Sunday, July 31, 2016

Tuesday Tales - Word Prompt Fly






Welcome to this weeks Tuesday Tales. The story picks up where Jill and Robbie are at Strawberry Fields, in Central Park in New York City. This is a work in progress and has get to be titled.



Their afternoon in Central Park was flawless. They spent an hour at Strawberry Fields listening to different musicians perform their rendition of their favorite Beatle's songs. The slow ones they danced as a couple, the fast ones they sang along with the crowd. Jill couldn’t be more pleased with the way the afternoon had gone.
The only thing missing, to make it a perfect afternoon was feeling Robbie’s lips pressed against hers. As the sun started to set, Robbie took her hand and led her to the fountain where they sat in silence watching the orange colored sky turn into darkness.

Robbie stood first before reaching his hand out to Jill.  “After all that singing and dancing, I worked up a hell of an appetite.”

“To be honest, now that we stopped dancing, I am starting to feel the cold drive through my bones. A cup of coffee would be the perfect antidote,” she said walking along side him.

“Yes it would be, but it’s going to be a challenge keeping you warm until we get there. I know this place down in Little Italy that will serve us espresso before we order our meal.  How does that sound?”

“Sounds great.”

“But for the problem at hand…” Robbie placed his hands on her waist, and leaned into her tenderly kissing her lips.

Jill slid her hands up his leather jacket and rested them on his shoulders. The softness of his lips against hers drove her crazy. After a few minutes, Jill backed out of his embrace.  What was she doing? How could she let herself mix business with pleasure? She wished she could get on the next plane and fly back home to California. But, her life had ended there. All that was left was her broken marriage and a career that went belly up because the network went bankrupt.

“Hey, I thought it would take longer than that to warm you up.”

“I’m still cold.”

Robbie walked over to a street vendor and bought a wool scarf, which he tied around her neck and a woolen hat. “There you go.  That should keep you warm until we get downtown.”

Sticking his hand out, he flagged down a cab.  He opened the door and Jill slid in rubbing her gloved hands together. “Mulberry Street,” he told the cab driver.

“I forgot how cold New York City gets in the winter. I guess that’s the only thing I really miss about California is the hot weather.”

“What would the holidays be without the cold weather or snow?”

 “That’s the one thing I hated about being California in the winter. The last Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I spent sitting out at the pool dangling my feet in the water by myself.”

“You won’t be having anymore holidays like that. We’ll be too busy working on the show. Time doesn’t come to a standstill in New York City. We work on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas Day, for the people on staff who aren’t flying home to be with family or friends, the producers put out a lavish spread on the set. The men you met earlier are family oriented.  They are good people. As long as you’re a part of this set, they take care of you.”

“Wow. I wouldn’t expect that.”

“You’re part of a unique family. I’m a so happy, in more ways than one that we met.”

“Me too.”

The cab pulled up in front of Angelo’s Italian Restaurant. Robbie paid the driver before sliding out of the cab and taking Jill’s hand in his, leading her into the restaurant. The hostess led them to an intimate table against the wall where a beautifully painted picture of Sicily lined the wall.

“Are you ready for a cup of espresso or would you like to have a glass of the best red Italian wine you have ever drank?”

“Since you put it that way, I would have to go with the wine.”

“Perfect choice, for the perfect lady.”

Perfect? He has no idea.
 

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Tuesday Tales - Word Prompt - Write



Welcome to this weeks Tuesday Tales to the Word Prompt - Write. This is a Contemporary Romance which is untitled. Thanks for stopping by.


Robbie stepped out of the elevator first, holding his hand out to Jill. She slid her hand into his as he led her outside into the blast of cold air. Despite the ice cold weather, Jill forgot how beautiful Manhattan looked with a fresh layer of snow hanging off the trees. As a teen her parents had brought her to Rockefeller Center to go ice-skating.  She always loved the freedom she felt skating around, in and out of the crowds.

“Are you up for a short walk?” he asked squeezing her hand.

Jill lifted up her left foot and pointed at her Uggs boots.  “I am good to go.”

“Perfect because I love walking around in…”he trailed off.

“Are you going to tell me where you’re taking me?”

“I’m going to share with you the one place that sooths my soul.”

Jill had no idea where he was taking her.  Not that it matter.  She looked forward to seeing the place that Robbie wanted to share with her. He slid his hand into her wool gloves.  She wondered if this was friendly or if she should read something more into it.  However, after writing on the soap, she knew questioned if true love was even possible, especially since she couldn’t keep her marriage together.

“I look forward to sharing this with you. I could use going to a place to sooth my soul, since it seems that I have a lot of writing ahead of me.”

“If you can write the next few episodes like you wrote the first three, than I don’t think you are going to have a problem at all. And I will give you the time you need to get your work done.  I just feel that after signing the contract, we need to celebrate.”

“I agree. I just can’t believe how fast things are going.  I never expected to be working.  I thought I would be sending resume after resume looking for something.”

“That’s why like is so unexpected.  You never know what’s going to happen from one minute to another.  Finding you was pure luck in more ways than one,” Robbie said squeezing her hand.  “Just a little further.”

They walked along the outside of Central Park. The last time Jill was here was right before   She would sit on the Great Lawn with her writing pad writing out scenes for a book she wanted to write. Funny, how writing a book turned into a long raining stunt writing for a soap opera.
she left
for California. She always loved Central Park, especially during the summer when all the trees where bloomed.

