20. He stirred up miniature…
Today’s Prompt
20. He stirred up miniature whirlpools with each powerful stroke.
400 Creative Writing Prompts Workbook Story Prompts for Journaling, Blogging, and Overcoming Writer’s Block Compiled by Debra Chapoton All rights reserved Copyright © 2020 by Debra Chapoton
Response
Finn Riley swam for all he was worth. At his height and with lengthy arms and well muscled legs, turned out that was worth a lot. He stirred up miniature whirlpools with each powerful freestyle stroke, his limbs chewing through the water, propelling him from one end of the pool to the other.
“Finn! FINN!!”
The scream of his own name finally penetrated his concentration and Finn paused, shaking his head to clear the water from his eyes, switching to a leisurely breast stroke while he searched for the source of the interruption.
“Finn, man, I thought I’d had to jump in there to get you to stop,” Baxter shook his head, an amused look on his face. “Time’s up. You told me to get you after an hour. And, well, it’s been an hour.”
Finn glanced at his watch and confirmed that he’d been swimming for 62 minutes.
“Dude, you training for something? You look like someone was chasing you out there!” Baxter commented, always a master of understatement.
“Just trying to keep things trim,” Finn replied, reaching the side of the pool and hoisting himself out.
“My friend, if things were any trimmer on your body, you’d be Flat Stanley from my kids’ books.” Baxter had two boys, six and three. So Baxter’s references had changed from video games to children’s stuff.
As the two friends made their way into the locker room, Finn pausing just long enough to rinse off the chlorinated pool water, Baxter continued to prattle on about how unnecessary Finn’s intensity was while Finn scanned the aisles of lockers to make sure all seemed right. It was a habit Finn couldn’t seem to break.
It began when he was little, living on that side of town, just he and his mom, you figured out how to be watchful or you were robbed or worse. He remembered the first time his mom told him to run home ahead of him and lock the door, while she turned to face the two men who were looking at her funny (was the way his child’s mind had described it). It would be much later that he learned the word ‘leer.’
He did as he was told; having long legs and a strong burst of speed even then, he made it back to their apartment without anyone catching him, not that he looked back to see if anyone was trying. When his mom said jump, Finn did it, without looking up. But as soon as the door was triple locked, Finn sat next to it, his forehead against his knees, waiting. What seemed like an eternity later, Finn’s mom turned the locks and cracked the door. When Finn saw it was her, he undid the chain and nearly caught her as she stumbled into their home, a black eye on her face and an emptiness in her purse where her wallet used to be. They both started watching much more carefully after that day.
