Writing Prompt – Day 62
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Start a story with a quote from a song.
My example :
Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity…
“Team 10,” the announcer shouts into the microphone.
I look over at Liam who seems to not hear the announcement. I give him a quick shake. “Liam, that’s us! We have another shot!”
He had just sat down from attempting a strike ball on lane fourteen and had managed to only get six pins down. Given it’s Christmas Eve, the strike ball money will be given out to someone no matter what tonight. Three tickets have been pulled already, not including the one that just got called, and they will keep going until someone knocks all ten pins down.
Team three, team twelve, and our team have already missed the opportunity. But somehow, we must have the Christmas Spirit twirling around us because we get another shot at the thirteen-thousand-dollar pot. Split between four of us, that’s a little over three thousand dollars each. We could wake up Christmas Day still owning our house.
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
I admit, we did get the kids Christmas presents even though we didn’t have the money, but we were nowhere near the thousands of dollars we needed to keep our house. My kids are already going to lose their childhood home soon, I didn’t want them to lose the magic of Santa too.
“Liam,” I say again. “You got this.”
He shakes his head out of his daze, which most likely included a temporary moment of feeling sorry for himself, and rises out of his chair. He stands there for a moment, takes a deep breath, and gives me a nod.
“Woo, you can do this!” I clap my hands, although I do have a sliver of doubt.
Especially now. I can feel his nerves from over here which holds quite some distance now that he’s already four lanes down from me. I stand to get a better look.
Would you capture it, or just let it slip? Yo
Liam grabs his ball from a space on the ball return. He grabs a small towel, wipes the ball, and tosses the towel over the control panel. Eyes on the ground, he walks swiftly to the same spot he stood at when he attempted the first throw.
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
He wipes his hand on the side of his pant leg. I can see his hands shaking from over here.
There’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti
I’m so nervous I could puke. I shouldn’t have had that spaghetti earlier. It’s threatening to come up but I force it to stay down. This money means so much to me, and it’s within my reach. I feel like we are potentially about to win the jackpot. If we can keep our home, I know we can keep up with the payments. But now that were this far behind, unless we get this money, we will never be able to afford the money to keep the house, on top of this months mortgage payment, and the rest of the bills.
I am praying for a Christmas miracle.
But it’s all in Liam’s hands now. I once seen Liam bowl a three hundred game so I know he can do this. He has no idea what this money means for me and I’m glad he doesn’t. If he knew, I think he would be a thousand times more nervous, meaning we wouldn’t have near the chance we have now.
He’s nervous, but on the surface, he looks calm and ready
This is it.
The entire bowling alley is silent, so silent I can hear my heart beating in my chest. Liam lifts his ball, eyes his target, and stands there laser-focused for what feels like an eternity. I give my hand a squeeze, trying to stop the shaking that I suddenly feel.
Liam swoops the ball to his side and after a count of three seconds, he takes a few graceful steps forward. He winds the ball back, crosses his right foot behind his left leg, and swings his arm forward.
To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting
The ball drops with a loud thud. We all watch green and blue colors flashing from the ball as it rolls down the alley. The ball reaches the pins in less than five seconds. Pins are thrown about violently into the air. I hold my breath…
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes to loud
I cheer so loud I’m almost embarrassed. But then I can hear everyone else begin clapping and hollering too.
Liam stands there in shock for a moment before turning toward us and raising his arms. If I thought I cheered loud, I was mistaken. He’s jumping up and down now, shouting as loud as he can, and I feel myself wanting to join in.
Screw it.
I raise my hands and shout with him. This is most definitely going to be the best Christmas ever. Waking up Christmas Day knowing that when I see the glowing smiles on my children’s face, I won’t take that away by telling them that we have no idea where we will be living in a week from now.
I couldn’t ask for anything more.
When Liam arrives back at the table, I throw my arms around him. “Thank you, Liam! I knew you could do it!”
He hugs me back. “I couldn’t let another opportunity slip. I know how much you needed it. In fact, the whole team agreed that if we won, you would get the whole thirteen thousand. You won’t have to worry about losing your house ever again.”
A warm tear strolls down my face. I don’t know how he knows or what I did to deserve such a blessing, but I do know one thing: Christmas miracles exist. And they are performed by kind human beings with good hearts.
“Thank you for being my angel, Liam.” I kiss his cheek.
And i just know, everything is going to be okay.
How’d you do pals?!
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