[ ZEFF-er ]
Noun
- A breeze from the west.
- A gentle breeze.
- Any of various lightweight fabrics and articles of clothing.
Let’s Write…
** Either a story beginning, a story ending, a piece of flash fiction, a poem, painting, dance move—inspired by the word, zephyr, where does it take me? Where does it take you?
Zack’s world was crumbling around him, and his thoughts were consumed by it. The love of his life—now with another man. His safe and secure job—fired that morning. The world was a blur around him as he marched with determination to the bridge.
Suddenly, he was blind, or rather just couldn’t see. Something, carried on the breeze, had blown into his face. Zack ripped it away with an unnecessary amount of force, and he looked down at the object. A delicate rose-colored ribbon.
Zack’s clenched grip upon the ribbon relaxed, and then he picked up his head to look around. It was a beautiful cloudless day. His original destination, the bridge on the other side of the park, was momentarily forgotten.
“Zackary?” came a man’s voice beside him.
Zack turned around. “Mr. Globe,” he said, surprised.
“My, it has been ages!” said Mr. Globe. “Look at you!” Mr. Globe inspected Zack with a smile. “How are you?”
“Oh, I’m fine,” Zack lied. “What brings you back home?”
“I have grandchildren now. Time to settle in a bit, say… it is remarkable to run into Zackary. I am actually in need of a hard-working man, and someone I can trust for a little operation I’m opening here. What are the chances I bump into you? What do you say? Would you be interested?”
“Oh, wow,” Zack said. “That sounds really nice. I’m currently in the market for a new job.”
“How about that!” Mr. Globe said. “Come by the old house tomorrow morning for some breakfast? We can discuss it then.”
“Count me in,” Zack said, and they shook hands.
Mr. Globe turned away and scooped up a small child running towards him. Zack laughed to himself, and as he turned around, he saw something else that caused his heart to flutter.
A beautiful girl on the other side of the lawn, clutching her hair and searching the ground and sky. Zack looked down at the rose-colored ribbon in his hand, thought of the bridge, but then walked across the lawn, waving the ribbon in the air.
Notes/Thoughts/Ideas
I love the idea of little things altering our course if we take them. If we choose to see them, embrace them, and follow them, it could take us places we didn’t think possible.
My initial thought when I think of zephyr is Forest Gump. The beginning with the feather floating on air. I just turned the feather into a ribbon and gave the ribbon some extra purpose!
I didn’t have any future thoughts of where this story would go as I wrote, but after I finished, I had an idea. Did you read yesterday’s story? I could see this being a scene in that larger story. The angels manipulating subtle details to alter our course?
The angel guiding the ribbon to give Zack a moment to pause at an opportune place and time. Or, it could just be a nice short story as is.
What do you think of Zephyr?
Do you like happy endings?
Leave your thoughts, your own story beginning/ending, flash-fiction, or whatever in the comments! Where did zephyr or my story take you?
If you liked this story, you may enjoy this other one-minute story, Precipitate. This is yesterday’s story.
Today’s word is from Merriam-Webster.
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