Mistakes
Winter 2020 24-Hour Short Story Contest!
Title: Mistakes
MSWord Count: 830
Contest: 24-Hour Short Story Contest! Winter 2020
Topic!:
Use the sample below and incorporate it into your story.
Bluebonnets danced around her white skirt as she turned her face toward the sun. She only needed a few for the vase. Perhaps a little joy would soothe the inevitable unease at the table that night. It was always tense when meeting with her neighbors. She hoped enough time had passed. They had to know there was nothing she could do to change what had happened, right?
CRUCIAL HINT! You might be thinking there was an illicit affair, or a child born out of wedlock. The fact is, that's what MOST people reading this topic are also thinking! You should probably take this story in a different direction, don't ya think? (Wink wink!!)
ANOTHER CRUCIAL HINT! Whenever a contest happens during a big news event, lots of entrants insert that into their story. Before you think about including a virus or pandemic in your story, please know that lots of entrants are thinking the same thing. So, you might want to avoid that topic, too. ;)
Other Writings - Short Stories
Mistakes
Casualette couldn't help but smile as the bluebonnets danced around her white skirt. She turned her face toward the sun thinking that her inner light swelled as bright as that celestial object. She always felt this way when in the field of her bluebonnets. She couldn't help it, even though the site of them should put her to shame.
Focusing back to the task at hand, she drew a symbol on a large vase and sat it down. A few bluebonnets did a grand jeté and landed right inside it. The magical logogram would keep them contained. These bluebonnets were specifically for tonight.
Her work done, she went to her wagon filled with cages of the dancing flowers. She spoke the words to her horse for it to head home.
As she waved to the people who relaxed outside their mushroom, shaped homes, her smiles and greetings didn't reflect what dwelled in her mind. Casualette viewed the bluebells in the lawns and in the window flower boxes. Bluebells lined the streets and grew between the houses. Negativity was low during the day, so the bluebells heads hung down as they hummed. At night was when their songs were most needed to bring cheer and safety for everyone.
Casualette looked at the vase that sat next to her. She definitely needed to bring joy to the inevitable unease at the table tonight. Each meeting with her neighbors had always been tense since the germination of her plants. The leaders had insisted upon their immediately termination, but unfortunately, she botched that too. One missed stroke was all it took for their creation (bluebells versus bluebonnets), and another mistake made them indestructible. No one could destroy the flowers without destroying the land. Now, they just had to wait until their normal lifespan ended.
Mistake after mistake this year should have marked her with a bad omen. If it wasn't for the purity water inside the vile she kept around her neck, she would have been accused. Obtaining such a vile cost her a year's worth of wages, let alone supplying for tonight's feast.
It wasn't her turn to host, but she was chosen to anyway. She knew why. Pulling up to the stables of her home, she saw that they had all already arrived.
"I heard Mrs. Telnenes had bought three of these...things." the Bellwether said, her lips pursed and her eyebrows raised. She hadn't touched a single plate on the table, though it was filled with the ripest of fruits nestled in sweetgrass.
"And so did Mr. Helton," the Vice Bell said, with his disapproving face mimicking the leader's.
"Are you purposely not following orders, Casualette?" They all turned to look at her.
Her bluebonnets continued to dance inside the vase as she placed them in the center of the table. Casualette was beginning to think that their presence was yet another mistake. But then she looked at the other members and saw pleasant smiles as they watch them dance, while the leaders diverted their eyes.
"As you know, I have no bluebells to sell this season. There is nothing I could do to change my mistake," Casualette stated.
"Your mistake caused a waste of an entire field," the Vice Bell reminded her, yet again. "And, not only did you have the audacity to name these things," he waved his hand toward the vase, again not turning to look at them, "you choose to sell them as well."
"When customers come by, they see the bluebonnets," Casualette pleaded her case. "I sell them for basically nothing." She shrugged. "They were deemed, 'useless' as you both have constantly stated, yet I see only smiles."
"People are continuing to come and buy them," the Bellwether said, "and that's a problem. Our duty is to protect everyone from ill omens with the angelic sounds of the bluebells. This dancing," she said the word in disgust, "does nothing for society."
Casualette realized her blunder would never be forgiven. She knew what they were asking, but looking at her bluebonnet's dance...she just couldn't.
"Thank you for stopping by," she said, quickly taking a stance by the wooden door. She humbly watched their astonished faces at being dismissed.
Casualette watched them board their carriages and drive away as the caressing sound of the bluebells slowly changed their hum to a song. As she listened, she noticed the voices of the bluebells coming from Mrs. Sentirel's home across the way. She never heard them from such a distance before because there were so few of them. Mrs. Sentirel relied on the neighborhood of bluebells for protection since her house sat in a prime location--right in the center. But why was Casualette hearing them now?
Her bluebonnets, that Mrs. Sentirel had purchased yesterday, danced merrily along with the harmonic voices. The bluebells voices continued to grow as the encouraging bluebonnets danced. Casualette stood in wonderment as she witnessed a mistaken stroke of magic strengthening and crescendoing into the air.
© 2020