We have to write the beginning of a story both in first and third person narration as an exercize for a creative writing class I’m doing. Here’s my take. I’m sorry the story never finishes, but if you like, take it as a #writingprompt
California Dreamin’ (1st person)
It started out as a business trip. I never thought it would end up to be a honeymoon. It was a hot June day. One of the first of the year. I wanted to feel that heat we used to feel before A/C’s were a thing, so I’d secretly mangled the cirquit breaker earlier in the morning. Alice booked me first class tickets to SFO the next day. “I always wanted to splurge like that, but hell I was gonna pay for it” she whispered into my ear while slipping the printout of the e-ticket under my keyboard. I felt her body heat and then with a tiny lag, caught a whiff of her perfume as she was already back behind her monitor. She peeked to the left, winked, and continued “and I’ll come with. Take that, Mal.”
Mal was our budgeting manager and had turned down Alice’s requests to come to the overseas meetings a couple of times now. Alice’s glowing smile stayed in my mind long after her face was back behind the monitor. “Now back to work!” she said and I felt a paper crumple wedge in my hair. “don’t go california dreamin on me”.
She was such a tease.
The day coasted by without any real excitement. I was actually enjoying the hot day, and deep down I enjoyed it even more when I heard everybody moaning about the heat. 364 days a year I’m cold, I feel my fingers freeze. Today’s my day. Burn in hell.
Beep. I glance to the corner of the computer monitor, instinctively.
Eve S. Dropping eve@ingsoc.com I’ve found a vulnerability in your encryption implementation. I have not decrypted anything yet as a courtesy, but I believe my approach is sound. Please send something encrypted to Alice, I should think she’s next to you, no?
I will decrypt it and send you the plaintext to this address to prove my point so don’t send anything confidential, okay? Use the subject of “business trip”, so that I know where to attack.
See you around,
Eve
California Dreamin’ (3rd person)
Alice was tapping furiously on her computer keyboard, as if she was chasing an invisible deadline a few seconds in the future. Bob was sitting over there, giving Alice a guilty glance every few seconds. Quickly enough so that she wouldn’t notice.
She did though. She finished her typing and stood up. The heat was immense that day. The A/C was busted and the place had regained that old office smell, one of dust, fake leather and glue, minus the cigarette smoke. Windows wide open.
Alice walked to Bob’s desk and slipped a piece of paper under his keyboard. She leaned over him and whispered: “SFO First class, tomorrow. I always wanted to splurge like that but hell I was gonna pay for it”. Bob barely had enough time to turn his head and Alice was back at her workstation. A ghost of her perfume was left behind before quickly dissolving into the stale air. She peeked around her monitor and said “and I’ll come with. Take that, Mal.”
Mal was the mid-lever manager in charge of budget for the team Bob and Alice belonged to. Alice was kinda holding a grudge against him because she liked business trips and Mal usually turned her down. Bob realized he was still staring at where Alice’s face used to be moments ago when he felt a paper crumple lodge in his dark, wavy hair. At the same time she teased him; “Now back to work! Don’t go california dreamin on me”.
The rest of the day was uneventful. Bob seemed to enjoy the hotness of the day and a slight smug grin appeared on his face every time someone complained about the heat.
The workstation beeped and Bob glanced to the right of his screen. New mail.
Eve S. Dropping eve@ingsoc.com I’ve found a vulnerability in your encryption implementation. I have not decrypted anything yet as a courtesy, but I believe my approach is sound. Please send something encrypted to Alice, I should think she’s next to you, no?
I will decrypt it and send you the plaintext to this address to prove my point so don’t send anything confidential, okay? Use the subject of “business trip”, so that I know where to attack.
See you around,
Eve