It was May of 2017 that OLWG was introduced to the world. Help me celebrate five years of prompts.
This week’s prompts are at the bottom. Feel free to seize the prompts, twist them, form them, play with them as you will. All comers are welcome. The words below are just practice for me. I had a lot of fun writing them, and you know what I always say, “Practice makes perfect.”
Here’s how to play along, if you are unsure.
The first turning point came when Arthur got thrown out of school; he lost all his velocity. The experience took all the air from underneath his wings.
Arthur had been chasing a major in Contemporary Social Issues when he had to leave Holder University in his sophomore year. A field of study that entailed watching reruns of The Simpsons and South Park. He augmented his studies by chasing the adoration of co-eds. He also liked the joys of liquor and hallucinogenic narcotics. It was a great ride while it lasted. He had managed to become affiliated with the boys of Kappa Kappa Kong. He had gotten to know quite a few of the girls from Pi Lambda Who. Ahh, he missed those girls of Pi Lambda Who.
With his tail between his legs, Arthur slunk back home and went to work for his father, hanging drywall. He began to get his shit together but still had a ways to go. He cut way back on the alcohol and hallucinogens. Both were expensive indulgences for a man who hung drywall.
The Lambda Who girls would rarely venture this far from the city. So he chased, caught, and married a teacher known as Becky to her friends and as Miss Meadows to her students.
Working for his father allowed Arthur rapid advancement in the company. When the boss suffered an illness, Arthur took over the family business.
As owner and Chief Executive Officer of the drywall company, Arthur still hung a lot of drywall, but now, he could afford to drink again. So he did. He realized that he had lost his taste for hallucinogens, though. There were always other drugs, he found. The type of drugs that were still fun and that he could use in his pursuit of other women. Women who reminded him of his long lost Lambda Whos. His wife, Becky, was not interested in drugs. Other girls were. Arthur chased them all.
Arthur was beginning to feel that lift again. He was picking up speed and regaining confidence when it all started falling apart.
He caught Rhonda at The Liquid Lounge on the south side of Indianapolis. She was fast and liked to take risks. She was a party girl who increased his buoyancy in ways that his wife could not. Rhonda was an expensive catch and a bad habit. Lying to Becky did not come as easy as he had thought it would, either, and soon Arthur’s mental health began to suffer. His business began to suffer, and his marriage failed. Becky got the kids and the house. Rhonda went looking for someone else. Arthur became miserable, but he evolved, though not in a good way. He turned into an old, mean, sad, and cantankerous man.
No one liked him. He complained about how unfair his life was. What with losing his business, his family, house and party girl. He was always in a bad mood. One day everything changed. Overnight, Arthur became happy. His neighbours noticed. His children noticed. They suspected a trick, so they questioned him, a sort of an intervention, as it were.
“What happened to you?” they asked.
“Nothing special,” he replied, “All these years, I been chasing happiness. It was useless. I made up my mind to live without happiness. Guess what? I’m happy now. Oh, that – and Rhonda came back with her wife, Marigold. We have an open relationship.”
This week’s prompts are:
- don’t want to hear about it
- sweet revenge
- getting cold in here
You can start writing whenever you want, just write, get the words down – and have fun!