Sketchy Trio

This was a sketchy prompt from Carrot Ranch for me this week. (June 28, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that is a sketch or about a sketch. Go where the prompt leads you to scribble.) I wondered if I was ever going to come up with a response. So I decided to keep it simple and tried to sketch one of my neighbors, a very large snapping turtle. That got the ink flowing. Next I riffed off of Charli’s post, in which she describes sketching as a literary artist. Finally, I sketched a scene that was led to my head by the prompt. I hope you enjoy and I encourage you to read at the Ranch. 

A Neighbor

We’ve met before on this lake. She’s a big one. Today she’s lazing just underneath the surface, her mossy plated shell a hub for four bumpy, clawed legs that dangle beneath her, for the spiny leathery tail ruddered behind, for her massive craggy beady-eyed beak-tipped head. She dives then comes back to the surface, sticking her snout out of the water, taking air in through flared nostrils. Seeing me, she swims silently away. I feel she’s ancient, wonder at her long life, but cannot begin to say what she thinks or feels. Out of respect I don’t even try.

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The Sketch Artist

“Okay, let’s begin”, Officer Mills said, sketch pad in hand.

“He had a round face, with brown eyes.”

“No, describe him. Did he harbor a storm in his eyes? Did his past linger at the edges of his unspoken thoughts?”

“Umm, he was tall… about six foot four.”

“Six foot four?! How tall was he? We need a sketch. Was he simply tall like a tree, or did he walk in that head hunched way that tall people do, ducking through doorways, folding into cars?”

“I don’t know! You’re just writing words! Where’s the sketch artist?”

“Right here, literally.”

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Heaven Knows

“Didn’t think it’d be like this. I always heard it was more like a movie, you know, your life replayed for you.”

“I was surprised too. A pile of sketches they hand you. Your own sketches.”

“So, you have to go back too?”

“Ha, you bet I do. Any of us with these skinny little sketchbooks have to retrain and go back for another lifetime. Next time, I’m going to make more time for sketching. For etching deeds and memories.”

“Yeah, they say if you get here with good stories to tell you’re all set.”

“Heaven knows, that’s life.”

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