Morning all and welcome to August, and the last prompt of the week. August brings in thoughts of school supplies and cooler weather. I will be stocking up on notebooks, but not so sure about the weather yet. For now, timers set and lets get rolling on the first prompt of the new month.
I like the untenable situation that a character is still trying to figure out how to make work. Clearly something will happen. Not sure what, but I like the set up.
Friday, August 1st: She picked up the hairbrush.
She picked up the hair brush. The handle was cracked. Jessie sighed and took it back to her room. ‘I knew better than to leave it in the bathroom,’ she scolded herself. She went to her desk and took out the roll of duct tape she had stashed there. She peeled off a strip and wrapped it around the break several times hoping to provide some stability so the crack wouldn’t go all the way through the handle before she could buy another one. When she thought the handle was secure enough to work, she sat down on her bed and used the wet brush to start to work through her tangles. Normally she used a shampoo that worked wonders on her tangles, eliminating them before they could arise. But she left the shampoo and conditioner in the shower after her last wash and the twins used the rest of the products up, leaving her with the more generic brand that did nothing for her hair. The fact that the generic brand was bought for household use during the normal stocking of household products and Jessie purchased the other shampoo and conditioner on her own with money made from her after school job would mean nothing if she complained.
‘Just like complaining about the brush would mean nothing either.’ Jessie knew one of the twins was responsible for the damage to the brush but she wouldn’t be able to prove it. ‘Even with proof it wouldn’t be believed.’
The twins could do no wrong.
Jessie sighed as she worked out the tangles, knowing that the detangling spray she kept as back up was also gone. Lately the twins had stopped being content with taking and using the things she left out, but actually going into her room and taking things there when she wasn’t around.
‘Maybe if I get travel sized items and keep them in my purse it would help.’
It was an option, and Jessie needed an option if she wanted to be able to use the things she purchased. She winced as the brush stick in one of the bigger tangles. She stood up and got the comb from her desk drawer and returned to the bed, using both the comb and the brush to work delicately through the tangles. She tried to swallow down her annoyance.
The travel products would work for a while as long as she kept her purse with her and didn’t let the twins see that was where she was stashing things. The fact that she was having to keep things like shampoo on her to keep it from being appropriated was annoying to say the least. Lately the twins had gotten worse. It wasn’t just the products they would use up but other things had started to go missing. Earrings were the most frequently missing item but there were other small things. They would disappear and never be seen again. She would see them on one of the twins when they were out of the house but never in it and generally she would only see it one or two times. Then something else would go missing.
She was beginning to think that they viewed the items they took from her as disposable. Borrowing and returning she could almost understand even if they hadn’t asked permission. The borrowing and throwing away made her angry. She had, as a consequence, Already started carrying the jewelry that meant something to her in a small pouch in the bottom of her purse.
“I suppose the bath products were just the next step.”
Ten til Midnight 