Tag Archives: writing

We’ll Lead You Astray…

Photo taken by me in Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia.

“We’ll lead you astray,” she said.

He picked up his beer and turned to face her. “Oh really?”

She laughed a bit.

“Hi, I’m Rob.” He reached out his hand.

“Sally,” she said with a smile.

“So, go ahead. Lead and I’ll follow.”

She turned to her friend next to her and whispered something, and she whispered back. He started to lose his confidence. But she was the one who spoke first. She removed her cardigan and started rolling the plaid sleeves of her shirt. He noticed the tip of some cleavage peeking out of the tank she wore underneath. The band started playing which should have ended the conversation, but he persisted.

“So what do you do?”

“I’m a teacher!”

“Teacher by day, hipster by night?”

“I’m not a hipster,” she frowned.

He laughed. “I was kidding.”

He paused, making it awkward.

“Are you here to see Those Darlins, or one of the openers?”

“Darlins!” she yelled. She turned to her friend again.

“I love them, aren’t they great!”

“Yeah!” she yelled back. “Love them…saw them in Jersey a few weeks ago.”

“Nice!” he said with a smile.

The band was especially loud as she yelled something to him and he could not hear.

“Huh?”

She yelled it again and he still couldn’t hear her.

“Reading what?” he yelled to her.

She pointed at something over his shoulder, and he turned to see a lit up sign that said “We’ll Lead You Astray”.

Someone Else’s Birthday

“Morning Den. Guess what I got!” the receptionist asked him upon seeing him enter the office.

“Tell me!” he said with a small note of excitement in his voice.

“I bought my boyfriend’s birthday present! Tickets to the Flyers!”

“That’s nice.” He started to walk away.

“Hey, what’s up? Isn’t that exciting?”

He turned and gave her a look. “Sure, sure it is.” He attempted to leave again.

“Hey!” He stopped again. “What’s up?”

“Nothing, except you’re a jerk.”

Her jaw dropped and he walked out of the room.

One of the managers came in the front door and nodded to her as she passed reception. The manager suddenly stopped and turned to her.

“By the way, don’t forget, Den’s birthday is today and we’re doing the party at lunch.”

Based on a true story that happened to me today. I changed a few facts to keep people from harassing the guilty party 🙂

Come Here (A Short Film)

My short story Come Here made into a short film:

Breakfast in Bed

In a half-awake stupor she felt the other side of the bed to find it empty. Alarmed, she jumped up and surveyed the room, realizing he was not in it. His clothing, so thoughtlessly thrown to the ground the night before in a passionate transition from date to bed, was all gone.

She had a moment of startling alarm that she had been abandoned once again and sat up to lean against the headboard and analyze where things went wrong. She let him in her bed too soon. She laughed too much at dinner. Or not enough. Was it her outfit? Her perfume? Too much, too little? That’s when she noticed an odd scent sneaking into the room.
She tiptoed to the bedroom door and opened it a crack to peek into the kitchen, where she heard the sizzling of bacon and then recognized the lovely aroma of breakfast. She heard the toaster pop and closed the door with care.
As she climbed back into bed she rolled around a bit on her fluffy white comforter and smiled. This was a lovely moment she wanted to savor; maybe he was one of the good ones.
She heard the hallway floorboard creak, a warning that he was coming, and slid back into her original sleeping position, closed her eyes and feigned sleep as he opened the door with a tray of food, a breakfast in bed.

Photographs by Nadia Lavard, whose regular blog can be seen here and photo blog here.

The Funereal Photographer

Alice got home from work and pulled out the vintage Polaroid camera she’d discovered at a yard sale fully loaded, an unlikely find. She took out a small cloth and cleaned the lens, then reread the directions posted on the back of the camera itself. She was ready.

She threw on a cardigan in case it got chilly as evening approached and walked to the door to look at the world through the camera. She moved it from one spot to another with a heavy sigh. After a moment she went outside to walk around and find some photo opportunities.

Wandering around her neighborhood was admittedly not the way to find great shots, but none of her friends would pose for her. If she were honest with herself, she would realize that she wasn’t really close to any of them.

The camera was exciting, but the prospect of taking photographs of flowers and trash on the road and trees and cars didn’t really feel like the ultimate use of this rare and almost magical ancient film. She wanted to capture the image of a person. To know the feeling of posing them just right followed by the satisfaction of hearing the click of the shutter.

