Morning all and welcome to another Monday morning. We have a little bit of sun today which is nice. I’m guessing from the clouds on the horizon and the weatherman’s predictions that the sun won’t last. The temps have at least dropped to seasonally appropriate which is nice, if chilly. And now it is time to warm up the brain with a morning writing prompt, are you ready? Think otf it as deep knee bends for the brain. Deep breath now and remember, inhale through the nose, exhale through your mouth.
I like this prompt. I didn’t quite know where I was going with it when I started, but I like where it ended up. I love when petty people’s pettiness is utterly pointless.
Monday, November 14th: The wind blew her hair back into her face.
The wind blew her hair back into her face. She tried to imagine herself on one of those shampoo commercials where the models hair streamed in the wind and waved beautifully, the sun catching the highlights and making them look like spun gold.
The image wouldn’t stay. Frist of all, her brown hair didn’t glow in the the sunlight. It just looked dull, mousey even. Secondly the hair was sticking to the sunscreen she recently applied to her face. That never seemed to happen to the models no matter how glistening their skin looked.
Denise delicately peeled the strips of hair away from her face. She suspected that her hair was a lost cause but still hoped she could at least pretend that it looked cool and casually windblown. Most of all, she wanted to leave as much sunscreen on her face as possible. The tube she brought with her was mysteriously low on product when she applied it this morning and after her application it was completely depleted.
While she couldn’t picture her hair catching any highlights from the sun, she could see the sun burning strips across her face where the sunscreen had been removed by her hair.
‘And wouldn’t that be charming,’ she thought dryly. Regardless of looks as soon as she peeled her hair off her face, Denise took the elastic band from around her wrist and bundled it up into a loose knot at the base of her head. Like the cool windblown look, she had never mastered the messy bun on top of her head look either. It just never came out right so the best she could so was bundle it out of the way.
As she di, Denise wondered what happened to her sunscreen. She was certain it was a new unopened bottle when she added it to her bag. She didn’t want to run out and suspected that sunscreen might be more expensive the closer she got to the beach.
‘Like coffee in an airport,’ she thought.
Hair taken care of and no longer sticking to her face and threatening her sunscreen, Denise continued on. She spotted one of the beach umbrellas the resort set out. They were large and would suit her fair skin nicely. While she trusted the sunscreen to help her when she ventured out of the umbrella’s shade, she wasn’t planning to sit in the sun to broil like a lobster.
As she settled herself under the protective shade, she noticed the belongings of the others nt too far from where she was setting up. It was no surprise that they didn’t wait for her. They were gone from the hotel when she went to look for them and she took her time with things thinking they would eventually show up. When they didn’t she decided to head down to the beach.
As she was settling, they came out of the water. They were laughing and smiling, clearly having spent a good deal of time in the sun and water.
“There you are,” her step mother said. “We were wondering if you would ever leave the hotel.”
“I thought the beach might be fun,” Denise said. She knew recriminations would do no good. No one told her they were leaving the hotel for the beach and she doubted that was an accident.
Her suspicions were more or less confirmed when the rest of them decided they were done with the beach for the deay and gathered their belongings ti head back up to the hotel.
“You enjoy your time on the beach, dear,” her step mother called as they began to head back. “The sun will do you wonders, but I’m afraid we are all exhausted.” One of her step sisters cast her a smug look. Denise said nothing and let them walk away, heading back to the hotel.
Their departure was no surprise at this point and pretty much par for the course. She knew that by the time she got back to the hotel they would have already gone off to someplace else, shopping, dinner, some tourist destination. She would be left to her own devices and then when they returned there would be talk of what she missed and how it was a shame she couldn’t join them.
‘The trip is at least almost through,” she reminded herself. She knew they wouldn’t be looking for her when they went to the airport. The though made her smile. Her flight was actually a few hours earlier than theirs so this time she would be gone before they departed. In addition, she would be landing at a different destination. Denise thought of her plans and stared out to sea. This time a light wind blew and she felt it caress her skin rather than plaster her hair to her face. It really was quite pleasant to have the beach to herself.
Ten til Midnight 