Saturday Wordzzle #11

The idea is, every week Raven (View From A Raven's Nest) gives you between 8 and 10 words/phrases and you have to create a small but coherent paragraph using every one of them and the same with the mini challenge. You can do either or both it's up to you, and you can post them on your blog or email them to Raven.

This Week's Ten Word Challenge is: cranberry sauce, amber, laundry list, coffin, morning glory, shalom, mystery, sparrow hawk, pumpernickel, stained glass


Amber lay back on the grass watching the sparrow hawk circling above. She was waiting for Ricky to arrive, they’d arranged to meet for a picnic lunch in the park and she’d prepared all his favourites; pumpernickel, a selection of cheeses, pickles and cranberry sauce. She loved Ricky but she hated his job as an undertaker, she didn’t want to have to think about a coffin let alone listen to him talk about them non stop. He insisted on telling her about his work but even the mention of the stained glass in the little chapel of rest gave her the shudders. She remembered once he told her about a bit of a mystery with one of his clients. Apparently some old dear in the chapel of rest had quite a few visitors and when he’d gone to put her back in the freezer he found an old laundry list shoved in the coffin with “Shalom” written on the back and a bunch of morning glory. He didn’t like to ask the relatives about it, so he just left them in there and let the old dear be buried with them. Anyway enough of that, where was Ricky? She hoped he didn’t turn up in the hearse again, there was no way he was giving her a lift back to work in that, the girls in the office were still taking the mickey out of her after the last time.

And for the Mini Challenge: margarita, gum wrapper, spring fever, Darfur, lace

Darfur dropped the gum-wrapper into the ashtray as he sat watching the girl weave between the tables. His eyes were hidden behind dark glasses, so Margarita was unaware he was watching her. Her lace shawl slipped off her shoulders onto the floor, exposing the coffee coloured skin rich and creamy. Darfur breathed deeply taking in her scent as she bent close to him to retrieve the shawl. He left the restaurant quickly, pushing the lurid thoughts from his mind, “it’s just spring fever” he thought “I’ll go take a cold shower!”

Megawordzzle

Ted contemplated the laundry list as he sat eating his lunch of pumpernickel and cheese. He made a mental note to get the housekeeper to change the flowers on the reception desk, what had possessed her to put morning glory in a vase he couldn’t imagine but they weren’t staying that was for sure, he could only imagine she was suffering from spring fever. Just as he was finishing his lunch the telephone rang, he couldn’t make any sense of what the woman was saying on the other end of the line, apart from “come quickly room 209”. Locking the office door he took the lift to the second floor and knocked on the door of 209. A dark skinned woman opened the door “Shalom” she whispered before ushering him into the room, which was quite dark apart from the amber light shining through the stained glass window. She wore a black lace mantilla, dark glasses and her nose reminded him of a sparrow hawk’s beak. Bending to pick up an empty gum wrapper from the floor Ted almost fainted when he spotted what appeared to be a coffin in the corner. Fighting the urge to run, Ted politely asked the woman how he could help. “I need to get to Darfur, urgently, “can you help me with the arrangements please?” said the woman as she delicately sipped a margarita. Ted noticed the remnants of the turkey and cranberry sauce sandwich she’d had sent up earlier. “Of course madam, just give me all your details and I’ll get onto the airline straight away” he soothed. Taking his leave Ted made his way back down to the office, where he spent the next hour organising a flight and accommodation for the mystery woman in room 209. He managed to get her on a flight that evening and when he rang to tell her she was most grateful, saying she had packed her belongings and would he send up a porter for her luggage. When she came to reception to check out Ted was relieved to see the luggage included a large trunk, ah, it wasn’t a coffin at all thankfully. Taking her leave she thanked Ted for all his help saying she would recommend the hotel and left a large tip. Just another day at the factory, thought Ted, well that was until he got the frantic phone call from the chambermaid who’d found a coffin in room 209!