This was the first time Alice realized that she was alone. No boyfriend. No best friend. A few acquaintances who never called her; she was always the one dialing them, asking them to go out, and then hitting end after they declined.

She walked down the empty street, dragging her hand along a chain link fence, and looked from house to house, car to car, nobody to be found. She headed for the playground in the hopes that some parent would be there pushing their child on a swing, or teaching them to ride a bike. But when she got there she realized it wasn’t right. She relaxed on a bench and watched some kids play on the nearby jungle gym.

She moved to the swingset and let the Polaroid rest on her lap, her free hand holding the chain, resting her head against the cold metal chain.

Photographs taken by me of model/makeup artist Sarah Maccarelli, whose work can be seen here. She was great to work with and was quite the actress, considering how happy and friendly she was.

Screaming Love From the Rooftop

Photograph by Nadia Lavard, whose photograph blog can be seen here and her regular blog here.

It was time for him to run, and he knew it.

The footsteps of security guards echoed up the stairs that led to the rooftop; the door would burst open any second now. But he had to say it once more.

He cupped his fingerless-gloved hands and yelled it one more time. “I love you Julia Jane Mayer!” He watched as she blew kisses up at him from four stories below accompanied by a huge grin; his heart skipped and he felt a rush of adrenaline. He turned and started running as fast as he could toward the fire escape he’d used to get up there. He could hear her yelling, “Run!” with a laugh and he pumped his legs as fast as he could.

The door was opened with such force that it slammed against the wall and he didn’t even turn to look back as he reached the edge and climbed over the side.

He could see the guards, four of them, all overweight, first look in the direction he’d come from, then one pointed. “There!”

“Hey, you!” screamed another.

He smiled, waved and slid down the ladder out of sight.

Lunch in the Park

Photographs (besides the typewriter and note) by the amazing and talented Sandra Markovic, whose work can be seen here.

Lunch in the park was Trevor’s daily ritual. He needed the break from his job at the library, even though it was fairly peaceful. He was a lover of the outdoors and it called to him, so every day he stopped at the café, ordered the same meal (mozzarella and tomato Panini, chips and an unsweetened iced tea) and ventured to the park.

It wasn’t until about a week ago that he first saw her. As he watched her pass, he couldn’t believe that the world failed to stop and take notice of her beauty. Nobody seemed to notice this perfect being as she passed; children continued to play, an old man kept feeding the pigeons, cars passed by as if nothing were happening, and only he seemed to notice this absolutely remarkable girl, a miracle, really, making her way past him through the park. She was wearing a flowing vintage yellow dress, and she carried a heavy looking suitcase that she carefully placed on the grass. The lid came off to expose a typewriter, of all things. Trevor hadn’t seen one since, well he hadn’t ever seen one in real life. He was drawn to her immediately. She sat and looked at it, marveling at its structure, but didn’t type a word.  She played with her long brown hair, feigned pushing a key or two, but no actual typing commenced.

It was another day or two before she showed up again, this time in jeans and a vintage Rolling Stones t-shirt, again with the typewriter. She placed it in the grass, opened it, and this time loaded it with paper and began to type. She was slow at first, as if she were just learning how to use it. Her long blonde hair glimmered in the bright sun, and he spent his whole lunch break looking at her and eating his meal.

Today was the third time she showed up, and Trevor’s heart sped up a bit, his pulse quickened as he saw her approaching yet again. Today, a plaid dress was her outfit of choice, and simple black flip flops. Her figure was perfectly visible in the tight dress, and he gasped a bit at the sight of her beauty. Again, she sat in the grass, same spot, and began her slow, methodic typing. She put in a piece of green paper, browning at the edges from age, and punched key after key as she worked hard on something. Trevor, on a nearby bench, was close enough to hear her make a tiny growl as she grasped the top of the paper and yanked it out of the typewriter, making the fast clicking sound as she pulled. She crumpled it up and started at it again.

After a few tries, all ending in a balled up piece of old green paper, she looked at her watch, closed the typewriter and gathered the balls of paper. As she walked by the trashcan right next to Trevor, so close that he could smell the flowery perfume she wore, she threw the failures into the trashcan, continuing on without so much as a glance towards the receptacle, the bench, or Trevor. If she had, she would have noticed one of the wads hit the rim of the trashcan and bounced onto Trevor’s lap. He waited until she was out of sight, picked it up, and opened it with great care. It said:

Trevor gasped a bit. He knew what he had to do.

