Writing Group Excercise

A while ago I attended a local, weekly writing club for beginners. There were only four of us, but we'd meet in a local library conference room and work on our writing. One of us would bring a writing exercise and we'd take 30 minutes to write something based on the exercise. We would then take turns reading our piece and giving each other constructive criticism. 

It was a really welcoming and friendly group. Sadly, two of our group moved away and now it's just myself and a another who has a busy family life, so the group has mostly dissolved. There is a more professional writing club in town, and I'm steeling my nerves to attend one of their bi-monthly meetings. In the meantime, I've been trying to keep up with my writing exercises. The exercise below was a stream-of-consciousness type story, using 'story cubes' as writing prompts. Enjoy!

Rory's Story Cubes

*****

Last night's rain washed the city's top layer of dirt away, leaving everything one shade brighter than usual. As I stepped off the stairs of my brownstone, I took a deep breath of the crisp, clean air. The kind of air that's just cold enough to really wake you up and give your cheeks that incredible flush no blusher can ever really reproduce. 

"A rainbow!" I say out loud with a smile, thinking today's going to be a great day.

I set off towards my favorite bodega, the one where the attendant adds up my purchases using his grandfather's abacus from China. 

"A latte and today's paper, Jimmy." I request. 

"Ah, the usual," he says with a strained smile. As Jimmy's making my latte - well, making is a kind way of saying pushing a button marked 'Latte' on one of those new-fangled, ubiquitous machines - I notice the safe under the register is slightly ajar. I look back up at Jimmy and realize he's not his usual, jovial self. 

Looking around the little shop, I sense a tightness in the air. The hairs on the back of my arm prickle with the primitive fight-or-flight response, and I ease my hand down to my waist, quietly popping the safety latch on my holster. 

As cheerfully as possible, I say, "Jimmy, c'mon, you're moving as fast as a turtle. Everything okay?" 

"Oh, yeah. Everything's fine," he replies, but his eyes dart over to the magazine rack. 

I shift my weight and slightly turn towards the magazines  as I say, "Okay. Beautiful day, isn't it?" And then I see him in the security mirror, crouched behind the spinning rack of straight-to-DVDs, a man using what appears to be a nylon as a mask. 

I ease my gun out of the holster and give Jimmy a look that hopefully says 'don't move' and take a few, slow steps towards the DVDs. 

"NYPD! Come out with your hands up!" I shout as I level the gun and take steady aim. 

He jumps up and grabs the DVD rack, swinging it violently at me. I jump to the left, narrowly avoiding the rack and all of the b-movie projectiles that go flying. The masked robber is off balance for just a second and that's all I need to pin and cuff him. 

Ahh, just another day in the Big Apple. Yes, today's going to be a great day!

******

And for the record, I blame a recent Castle binge-watching session for this Kate Becket inspired story :-)