How To Find What You Came Here For

Welcome to the worlds that populate my brain!
The short stories you find here are the product
of a vastly overactive imagination
powered by coffee and M&Ms.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Bliss


            “C’mon, let’s play!”

            Bliss grinned as Margo’s daughter grabbed Emily’s hand and ran toward the play structure centered on a wide circle of shredded rubber mulch.  Emily was three, a year younger than her cousin, and the two girls could have passed for twins.
           
            “Bliss, this playground is for big kids.  The girls need to go over to the smaller one.”

            Bliss sighed and shifted nine-month old Jenna in her baby sling.  “Margo, they’ll be fine.  We’re standing right here, and Emily’s played on this playground plenty of times.”

            Her younger sister’s grip on little Taylor’s hand didn’t lessen, and Bliss knew she hadn’t convinced her to just let the kids play.  She and her sister were so different, especially when it came to how they handled their children.

            Margo worried about nearly everything.  Bliss was starting to wonder if her nieces were going to need therapy, at the rate her sister was going.  Every time they arranged a play date, it took Emily’s cousin an hour to relax enough to actually play.  Taylor was worse—she wouldn’t let go of her mother’s hand at all, not even for a cookie.

            Of course, Margo didn’t allow them to have cookies.  Sugar was evil, apparently.  Which was why Bliss smuggled them to the girls at every opportunity.
           
            “Look, the sign clearly says it’s for children…”

            The censure in Margo’s voice stiffened Bliss’s spine.  She turned toward her sister, but before she could say anything—exactly what she was going to say, she wasn’t sure—a wail sounded from the play structure.

            Meeting her sister’s eyes, Bliss saw smug satisfaction.

            Sometimes, she thought, being family is just not enough reason to let my kids play with their cousins.




This post is my response to a prompt from Write On Edge.  My friend, Amybeth, and I decided to try the synchronized option:  we wrote the same story, but from different viewpoints.  Please read Margo's point of view on Amybeth's blog HERE .  Please take a moment to comment on both, and thank you for reading!

13 comments:

  1. See, this is why we lived in a completely different state from most of our family! I like how you did this prompt--you got a sense of the competition between the sisters over child rearing.

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    1. Thanks! Family always seems to know instinctively which buttons to push, don't they?

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  2. Ah, and Bliss is the perfect name for a free spirit. I give your team a 10!

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    1. Thank you! Amybeth picked the names - I saw Bliss and immediately pictured a casual, Earth mother type. The name definitely influenced the character!

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  3. Sounds like a stressful-playdate! Nice setting out of the characters and emotions (and hidden feelings).

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    1. Thanks Cait! When my boys were little enough for them, playdates always felt a bit like a parenting audit. I stressed about them a LOT!

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  4. I'm headed to Amybeth's next - but I must say I love your take on this. I'm on Bliss's side in this one - kids need to be kids! It'll be interesting to see the other side of this one...

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    1. Amybeth'll win you over to Margo's side too! That was the really fun part of this exercise - making both sides attractive from their own point of view. Just like real life, hero and villain depends on where you're standing.

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    2. I hope so! The idea was to show both sides... not one good and one evil, but both with equal yet different values.

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  5. read them both and I can definitely say as a mom I can feel for both sides. I think I have a little bit of Margo and Bliss in me :)

    I'm probably more Bliss though. I'm fine with letting my kids play on whatever they can handle (within reason ;))

    Great job with the synchronized prompt

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  6. I read both the sides of the story. And it is like a complete picture. Good work here.

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  7. Sounds like my sister and I. I was Bliss more easygoing and my kids got to experience more of life. My sister and her husband were ultra-strict and I felt so sorry for her children. I think they were lucky to not rebel as children tend to do especially in such strict circumstances. Good job, and off to read the other side now.

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  8. I can't even imagine this kind of stress between family members! Even with close friends that tension is hard to deal with, differing parenting philosophies and shifting blame.

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