Friday Fictioneers – a weekly blog link-up based on a photo prompt.
The Challenge – write a one hundred word story that has a beginning, middle, and end. (No one will be ostracized for going a few words over the count.)
The Key – make every word count.
The Picture –
Copyright -Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Locked Out
She woke, moaned, and pushed his foot to the floorboard. Get your foot out of my side, she said, stretching in the cramped space.
He sat up, quipped get your side out of my foot, and looked up out the window. What’re the chances your landlord’s awake?
What time is it? she asked.
He squinted at his watch. It’s six fifty.
No chance, but with the sun up I can climb the fire escape, drop through the roof hatch into the back stairwell, and use my license to pop open my door.
Get to it, he laughed. There’s coffee in there.
(101 words)
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Feedback appreciated. It’s amazing what a picture can do to blow the dust off an old memory. I haven’t thought about that Saturday morning in Chicago in 1998 probably since about a week after it happened (that’s the longest it would have taken for another misadventure to take place).
What story comes to mind when you see that picture? Join in!
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*Featured and Post Image Copyright – Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
**The ads (which may appear) below are not mine, but they keep this free for me. Do with them as you choose.
This Is My Corn 
now that’s one way to get back in. love the idea of using a license plate to pop the door open. i enjoyed your story.
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Thank you Sun!
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I’d go for the coffee too. I never used my license to get a door open, but I’ve seen it done on TV. Good idea and good story! Thanks 🙂 Nan
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Thank you Nan! A credit card actually works better because it is more flexible than a license, but it will scratch up the card to use it this way. It takes some effort, but it works, and that’s really kind of scary. 🙂
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Dear Melanie,
My question is, if she could do this all along, why didn’t she do it the night before sleeping in a cramped space? Nonetheless a good one and coffee is always necessary.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you Rochelle!
Coffee is always necessary. 🙂
This happened back in 1998, and your picture reminded me and I haven’t thought about it in forever. There were three of us in a Jetta. We had been out drinking and there weren’t a lot of lights in area. It was just a couple of hours to sunrise, so we napped in the car to sleep off some of the alcohol, rather than wake the landlord or risk breaking our necks. Thanks for asking. It’s a good question. I hope I answered it.
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Funny story, Melanie! I would not want to be cramped and sleeping in that elevator all night. That might be creepy. I hope they didn’t come across any vampires. This was a great take! I kind of want the guy to jump in and do it, you know be the knight in shining armor, but I see our girl is tough and can handle any situation. I like that, too.
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Thank you Amy! I’m not sure she would have stopped long enough for him to offer to help. She’s pretty self-reliant. 🙂
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I got locked out once. Had to smash a window and climb through. Cut my leg up. Was a bit younger at the time mind you so things like a lock smith didn’t come to mind
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Broken windows are pretty dangerous.
Youth and logic don’t always go hand-in-hand. It’s much more fun to risk life and limb rather than pay a professional. 🙂
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Ah, the joys of youth when we don’t worry about ‘what if’ but just go with it. That’s reignited some memories of my own too – thank you! 🙂
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It’s amazing what will awaken a memory after years of collecting mind-dust. Thanks for reading! I hope the memories were good ones!
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Yes, they were!
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I always find brevity challenging. But I did like your story; there is a dynamic there, as well as an invitation to ‘get on with it’ … coffee or life … or both!
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Thank you Daniela! Brevity is challenging, and I hope to get better at it.
I’m glad you noticed the dynamic with these two. They’re comfortable with each other, and establishing that with so few words took a few tries. 🙂
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Very cute! Last year I locked myself out of my house in the morning on the way to work. You should have seen me climbing through the laundry-room window! I tried the credit card thing, but apparently I’d make a poor thief. 😉
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The credit card thing only really works on old doors with shallow jams, and takes patience. I’m glad you were able to get in without breaking a window. 🙂
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So was my husband! lol
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Wow. She sounds like a ninja. Very good. Lucy
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Thank you Lucy!
I think she is a ninja. 🙂 Or at least a self- reliant superhero.
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Four of us once slept overnight in a car at the Grand Canyon on our way from school in Nebraska to southern California for Easter break. The air was a bit stale in the morning, but it was cheap. I’ve actually used a card (not credit) to get into my husband’s apartment after we locked ourselves out on the way to work out. It was distressingly easy so he finally saw the reason he should use the deadbolt when he left the apartment!
janet
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That sounds like it was a week of adventure. Those are the stories that stay with us our whole lives.
It is surprisingly easy to open a door with a card. The apartment I have now doesn’t have that kind of door. I’m glad.
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I’ve seen in movies and on TV how women take their hairpin and pick a lock. I’ve always thought that was very funny. I’ve always lived close enough to a parent or friend who had an extra emergency key. I’m accident-prone and have never been interested in climbing in windows or “dropping” into rooms through other openings. My dad was a fireman and said a woman called them and actually thought they had a key for every house in the city. They told her they had a key, took an axe, and broke a pane of glass in the door so one of them could reach in and unlock the door from inside. Glass is the cheapest thing in a house. That was a well-written story.
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Thank you!
The movie versions of this are so much funnier. It’s really quite scary how easy it is. I’m glad you’ve not had to try it! 🙂 Glass really is cheap and easy to replace, but neither is any fun. Getting locked out is miserable.
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