FLORIDA WEEKLY FICTION CHALLENGE

The stagnant smell of stale beer, yesterday’s sweaty bodies and the dampness of an early morning rain hit Brian’s nostrils as he entered the Lighthouse Pub. At the far end of the bar, by the jukebox, a young woman sat alone sipping a glass of red wine.

“What are you drinking today?” Warren greeted him, looking up from his glass polishing.

Brian glanced at the woman and ordered a glass of red wine. He walked down the bar and sat on the stool beside her. He had spent far too many afternoons listening to sad songs, drinking away the hours and feeling sorry for himself.

“Cheers,” Brian toasted.

His voice seemed to snap her out of her revelry and she smiled at him and took a sip of her wine.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we were drinking our wine in a small bistro in Paris overlooking the Seine?”

She seemed to visualize it for a moment and said, “It sure would.”

“What brings you to this poor excuse for a Paris bistro on this dreary afternoon?” Brian asked.

“I just came from a job interview.”

“What kind of job?”

“With a travel agency around the corner. I had a job teaching French and Spanish at the high school, but the budget was cut and there went my position.”

“The travel agency would be lucky to have you.”

“Thanks. What do you do besides drinking red wine on drizzly afternoons?”

“I teach English at the junior high school”

“Do you like it?”

“I guess so, when I get to teach. The kids are not easy to deal with sometimes.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we could work when we got older and just travel around the world now?” she said.

“That’s as good a daydream as any other,” Brian said.

They talked for a while and Brian studied her as she stared at her glass of wine. Her hair had the color of wheat and her eyes were dark as Greek olives. She was beautiful. He realized that he didn’t even know her name.

“My name is Brian, by the way.” “I’m Claire.” They clinked glasses.

Would you like another?”

“Yes, that would be nice, but then I have to get home.”

Suddenly, he didn’t want her to leave. He was used to meaningless bar conversations, but this was different. She was different.

Warren poured two more glasses of red wine and they were quiet for a while. When Brian got up to use the restroom, Claire thanked him for the drink and said that she hated to leave but that it was getting late. Brian froze and did not know what to say. He rose to go to the bathroom but quickly turned around. Her stool was empty. Brian ran out of the door and was relieved to see that she hadn’t gone far. He caught up with her and grabbed her arm.

“Don’t go.”

She looked at him with surprise that quickly became a smile. His hand touched hers.

“I know a small restaurant not far from here. They serve French dishes. Let’s have dinner together. We could makebelieve that we are in Paris.”

They walked a few steps, still holding hands and stopped to search each other’s faces. It seemed that they had both found something. 

— Florida Weekly is asking readers

to tell us stories. We’ve already done

some of the work to help you get

started. Using the photo seen here

as a starting point for the creative

process, we’d like you to come up

with a narrative story of 600 words

or less. Florida Weekly will accept

stories in Word format or written out

in the body of an e-mail until June

9. E-mail submissions to opadilla@

floridaweekly.com and we will print

the best submissions on these very

pages. Thanks to everyone for participating.