Remember Red Prompt from Write on Edge. This week is PERSONIFICATION. The dictionary defines personification as “the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.”
This week, tell a piece of your story from the point of view of an object who bore witness– 400 words or less. For your own prompt and link up visit: Write on Edge, Remember Red.
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Here I sit in the cold again. I’ve seen it all –cold, heat, sun, rain, and snow. But I don’t even care. You see, I’m just an old yard pump now. Oh, in my day they depended on me for water. Really, I’m that old. After the grandma sold the farm I went with her family to the next house and they only used me for my looks. The middle son, Ernie, took care of me after awhile because his mother thought I would look nice in his flower bed. She was right, for I looked grand. Ernie painted me blue. Nice! When he pained me yellow, I felt like a ray of sunshine all year long. I sat in his flower bed for a lot of years in two different homes. The family reminisced about grandma and the farm house when they sat in the lawn chairs looking at me standing there like a yard guard.
Then came grandsons. They played with my handle, up and down till I thought that part of me would break. Boys will be boys. Ernie would toss small fireworks in my direction at least once a year. Being a hard piece of metal I guess they thought I could take it. Wrong!
After awhile I didn’t see Ernie much. His kids were grown and the grandkids didn’t play with my handle anymore. One day a big black car pulled into his driveway and I never saw him again. His daughter, Mary, pulled me out of the ground and I landed in her yard right beside the garage. Often she’d sit on her porch and look at me. She cried sometimes. Without warning a few years later, I didn’t see her anymore, and I was pulled out of the ground and laid on my side for a long time. One day she appeared again and took me on a long ride. Lo and behold I was stuck in another yard. Mary had a gigantic dog at that house. Whew, I’m glad it was a female! Then Mary disappeared and something bad must have happened in the house because everything got moved out. What would become of me? Almost a year later she came back for me. Happy! I’m with Mary and somehow I know she is a part of Ernie, and I know that Ernie is a part of Grandma who started it all.
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Thanks for stopping by to read this. This is not the same writing I started out with. My first one was not the correct prompt for the correct day. If you notice some of the comments don’t match this topic, that’s why. Hope it’s not too confusing. The title is for the other piece I wrote, but it sort of fits. And yes, the photo is the same pump now painted white. I feel like it’s a part of me.
UPDATE on this reblog. Yes, the old hand pump is still in my backyard and I see it from where I’m sitting right now. It’s surrounded with snow and kind of blends in, but I know it’s there and why.
Mary J. McCoy-Dressel ~ Contemporary Romance 
10 thoughts on “The End of the Story, Remember Red Writing Prompt”
Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
Reblogged this on A Walk With Words and commented:
ReBlogging one of my favorite posts.
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Author Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
Thanks so much, Angie. Yeah, the old guy sure has been around! Happy you stopped by and commented.
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Angie @ On the rocks and straight up
Wow. Who would think an old water pump would see so much?
I like that the voice you’ve given it sounds a bit like a grumpy old man (in a good way), what with the “boys will be boys” business about the over pumping of the handle and being deluged with fireworks. And it almost segues into a confused older gentleman’s voice as the pump doesn’t understand the black car and where the people it loves have gone, why they don’t come back, why it gets moved around.
You did a wonderful job with this!
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Katie
Much like our lives, the old pump’s life has been filled with ups and downs. I was right there with it the whole way…SO happy when it ended up in a happy place at the end. 🙂 Nicely done!
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Author Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
Thanks, Katie. I wish I had more words because I had to leave out some things. Glad you enjoyed and stopped by.
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Author Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
Well, I wrote a different piece. This one does fit the correct Meme Remember Red. A big oops on my part! Hope you enjoy.
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angela
This is a great tie-in to your work in progress! I am interested to see what lies within the pages, espcially since I have a soft spot for old books.
(Not to split hairs, but just for future reference, RemembeRED is a memoir prompt. The Write on Edge fiction prompt (Red Writing Hood) posts on Tuesday evening and links on Friday.)
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Author Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
Angela, I’m sorry! I got my prompts and days mixed up. I should have know better!
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May
I am able to feel his dilemma with Eryn. He literally holds the answers but I assume he can not speak to her to tell her. She must read enough to discover. That dilemma could offer you a wealth of material.
Quite good, I was instantly engaged and stayed that way.
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Author Mary J. McCoy-Dressel
Hi, May, thanks for reading and commenting. I portrayed what I wanted to if you feel the dilemma. Unfortunately, I used the wrong prompt for the wrong day. I appreciate your comment, and I’m going to write another one for the Memoir prompt, like I should have. Oops.
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