Tears of Eve - Entry for Writers' Week

Tears of Eve

There’s only one cure for stupidity, thought Kyle, the careful extraction of dollars from an overstuffed wallet.  Kyle was a professional, an extractor of surgical precision.

As predicted the man returned to the bar.  Kyle sipped at his pale beer.  The white-haired gentleman beside him held the vial in trembling fingers.  Mesmerized he rocked the transparent liquid, commanding his own miniature sea.

       “Collected that the last day it rained, before the drought began,” said Kyle.  “Do you remember that day?  The rain fell like angels’ kisses.  Of course I didn’t know, none of us did, it would be the last time we’d ever taste real rain.  Yet something told me it was special.”  He wiped the back of his hand across his top lip.

       “Goodness,” was all the older man could muster.

            “Reckon that day Eve was up in heaven weeping for the children of our future and for what they’d lost.  Our poor deprived children who will never experience the sweet caress of mother earth, never hear the melody of her gentle refrain.”  Kyle offered up a handkerchief, crisply folded into a neat triangle, from inside his jacket.

            “My granddaughter was born too late, born after the drought,” said the man, dabbing at his eyes.  “She’s only known synthetic water.  I have cash.  I’ll give you whatever you want, just name your price.”

            After the man had left Kyle swallowed down the dregs of his beer and flicked open the mobile.  “He’s bringing the money round later.  Yeah, he bought it.  How about I pick up a nice big bottle of champagne on the way home.”  His smile was feline.  “And Evie, babe, how about onions for dinner?  Lots and lots of onions.”

The above piece is an entry into Writers’ Week competition click here for more details.

In brief:

Pick a first line from 50 prompts. Start your entry with the words in the prompt, and then just keep going. There is no word minimum or maximum. Works can be fiction or non-fiction, haikus, essays, technical manuals—whatever!

Deadline for entries is Friday, September 16, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.

Writers’ Week has been put together by Emily Suess (@EmilySuess) on her blog – it’s packed full of writing tips and articles.