Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Trifecta



This week's challenge: Create a 33- to 333-word response using the third definition of the word:


FLY (intransitive verb)
1a : to move in or pass through the air with wings
  b : to move through the air or before the wind or through outer space
  c : to float, wave, or soar in the air
2a : to take flight : flee
  b : to fade and disappear : vanish
3a : to move, pass, or spread quickly   


Last night was a first, but I know it won't be a last.
 

What she sees when she looks at me
I attended the latest meeting of our community film club to see and then discuss a great old movie. Our moderator, Will, had a new assistant, a girl of about 15, to help him with the cash box.

In the past, Will handled both the cash box and the registration/nametags. I would give him $5 and he he'd hand me the sheet of peel-and-stick nametags he had prepared in advance. I assumed that was still the system last night, only with the new girl in charge.

So I handed her my $5 and waited for my nametag. She looked at me a moment and very politely asked, "So do you want change? Do you get the senior discount?"

"Huh?" I said. At least that's what I thought I said. It may just have been that sudden exhale that accompanies being socked in the gut.

"I'm sorry. I mean, you look a little young." So now she is apologizing for not being faster as she forks over my pension-stretching $2. I must say she was very deferential. Her parents did a wonderful job teaching her to respect her elders.

"No, no, we're good," said I. "I'm afraid I didn't I understand what you were asking." A senior moment, perhaps? I grabbed the sheet, slapped on my nametag and scurried into the auditorium, grateful that Will was blabbing about Robert Mitchum and didn't hear the embarrassing exchange.


I am 55, old enough to be the grandmother of the girl with the cashbox. But I can remember so clearly what it was like to be her, when everyone between 40 and 75 looked the same. I can recall thinking, upon receiving word of Elvis' sudden death, "Well, he was 42. I mean, he'd had a life."

It does fly by doesn't it?


FLY (intransitive verb)
1a : to move in or pass through the air with wings
  b : to move through the air or before the wind or through outer space
  c : to float, wave, or soar in the air
2a : to take flight : flee
  b : to fade and disappear : vanish
3a : to move, pass, or spread quickly   
- See more at: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/#sthash.ozjMwpAt.dpuf

FLY (intransitive verb)
1a : to move in or pass through the air with wings
  b : to move through the air or before the wind or through outer space
  c : to float, wave, or soar in the air
2a : to take flight : flee
  b : to fade and disappear : vanish
3a : to move, pass, or spread quickly   
- See more at: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/#sthash.ozjMwpAt.dpuf
a 33- to 333-word response using the word:
a 33- to 333-word response using the word:
FLY (intransitive verb)
1a : to move in or pass through the air with wings
  b : to move through the air or before the wind or through outer space
  c : to float, wave, or soar in the air
2a : to take flight : flee
  b : to fade and disappear : vanish
3a : to move, pass, or spread quickly   
- See more at: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/#sthash.ozjMwpAt.dpuf
a 33- to 333-word response using the word:
FLY (intransitive verb)
1a : to move in or pass through the air with wings
  b : to move through the air or before the wind or through outer space
  c : to float, wave, or soar in the air
2a : to take flight : flee
  b : to fade and disappear : vanish
3a : to move, pass, or spread quickly   
- See more at: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/#sthash.ozjMwpAt.dpuf

About the photos: Life Magazine makes a library of their archive images available for free to use for “non-commercial personal purposes."