Character: Spy
Object: Electrical Outlet
Genre: Comedy
I think of humor as one of my strengths, so I thought that getting comedy as a genre prompt would be fun for me. The thing is, I find humor in exploring the absurdities in other genres, so comedy as a genre feels like a blank to me. It’s like someone pointing at me with no context and shouting, “Be funny!” I thought that the main character might help me find a humor-hold, but “spy” wasn’t helpful for me either, since I’m not well-versed in the spy genre. But this exercise doesn’t ask for a perfect story, just a done story.
Well, I tried! And I think it’s at least a little funny, and there is a spy and an electrical outlet: so unlike Robert, I at least followed the prompt. 😉
Let me know what you think of this Friday Freewrite. If you write your own, please share it and I’ll respond!
Oh, and Language Warning for this one.
Jordan cased the hotel room with a bleary eye. It was in dulling pastels, the patterns on the carpet and on the bed clashed in their early-90s geometric designs. The room smelled stale even in its cleanness. She hated these middle-of-nowhere hotels. There were two electrical outlets in the main bedroom, one under the window, one on the wall with the TV, and a third outlet in the bathroom.
The outlet on the TV wall would be best, it was the wall that shared with the room next door where the mark was staying, she would finally catch this mark after 3 boring months of following her on some dull “journey to self-discovery” road trip. Stupid assignment, why did she have to get the youngest adult daughter of some washed up mafioso wanna-be as a mark? Shaking the tools out of their case, it was quick work to pry off the cover to the outlet. She sat back in shock, there was a note stuffed into the crevasse between the two sockets.
She pulled out the paper, it was a folded-up piece of paper from one of those cheap hotel pads. In round printing, in skippy ball-point pen, there were the words: I NO YOUR THEIR JERDIN -YER MARK. She flinched, because not only was she caught, whoever left it couldn’t spell. She stared at the note, debating what she should do. She peered into the gap in the wall, there was already a pinhole through to the other side. The mark sat on the bed in a baggy t-shirt and yoga pants, reading a dingy paperback book.
“Fuck it.” She thought and knocked on the wall. She was done being bored.
“Oh, you’re finally there!” chirped the woman on the bed. “I know you’ve been spying on me.”
“Yeah.”
“To get to my dad?”
“Right again.”
“Well, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know if you hang out with me.”
“What?! I… what?”
“I’m bored. I want to hang out.”
“But I’m a spy…”
“And seeing grammatical errors broke you and you revealed yourself. We should hang out.”
Jordon and Maddie spent the rest of the evening watching cheesy sci-fi movies. In between bites of stale microwave popcorn and sips of semi-flat soda, Jordan got the information her boss needed.
“You know, I’m trying to get away from that side of the family. Why else would I be driving across the most boring stretch of the continental US?”
“Self-discovery?” Jordan ventured.
“Is it because I wear yoga pants?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmmm. Someone’s a judgmental bitch. You know what you need?”
“A journey of self-discovery and a stay in a nicer hotel at the next stop?”
“Sounds good to me.”
*THE END*