Wednesday, May 04, 2011

It Had To Be You

This is my entry to this week's Indie Ink Writing Challenge. The challenge I received is at the bottom of the post.
--
She walked out of the class with a heavy step. It was not that this was a particularly boring class. It had been one of her favorite classes until a few months ago. She loved the professor who taught this class, in fact he had been the one who had nudged her into picking her major. But lately nothing seemed interesting or worthy of her enthusiasm. "Hey do you want to come to the party at Mike's place next weekend?", it was her best friend who had caught up with her. She sighed and nodded her head in the affirmative. She didn't feel like going, but she had to. Mike was her ex-boyfriend and if she didn't go it would seem as if she was still not over him. She was the one who had dumped him a few months ago, the victor of the breakup if you will. Which meant that he got all the sympathy and she had to keep being normal and act like it wasn't a big deal.

But it wasn't the breakup that was bringing her down. Something was missing from her life and the worst part was she didn't know what it was. She tried music, partying, self help books but they just made her more weary. It seemed like nothing got her excited anymore. She missed being deliriously happy. She even tried skydiving, hoping that would crank up the systole of her heart and maybe the thrill would shock her back into good cheer. Sadly she was the only nonchalant skydiver that the instructor had ever seen.

That evening, she packed her car to go home for the weekend. Her parents lived four hours away and insisted that she visit them once a month. Considering that they were paying for her tuition, dorm and her car, she figured it was a small price to pay.

It was past dinner time when she pulled into their driveway. Her mother was waiting at the door and smothered her with kisses, while asking about the drive at the same time. She walked in and there she saw it! It was this huge record player, smack in the middle of the living room, looking anachronistic amidst the big screen LED TV and the Bose surround sound system. Her father stood by it proudly, preening like he had invented the gramophone. He said that he had found this at a garage sale two streets down. Her father had been a salesman till he retired, and there was nothing he loved more than a good deal. The guy who was selling this didn't know it's value and had thought that he was foisting it on her dad for $50. Her dad had played along, expressing some reluctance initially, until the guy threw in a bunch of Sinatra vinyl records to seal the deal.

She still felt that her father had got the wrong end of the bargain. She shook her head, part in amusement and mostly "I can't believe you actually bought that". But her father would have none of it. Soon Sinatra's mellifluous voice filled the air of the house singing "It had to be you". Her father took her hand and they started swaying to Sinatra. Her mother cut in for the next dance and before they knew it, they had danced the night away. She went to her room, exhausted and still humming a tune. A smile that had been in hiding the last couple of months, found its way into her mouth and eyes. Sometimes you need Sinatra and a deal crazy Dad to put things into perpective.

--
My challenge was from lifenbits. It was:
Write a story using these words: anachronic, foist, systole.
At first I thought it was a toughie and I had to look up two of the words for meanings. But once I found the main thread, it just kept going. Thank you for the challenge. I enjoyed writing this.

I challenged Michael Webb with "He ran on the beach, with the waves lapping at his aching legs. What is he running from?" and he responded here beautifully. Please do go and read it, I think he has done a great job.

9 comments:

Jinguchakka said...

Does it have to be fiction always? I didn't read up the rules. So excuse me if it is to be that way.

janani said...

No it doesn't have to be fiction. I couldn't come up with something that happened to me using those 3 words. You should join the challenge too Srini, it is a lot of fun.

Debra Gray-Elliott said...

Great writingg. Thanks for stopping by and your heartfelt comments.

supermaren said...

I have to admit, I was wondering where you were going to go with those words! But you did a great job, and you wrapped everything up really nicely.

janani said...

Thanks Debra and supermaren! When I saw my challenge for this weekend, I thought the karma gods (anyone watch Cougar Town?) had got me for complaining about my challenge last week! :-) I am pretty sure my use of the word systole is wrong too. I am waiting for lifenbits to give his verdict :-)

Unknown said...

This was very nice. I loved the reluctance to visit the parents that turned into a wonderful evening.

Great work, Jan!

Anonymous said...

Great job! I did look for those words in a dictionary. I apologize, I took it too seriously, the "challenge" part that is. I am glad to hear you liked the writing. I think you used well the systole of your heart. It was meant to be fun. Hope you had fun!

janani said...

Thanks Stef!

@lifenbits - Glad you liked it. I was hoping that I had used systole correctly! :) Please don't apologize, getting different kinds of prompts is what makes the challenge fun!

Marian said...

yes! i really liked this and laughed out loud about the nonchalant skydiver. ha!