The next day, as the mysterious typewriter girl walked towards her usual spot, Trevor was already there, a blanket covering the area where she always sat. She stopped and he sensed her behind him looking at him, so he turned to face her, noticing a fitted striped tee shirt dress with black leggings and a black cardigan.

“Hi. I’m Trevor,” his voice shaking a bit.

“Hello. I’m Victoria. But my friends call me Tor.”

He stood up and put out his hand. She took it and he held it a bit too long as he shook it. She smiled.

“Would you care to join me? I have a picnic lunch.” He smiled his biggest, warmest smile, and she felt a little tingle run up the back of her neck.

“Sure,” as she fumbled with the typewriter and her bag, trying to put both on the ground without making a scene. She sat and he did as well, facing her from across the basket.

“I have paninis,” he said.

“I love those, especially tomato and mozzarella.” His eyes widened, but he tried to play it cool.

“Oh, good. That’s what I brought,” a simple, nervous smile. He passed her a wrapped parcel, which she opened with great care. He did the same, then held out a diet cola and a tea, and she pointed to the cola.

“Thanks, this is so nice of you Trevor. But why?”

He froze for a second or two, then responded. “I come here every day, see you here a lot lately, and thought I would say hi. I love your typewriter,” he said, nodding towards her suitcase.

“Thanks,” she said, blushing a bit. “It was my grandmother’s, and I found it and thought it might inspire me. She always said she’d met my grandfather because of it, but I never really heard the full story. All I know is how it ended.”

He smiled. “Wow, that’s pretty neat. What are you trying to do with it?”

“I’m a writer. Or I want to be. I thought, maybe, that it would inspire a great novel. So far, it’s only created junk that I’ve thrown out.”

“Maybe you should keep trying,” he replied. She smiled.

“With the typewriter?”

“Well, however you can. You’re a great writer. You can do it, I’ll bet.”

She raised an eyebrow, and he realized he slipped up. “Er, I mean, I’m sure you’re a great writer. I mean, I can tell, you know? You seem pretty amazing, from where I’m sitting.”

Her smile returned. “You’re sweet, Trevor.” Hearing her say his name kept made his heart jump, and he reacted a bit. “What?”

He blushed. “Nothing. How’s the sandwich?” She smiled and nodded, her mouth full when he asked.

They continued eating a bit, chatting until the sandwiches were done and his lunch break was almost over. He looked at his watch, and in doing so caused her eyes to widen and grow sad.

“Do you have to go?”

“I’m on my lunch break, so yes, in a few. Why?”

She shifted her weight and smiled, looking down at the blanket.

“Will I see you again?”

“Of course, if you want to,” he said with a huge smile.

She looked up and whispered, “I like you, Trevor.”

He turned and saw that she was looking down at the blanket, so he leaned towards her and rested his weight on one hand. “Hey Tor?”

She looked up, and her eyes looked at him as if he were far, far away and she couldn’t wait to see him again, except that he wasn’t, he was right there, and he was leaning in towards her, bringing his lips towards hers, and as her eyes grew even wider, excited, her upper lip quivered just the tiniest bit in anticipation as he came closer and closer until-

The Garden Party, 1943

The men all sat to one side, dressed much more casual than their female counterparts, avoiding the talk of new clothing lines and the coupon section of the newspaper.

None of them knew each other, but this was to their liking more than taking part in a garden party. They talked of manly topics such as the new Ford, baseball and work. One of them, a car salesman, tried to convince them they all needed the ’44 that was coming in next week. Another, a soldier on leave, spoke of the war and regaled them with bloody stories full of bullets and bombs and explosions.

They watched from afar as their lady folk drank tea from fancy little cups and ate tiny desserts squeezed between their fingers.

Both sides checked on each other here and there. A husband nodded to his wife from across the ornate garden. A wife smiled and raised a teacup to her husband or pointed out a fancy statue of a cherub. One young woman had a camera and shot a photograph of her husband, the soldier.

It was like a school dance, but they were adults, at a garden party.

Typing on the back of the original photograph.

What War Does

This original and many others are now for sale on my Etsy.

Out of State Love

The original prints of Out of State Love and many others are for sale now on my Etsy. Please check it out and share it with friends!