Source: The Working Writer's Club
Prompt: It was another dark, dreary day in the city. Kelly pulled on a sweater and looked out the window.
It was another dark, dreary day in the city. Kelly pulled on a sweater and looked out the window. The sidewalk was already filled with franticness. She watched for a moment as people darted in and out of one anothers way, just trying to reach their destinations somewhat intact despite the driving pellets of icy rain. "Amateurs..." she said aloud as she witnessed two umbrellas knock then hook in a havoc-inducing style that would likely ruin the whole day of both parties. The key to surviving rain in a bustling city was the longest rain slicker with the most gigantic hood possible; stay dry, stay maneuverable, ignore the open stares and snickerings. She'd learned quickly to keep herself compact and in survival mode to be able to navigate those sidewalks, in all kinds of weathered situations but as she stood at the window watching she wondered, just what had those pathways had done to her.
She had just called, two complete strangers 'amateurs' and she had done it out loud! She had just judged two people she'd never before met. What did that say about her? Had living in the city made her so hardened that she would come to judgement before empathy?
Kelly let the curtain sheer drop softly from her fingers before turning toward the kitchen. She set the coffee pot to brewing and moved to sit down at the table as she did every morning before reaching out for her guitar. Her mind began to drift as her music took over. So much rejection had made a definite effect on her but she suddenly realized that it hadn't been anywhere close to the effect she had once planned on.
Everyone at home had warned her that the city would be tough. She had the talent, they'd said, but was just too soft-hearted to be able to survive. Survive she had, though, even thrived as she'd worked to push her dreams into reality. Jingle Kells, she'd been dubbed by industry bigwigs when the commercial jingles she wrote had placed her in the highest of demand. Her jingles had catapulted her into writing scores for television and even movies though the theatre was her greatest sense of accomplishment, having been her true dream all along.
Now, as she sat gently plucking away on the old guitar that had seen her through every up and every down, she realized; she hadn't protected her soft heart in persuit of her musical career but instead had completely buried it. These moments, the moments before the hectic, were her true moments. The smell of hot coffee, the cool top of the kitchen table holding scorepad and pen at the ready with her most cherished companion cradled in her arms and bringing the songs of her soul out into being.
The morning was still early. Later there would be meetings and rehearsals, hours spent at the piano, she would be rushing just to keep up. Knowing what was ahead for the day made this time alone even sweeter. But, how sweet was it really? She had just realized that her greatest achievments had actually, in true fact, been her greatest downfalls. Sure, she kept her heart open to the music and to sharing her creations but, she'd closed her own being of creation to the world. She kept her focus on where she was going instead of enjoying how it was that she had arrived. She'd let getting caught up in her own umbrella tangle keep her from possibilities that might have been but would never be known.
Just over an hour later, as she tore the pages of notes from the pad and downed her last sip of coffee, Kelly was already rushing to keep up. She hurriedly wound a long scarf round her neck to ward off the waiting chill and stumbled slightly in pulling her rain slicker from the closet before turning for the door. But then she turned back. She rehung the slicker and reached instead for her cozy, flannel-lined denim before digging even deeper into the closet only to re-emerge with a dusty old umbrella.
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