Robbie led her into the park. She held his hand tightly as the walkway was filled with snow and ice.

Robbie stopped walking and faced Jill. “I come here all the time. I hope you appreciate this as much as I do.”

“I’m sure I will. Hopefully I get enough inspiration to spend the night writing away.”

“I have no doubt that you will. Come on, follow me.”

As they walked further onto the path, the sign “Strawberry Field”
was a few feet before they hit the circle. Jill was familiar with this spot as she sat down on the bench many a day listening to amateur musicians playing John Lennon’s songs.

“I’ve been here many times, Robbie. In fact I always sit on the bench over there,” she pointed. “Can we sit there?”

Robbie’s eyebrows flew up.  “That’s the same bench I sit in when I come here. This has always been my place before I moved to California.”

Robbie didn’t answer.  Instead, when a musician starting playing John Lennon’s music on his guitar, Robbie pulled her up against him and started dancing with her, dancing for the duration while the middle aged hippy played his acoustic guitar. 

Monday, July 11, 2016

Tuesday Tales - Word Prompt Smudge





Welcome to this week's edition of Tuesday Tales to the word prompt Smudge. This is a WIP and is untitled.



Jill followed the blonde haired secretary into the long oval office. In the center of the room was a long table with only five chairs occupied.  Her eyes immediately scoped the room until her gaze met Robbie’s, who sat grinning at her.

“Can I get you a cup of coffee, tea or a cold drink?” she asked.

“No, thank you.”

A tall young man dressed in jeans and shirt and tie, stood. “Come in Ms. Reed. Please take a seat next to Robbie. I’m Mr. Nelson. But you can call me Gary. We are informal here.”

Jill shook his hand. “Please, call me Jill.”

“I planned on.”

Jill sat, turning her chair sideways so she could see everyone sitting at the table. As Gary introduced the producer, director and head writer, Jill made a mental note to remember each man’s name and title.

In front of each of them were a binder, highlighter, pen and two pencils. This setup reminded her of meetings when she worked on the soap, except that she was the one sitting in the head writer seat.  

Gary opened spent the next ten minutes telling the staff about her background and awards she had won through the years. He then proceeded to ask everyone to open their binder.  The first few pages were excerpts of the work she had on the soap. Gary went into detail about her work and about how he spoke to the network head that had nothing but wonderful things to say about Jill, causing her cheeks to heat up.

The door to the office opened and his secretary walked in with a dish of muffins, placing it in the center of the table between them. She proceeded to place a coffee mug in front of Jill and filled it with coffee. Jill looked up to thank her and noticed that her lipstick was smudged on her lips.
Nodding her head in thanks, Jill poured milk into her mug and held it between her hands.

“I’d like you to all go to section two.” Gary turned the plastic covered sheet in his binder before helping himself to a muffin.

Section two consisted of the episode she had written. Robbie reached over and squeezed her shoulder. Jill let out a nervous giggle when she saw her name listed as writing the script. Even though she had written thousands of scenes for the soap, seeing her name as writer of a new series sent chills down her spine.

“Everyone has had a chance to review the next two episodes Jill wrote. I’m hoping to get some feedback on the script,” Gary said, breaking off a piece of muffins and eating it.

“I’m really excited at where the sitcom is going,” Darren, the head writer said.  “Jill took a pilot episode and created characters that the audience is going to care about.  She took my idea and ran with it.”

“I like how she was able to develop characters without seeing the initial character sketches I created,” Blake, the sitcom producer added. “Jill is going to be a valuable part of the staff.”

“It’s hard to believe that I had the luck to meet her on the plane.  It’s something how luck has a lot to do with things. “

“Well you found a gem here.”  Gary patted Robbie on his shoulder. “You did an excellent job. I think we are going to have a winner here. Jill?”

“Yes.”

“Would it be possible for you to continue working on the next few episodes? I’d like to get this back into production in the next few weeks.”

“Sure. I’ll start working it.”

“Before we do anything, I need for you to go to section four in your binder where you will find your contract. You will see we offer a comprehensive package as well as salary. Look it over and have your attorney send it over to me after you sign.”

“I will. Thank you Gary.”

For the rest of the meeting they talked about the sitcom and where they wanted to see it go and
determine if there were enough characters to keep the plot fresh. After working years on the soap, when the characters went dry, Jill would pull someone from there past out or would create a new situation, love interest or secret baby. But writing a sitcom, opened up so much more than the usual drama.

When Gary stood, so did everyone else.  “We’ll meet back here next Tuesday at 8:30 AM for a breakfast meeting.  Be prepared to work on episode two.  The set designer will also be attending. The pilot only had three scene changes. I was hoping to get some scenes taking place on location throughout Manhattan.  Jill had introduced an on location exchange between two of the characters at the park. So put your thinking caps on and be ready to work.”

Robbie led her out of the office.  Once they were alone on the elevator, Jill shouted out, “Yes.”

“I knew they loved your work.”

“I don’t know how to thank you.”

Robbie grinned. “I can think of a way.”

“Tell me,” she flirted back.

He leaned into her, raised her chin with his thumb and kissed her lips.  “Let me show you my special place in Manhattan.  What do you say?”

Before she could answer the doors to the elevator opened in the lobby.

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