Three Word Thursday. To play, get the three words from Quilly, figure out what they mean (or not!), and put them into a story. Sounds easy? Wait until you see the words!
This week's words:
niddering (n) - a cowardly person; a wretch (I have to say, Quilly, that this one is awkward to use as a noun -- but that's what the dictionary says! Ick! Thanks for the challenge!)
amanuensis (n) - one who is employed to take dictation or to copy manuscript.
tyro (n) - someone new to a field or activity
“This isn’t going to be easy,” thought Alice, as she contemplated the disaster in front of her. Having always grudgingly admired those stories where a woman showed up at a bachelor home and transformed it into sparkling cleanliness, she was not sure now that she could be one of those women. Still, it was Brian’s place and the last thing she wanted her younger brother to think of her was that she was a niddering. Right now he needed her to be the brave one. Squaring her shoulders she asked, “Brian, where are your cleaning things?”
Brian looked up at her from the sofa on which he was sprawled. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair splayed out in all directions. He looked like the mess surrounding him was a camouflage pattern with which he blended effortlessly. “I don’t know,” he confessed. “Marina always did the cleaning.”
Alice’s countenance softened. Poor guy, the love of his life had been dying for as long as he’d known her, yet he’d stayed with her to the very end, obviously at the expense of everything else in his life. “When’s the last time you were here at the apartment?” Alice queried.
“I don’t know…after the funeral I sort of lost track of things for a while,” he answered. Alice considered her options. Should she be the stern sister or the cajoling one? “Bah!” she thought, “enough coddling. This place is out of control!"
"Alright,” Alice spoke aloud. “You are going to learn to take care of your home and I’m going to teach you. You may be a tyro in the area of cleaning, but you’re also a fast learner.”
Brian groaned, “can’t I just watch you and take notes of what you say and do?”
“No. You are not going to be my amanuensis!” Alice declared. “You are going to learn to do for yourself. It is time.”
Brian groaned again, “can you at least speak English with me?”
Alice responded, “it is a perfectly good word and if we can ever find a dictionary or a laptop in all this mess, I’ll prove it to you. Now take this old shirt and we’ll use it as a cleaning cloth.”
“Are you crazy?” Brian leaped up from the sofa and grabbed the shirt from her hand. “That’s my championship Bulls jersey! I was there the night…” he trailed off when he saw the triumphant look on her face.
“Okay, now that I know you CAN move if sufficiently motivated, let’s get started. Find me a garbage bag. Now!”
/kw
6 comments:
Ah, sometimes some things are just so difficult :-)
An enjoyable read.
It is amazing what can be done with Quilly's words.
This is a wonderful little story. I can see the apartment and the people.
You are a good writer.
Sounds just like a big sister! Great story and you did a better job of using my words than I did!
quilldancer.com
First I do believe this is the first time you have done 3WT and let me welcome you to the group and I'm glad you are here. Maybe I just missed one you did earlier. LOL. I loved your story. I thought for sure it was going to go in a different direction but how clever to use something the brother loved to get his butt in gear. Very clever and very well written. Thanks for stopping by my blog as well :)
Absolutely love the story. Your use of the words plays out well in the story.
OJM
Good job that was a very creative use of the words. I would like to know more about this challenge.
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