This was the first story I wrote as part of the keyword challenge I first mentioned in the introduction to the story Tell Me What You See, posted almost a year ago now. Back then I didn’t really explain what that keyword challenge involved, at least, not in the introduction, so I will do so here.
The way it worked was, a former travel buddy and I her an drawing-type person, me a writing-type person, each came up with a list of random words (the image at the bottom of the page is my list, if any one is interested in lists of random words). Next, we would randomly selected two words, one from my list and one from her list. Then, we would use the 60 something minutes of our morning bus ride to write a story (me) or draw a picture (her) based on or inspired by those two words.
That’s it, that’s all there was to it.
I personally found it enjoyable and rewarding, but then I have always found those sort of writing challenges or exercises to be super inspirational.
Hope you enjoy this small tall tale.
There was nothing in this world that Alex loved more than a good adventure. It could be a big adventure, or a small adventure. it could be the kind of adventure that takes place entirely in one’s head, or it could be the kind of adventure enjoyed by hundreds upon hundreds of people all at the same time. It didn’t matter to Alex at all.
And this was why it was so sad that Alex could not remember the last time that she had had an adventure of any kind.
Perhaps it was because she didn’t have a lot of time these days? Perhaps it was because she didn’t have anyone with whom she could go on adventures? Perhaps she had forgotten how to adventure? Whatever the reason was, the fact of the matter was that it had been far too long since Alex’s last adventure and something needed to change.
Of course, none of the reasons mentioned above had anything to do with Alex’s lack of adventures – there was always time for adventures, you needed to make the time; adventures weren’t necessarily something you needed company for, not all of them; and people never forget how to adventure. Never ever! Not even the people who really want to.
No, all Alex needed, all anyone ever needs to start a new adventure was a spark.
This spark can take many forms. One might go as far to say that the number of places where this spark could come from, and the possible forms that this spark could take, are endless. it just so happened that the spark which ignited Alex’s long overdue adventure cam in the from of a person. A new person. A person who, upon meeting Alex for the very first time, decided or perhaps realised, that he would adore Alex, relentlessly and wholeheartedly, until his very last moment on this earth. And quite possibly beyond that.
This was absolutely fine with Alex because, as it turned out, she was rather fond of this person in turn. Maybe not quite as fond as he was of her, but who’s to say, and does it really matter?
Sadly, the story of Alex and the person who ignited the spark within her did not last very long at all. It was only a short story, short but rewarding. And it’s okay that it didn’t last long, nothing lasts forever, sad things especially. Time and circumstance may have cut short their shared adventure, but for Alex at least, that spark remained and it never left again. It was a spark that carried her through many, many adventures. Adventures she adored all the more because every one of them reminded her of where, and with whom, she had found her spark.
The End
James Farish-Carradice
Small Tall Tales 