantry door was a cheap way around the prompt.”
“Well, ours does.”
“Tell me again why you don’t use the pronoun, ‘I'”
“Too many first person, present tense stories overuse the pronoun. Everyone gets tired of seeing ” I, I ” all the time.”
“Okay, I get that. Once in a while wouldn’t hurt.”
“I suppose, but I’m trying to do a story without.”
“You just said I.”
“Y0u and are a talking. That’s not what I mean.”
“I’m confused. You know what else closes?”
“Yes, the pub. Did you order an Uber?”
“He’s here.”
“By those Amish buggies?”
“He’s is one of those Amish buggies.”
“Why did I ask?”
“Enquiring minds want to know.”
“Maybe we should walk.”
“Come on. It will be fun.”
Coffee has a way of calming nerve endings, and the coffee machine makes the need for calming nerve endings an absolute necessity. The grinding beans, the sound of tamping, and the initial spurt of brown aroma-filled liquid from the spout are all designed to place the anticipation gauge on maximum. It makes one want to tell the machine to quit the clown act and deliver the goods.
