Practice is supposed to make perfect, right? Well, at least it points out the areas where I need improvement. This week’s prompts were:
- Character: Spy
- Object: Electrical Outlet
- Genre/Tone: Comedy
I don’t think I nailed either the spy or the comedy aspect of the story, and (though I was clearly heading that direction from the beginning) I never quite made it to the object, the electrical outlet. Still, the fact that it’s readable shows how robust this exercise is at structuring a complete story.
As always, we’d love it if you also tried the exercise with these prompts! If you do, please post your story in the comments. We’re moderating comments, because most of what we currently get is spam. But once your first comment is approved, you’ll be approved on an ongoing basis.
Okay, I’ve put off the pain long enough. Here’s my comic spy story that’s almost about an electrical outlet:
Lenore wasn’t happy with her cover, or more specifically with her coveralls that made her look like a grey-green sack half filled with rice; well, a sack with long tube-like bits at the corners where the rice could shift about now and then; and strapped with a couple different leather belts holding various electricians’ tools. But she had to admit, it was a good way to get into the target’s embassy and plant bugs.
She really wanted a Jason Bourne moment, or at least an Ethan Hunt moment, or just a fantastic undercover assignment where she could dramatically reveal herself to the target at the key moment and see the shock in their eyes. Okay, it was a kind of reverse-Scooby-Doo moment that she wanted. She wanted a Velma Dinkley moment. But those only happened in cartoons. Here, today, a real nation’s real security was on the line. Her job was to plant bugs to gain info on who was leaking info from the embassy.
When she rang the doorbell, nothing happened. She checked her appointment card, checked her watch, waited for thirty seconds, and rang again. After the third ring with no response, she hefted her toolbag and began walking the permeter of the embassy: a former early 20th century mansion. She tried peeking in the windows, but most were too high, or curtained. And the back yard was barred by an electrified fence. No guards, who she could plausibly ask for entrance, but fences aplenty. She considered actually picking up pebbles from the gravel driveway and pelting windows to get someone’s attention. She couldn’t plant any bugs if she couldn’t even get inside the building, could she?
Then she took another look at the electric fence. At the corner where it met the house, a pair of wires hung loose out of the post about six inches off the ground. She took a blade of grass and held it to the fence: nothing, not even a mild vibration. She grabbed the fence with her bare hand: the power was definitely cut. The lock on the fence’s gate was electronic as well, so she tried just turning the knob: the gate opened easily. With a deep breath, she proceeded into the back yard, where a patio stood before a large pair of double-doors set with glass panes. Through the glass, she saw the ambassador either practicing wrestling holds or locked in mortal combat with one of her aides, a slender man in a suit.
Lenore leapt through the glass doors and rolled into a crouch in the middle of the ambassador’s office. Both the ambassador and her aide turned toward her, distracted for the moment from their fight. Lenore stood and cried out, “What’s going on here?”
The ambassador shouted, “My aide has been leaking secrets from the embassy!” But the aide used the distraction to wrench the ambassador around into a headlock.
“No one will ever know!” he cried.
Lenore laughed. “I know! And thanks to my customer-service-guarantee coveralls, the customer service at Greensuit Electrical also know!” She pointed at the bodycam on her coveralls. “You might as well give up now.”
The aide let go of the ambassador and shook his head. “I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if you hadn’t called for an electrician.”
The ambassador ran to the door and shouted for security to come. They took the aide away, while Lenore recorded everything on her bodycam. Then she agreed with the ambassador that an electrician should come back another day. She made the appointment, and left without once breaking her cover.
Another win for the Agency.