Starting to Write
Session 1
We were asked to choose an adjective from a list and a noun from another list.
I Chose HAPPY CLOCK which is to be the TITLE of the piece.
Task to write a story with a start, middle and end using these 2 words as the title. Can I say these words were picked randomly by me.
The piece:
HAPPY CLOCK by Dave
Janet sparked the whole thing off. We were sitting having a coffee and I showed her my brand new chess clock I bought from Bridge and Chess supplies, but for the life of me I wasn’t sure how to set the time to Fischer1 mode. I asked Janet if she knew these kinds of things and she nodded, so I opened the box and took out the clock.
‘Let me have a look at it,’ offered Janet as she almost ripped the clock from my hands. But as she did so the clock must have jerked awkwardly and fell to the ground with a loud resounding thud.
‘Oh no!’ I exclaimed with a sharp intake of breath and I bent down to retrieve it and as I did so I noticed that there was a small dent in one of the corners.
Janet put her hands over her mouth apologetically, ‘I’m so sorry Peter!’
I tried to switch it on by the slide-switch underneath at the base and nothing happened. The screen was blank and I resigned myself to having to take the clock back which would have meant plodding all the way back to North London.
Holding the now dented clock in one hand and the box in the other, I noticed something jiggling in the box. What could that be I wondered. Peering into it I saw some polythene bags and then it dawned on me. Inside the polythene bag were the required batteries to power the clock. I quickly retrieved the batteries and inserted them correctly without Janet knowing.
‘Janet, you know what, try kissing the clock, it looks a bit sad to me now, and I don’t like sad clocks, I prefer a happy clock.’ I said.
Janet kissed the dented corner of the clock and slid the base-button across and up came the screen showing that it was in fully working order.
‘Oh my God!’ Shouted Janet, ‘Spooky or what?’
‘I knew this was a happy clock when I bought it and you proved me right! Well done darling the kiss must have worked.’ But I secretly sniggered, knowing that I had just made both our days.
- For those who are unaware Bobby Fischer was an American Grandmaster Chess player who played in the 1970’s and became world champion. He developed a clock that would provide additional increments in time to each player after each move was made. This has now a popular method for timing in all tournaments around the world and all because of the genius of Fischer. ↩