Saturday, February 28, 2009

Raven's Challenge 52

Today I face another Raven's Challenge.

This Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: Netflix, mortgage, skunk, flagrant, the New York Times, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, perpendicular, geometry, crabby, shoveling snow
Mini Challenge: pragmatic, crystal ball, laundry, safflower oil, Gregorian chants
I face another Raven's Challenge.

The Ten Word Challenge
The snow was coming down hard, and Matt Cain was becoming crabby, as he thought about shoveling snow again. His day had not gone well. His evening might also prove to be unkind. He was on call. His immediate concern was staying on the road.
There are advantages to having a nine to five job, such as sitting down and reading The New York Times, or watching a DVD from Netflix, or even reading the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy.
But he did not have a nine to five job. Sometimes he would work from 7:00AM to 6:00AM. He had a well paying job, but he did have a mortgage, student loans, and car payments. Tonight he was on call, he could be called out to talk to someone thinking of ending their life.
What the job paid was not the important factor but the fact that you could help people. He enjoyed helping people, giving them back their lives. The work was slow and difficult. Some people did not want to get help. They thought they were OK. The court said that they needed help. In geometry a perpendicular line remained a perpendicular line. this is not so in mental health therapy.
Blocking his success was sometimes the agency itself. The flagrant reconstruction of the operating procedures proved harmful to both the clients and the clinicians. One day things were done one way, the next day it was done differently.
As Matt drove into his the snow covered driveway, he smelled the pungent odor of skunk. he hoped that the animal was now gone, for that driveway needed to be shoveled, and he didn't want any kind of smelly confrontation.
As he was clearing the driveway the pager went off, and it was back out into the storm to evaluate someone for possible hospitalization. Not even snow shoveling came before that.

The Mini Challenge
Sandy Shore put on a CD of Gregorian Chants, as she did her laundry. She was struggling to sort through the business of a penguin that would suddenly appear and change her life. She thought of it as bad, but this was not always the case. The fact is in most cases it was for the good. She was sure that even with a crystal ball she would not know when it would appear. Random appearances made it hard for her to be pragmatic. Would the penguin show up to disrupt her trying to eat healthy by using safflower oil in cooking?
It came time to leave the laundry and start her meal. She put in two tablespoons of safflower oil in a skillet and added chicken breasts. Her fear became realized for the penguin appeared adding brown sugar ,cinnamon apple slices and apple cider. As the chicken cooked the penguin basted it in the sauce that was forming. The penguin then vanished.
. It was a great meal but she ate alone.

15 comments:

Nessa said...

I loved both of your stories: so different yet very compelling.

Richard said...

Perhaps is was really Martha Stewart in disguise.

Jeff B said...

Ah, a therapists job is never done!

Raven said...

Both great stories. I think your writing has shifted in some way though I can't put my finger on it. In any case, great job. I like that Sandy is getting more comfortable with the penguin... And it's I liked the first one. It's nice that there are good people like that out there helping out.

juliana said...

two great stories again. nice to see the characters evolve

Dianne said...

the penguin can cook!! wonderful!

I really felt for poor Matt

HeatherK said...

The loneliness of Miss Shore. I have interpreted the penguin as a man in a penguin suit accompanying her through mundane household chores. When all is done she settles to eat with the realization that she is dining alone.

I like thinking about what you have written.

gabrielle said...

The ten word: so many unsung heros.

The mini: please send penguin over to my kitchen.

Chatty said...

I like your clinician. He's a good man. I hope he doesn't burn out on his difficult job - many do.

I think we all have penguins of a sort...at least this one sounds like a good cook!

Melli said...

Well! At least the penguin can COOK! What a great deal!

So, the story goes with Matt Cain. I wonder if he and Mark are going to end up in the same episode one day...

Alice (in BC Canada) said...

Betty, two good stories again. I particularly enjoyed the 10 word challenge. Very good!!!

Anonymous said...

Sorry I'm late. Life got in the way.

These are great lines:
In geometry a perpendicular line remained a perpendicular line. this is not so in mental health therapy.

I am enjoying Matt's story. And you know, Sandy should be glad the penguin cooked for her. I'd like someone to cook for me. I tried to get OC to do it, but he said "restaurant" and I really didn't want to go out.

Lu' said...

I think Sandy's penguine is pretty cool and have enjoyed reading about the disappearing critter.

Carletta said...

I'm way late getting here - so sorry.
I hadn't played in awhile until last week. I had forgotten about the penguin - glad to see he's still around.
'But she ate alone' - a little sad.
Both great stories.

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