I was feeling quite bored and in need of a good meme when I stumbled across this one. It's quite different from the others that I've tried, so I thougt that I'd give it a go!
This week's fragments are:
* how old were you when
* through their neighborhood
* went into the bathroom
This is what I came up with:
A brisk breeze whipped though the air in the park. Julie might have shivered at its effect had she not still been numb from the shock of the recent events. She and her dog had been out on their nightly walk through their neighborhood and into the park when she made her grisly discovery.
Nothing appeared to be amiss as her energetic golden retriever pulled her ever so slightly down the walking path with which they were both so familiar. They had departed on their nightly constitutional a bit later than usual that night, so the benches littering the path were all vacant except for one. From her distance, Julie could see the occupant's shaggy red hair and recognized him to be a vagrant who frequently bedded down on the benches of the local park. When she and her dog came through the park at their normal time, she often sat on the bench beside the old man and listened as he told her tales of his adventures. She would not be doing so tonight, since Rusty, as he was called, was already lying prone on the bench, apparently bedded down for the night.
As they approached the bench, Julie's dog stopped pulling and started to whimper. Surprised by the dog's unusual behavior, Julie asked, "What's wrong, girl?" In response the dog whimpered again and cautiously pulled her towards the man on the bench. Julie smiled. "That's just old Rusty. He's already sleeping. It's probably best if you leave him alone."
The dog once again proved why she had flunked out of obedience school. She put her paws up on the bench and began to lick the old man's face. He did not budge. Julie began to feel a bit concerned, perhaps the old fellow was ill. She could not imagine any other reason for a person to sleep through one of her dog's face washings. She approached the bench and looked down on the man resting there. Even in the dim light of the streetlamps in the park, she could see the bullet hole in the man's forehead. She stifled a scream and reached for her cell phone in her purse to call 9-1-1.
Now Julie found herself awash in a sea of fashing lights and yellow tape as police arrived upon the scene. A rather nice looking officer in plain clothes was asking her questions, seemingly in order to ascertain the identity of the victim. "How often have you seen this man in the park?" "How old were you when you when you first met the victim?" "Do you know of anyone else who may have had contact with him recently?" Julie had answered the questions to the best of her ability, but her shock was causing them to play themseles over and over in her mind.
Finally, the officer completed his questioning and offered Julie a ride home. She graciously accepted. Her legs were beginning to tremble as the true horror of what had occurred began to sink in. She did not think that they could carry her the half mile back to her home.
Once she was within the safety of the walls of her own home, Julie let her dog off the leash. She stood unmoving in the middle of the room for a few minutes before she went into the bathroom to be sick...
How's that for a work of fiction? I think I just may be watching too much Law And Order.
