*The assignment 2011: Take two characters you are working with. Have one say to the other: "We have to talk." See how the other responds. Be spontaneous. Write for 10 minutes or so--figure that is 1-2 pages. Post on the discussion board for the class. Remember that one person can talk at more length than another and dominate the conversation.
*Characters created for this assignment:
Layla and Nayli: sisters, twins-fraternal. age: 32 live in the same town, and are close. They have similar personalities but are not identical as people. However they understand each others differences and rarely have conflicts.
Layla sat staring at her phone. At some point she would have to pick it up and dial. It had been a full day, longer than she’d ever gone without telling her sister something important. But how the hell do you say this? She reached out her hand and pulled it back again. Biting her lip to keep back tears she knew she had to call. She needed Nayli more than she ever had, even knowing that she was about to cause Nayli more pain than she would wish on any enemy.
Her hand finally picked up the reciever. letting the cord dangle and curl on the kitchen table. Her shaking fingers dialed the number without even a thought. “Hey girl! Beautiful day isn’t it? You comin over today?” The lightheartedness of her sisters voice brought new tears and a tightness to Laylas throat. “Nayli.” “What’s wrong?” There was an instant change in her sisters voice, she knew. She knew something was coming she didn’t want to hear. “Remember when I went to the last checkup and they wanted to run extra tests to make sure I didn’t have thyroid problems like mom?” “oh my god Lay, I am so sorry! It’s ok, mom has been on meds for a while, we’ll get you through this! They caught it early, it’s easy to control and hardly means anything but a few pills a day.” Silence. “Really, girl, you’ll be fine. It’s not that big a deal, I mean it sucks but...”
Layla cleared her throat. She could do this. “No. It’s not that. The tests, they ran a full panel, you know where they look at everything from endocrine system stuff to white counts to sugars, it helps them catch anything I guess it’s full coverage but probably just a ploy for them to make more money at the labs, I mean who needs to know if they have diabetes when they’re looking at thyroid right? I really am not sure why they do this, but that’d be my guess..”
“Stop. Stop babbling. You only babble when things are really wrong. This isn’t about thryoid at all is it? What did they find? It can’t be that bad, nothing we can’t get you through. Talk to me, talk to me. Please.” the first hint of tears were audible. That slight waver in her sisters voice. That sounds that meant she was invested with all her heart in what she was doing, what she was saying. “Please.”
How? How do you tell your sister, your best friend? How do you even say the words out loud? They didn’t even seem real from the nurse who told her. Like a movie line, something that should mean something but somehow just can’t be real. Like Shea LeBouf telling Megan Fox he loved her in Transformers. Just not real. She took a deep breath. That’s what she had to do, treat it like a movie line. Just say it.
“I..” the second her mouth opened, she lost it. She started sobbing harder than she could ever remember crying before. “ I need you! God Naylie I need you... I can’t.. I can’t... I can... Nay.. why?” her words disolved into nonsense. The words, the sterile words that should have been so easy to say just wouldn’t come out. Just the pain, the fear, the need. The last thing she remembered before passing out was her sister saying “I’m coming, wait for me”
And then the world disappeared, like it would soon enough for real. Maybe this was just practice.
No comments:
Post a Comment