Tuesday Tales: Writing Cart

Welcome to Tuesday Tales, a weekly blog featuring diverse authors posting excerpts from their works in progress based on word and picture prompts. We’re a book hungry bunch that enjoys reading as much as you do. This week our word prompt is cart. My excerpt is from a paranormal fantasy in which a goddess occasionally inhabits the body of an archaeological assistant. The action in this snippet happened earlier than the action in previous excerpts from this story. Please read the excerpts of the other authors at Tuesday Tales.

The unwelcome delivery cart made screeching sounds as it exited the elevator at the end of the hall. Damn, next month’s display items had arrived today after all. Taking a last covetous glance at the frothy undies in her HoneyPeaches shopping cart, Prue plopped down the phone. She could always complete the order later tonight. Maybe by then the urge would have passed and she could save the dip to her checking account. It’s not like she needed new lingerie anyway. Simon—her good friend Simon whom she secretly adored—was never going to see her in them.

The cart rolled into view. “Lord have mercy, Carl, can’t you give it a good squirt of WD40?” she inquired, hands over her ears.

The delivery man unloaded crates, placing them single file against the wall. “It’s the museum’s, not mine.” He checked off boxes on the shipping receipt and handed it to her to sign. “By the way, the head honcho cornered me downstairs. He said to tell you to unpack the large cases, but save any smaller wrapped items and he’ll inventory those himself.”

A frown scrunched her forehead. “Why?”

He shrugged. “Maybe he’s expecting something special.”

“No, I mean why is he telling you and not me?” She returned the clipboard to him.

“He’s got Cyprus on the line is all he said.”

That made zero sense, but once Carl had gone, she scouted out levers and box cutters and went to work unpacking. When Mr. Oliver had first scheduled the Goddess of Love exhibition to highlight Valentine’s Day and the month of February, her excitement had been hard to contain. She smiled, remembering her first thought about it. That Simon, as an adjunct professor of classical studies, would be tremendously jazzed.

Her enthusiasm had dimmed a few watts after Mr. Oliver showed her the list of actual items. The display consisted mostly of framed cardboard pictorial exposition. It was colorful and picturesque, but hardly jaw dropping for an expert devotee’ like Simon. Still, the subject itself was cool. In some circles Aphrodite punched a lot of cred. And now, to Prue’s delight, in the bottom of one of the crates were several amazing reproductions. They included an ornate goblet and a jeweled amulet sacred to the goddess. 

She fingered the amulet in her palm. Strange how weighty it was and how finely worked. She peered closer. The center stone was a sparkling blue green and seemed to give off soothing ionic vibes—like the ocean. It drew her right in. 

She jerked upright. Oh wait, maybe she shouldn’t have unwrapped this. Mr. Oliver had said to save the smaller items for him. How small did he mean?

I hope you enjoyed the snippet based on the word cart. Thanks for stopping by. Return to Tuesday Tales.

Cheers & Happy Reading!

Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic in Romance