There’s a story coming, I can feel it. It’s not yet ready to be served, but it keeps simmering in my head, like a good pasta sauce. It will take the time it takes, there’s no rush. The details are not yet clear, but the story seems to involve an elderly defiant-looking man with a cane sitting outside waiting, and a woman approaching him — a little hesitantly. He wears a hat and a black suit with wide legs. She, too, has a hat and is dressed in a coat, a handbag in her hand. The scene doesn’t look very modern, it can be the 1950’s for all I know. It can be the first scene or the last. Or maybe it’s the pre-story for a story that leads up to today.
Why does she hesitate? What’s behind his defiant appearance? What will be the first words they exchange?
I’ll let it simmer for a while.
A story must simmer in its own juice for months or even years before it’s ready to serve.
— Edna Ferber
WordPress Daily Prompts: Simmer
