Sammy fiddled his thumbs as he stared at the blank page before him.

Sammy wasn’t a writer, but his profession required that he write clearly and succinctly.

He remembered the secret to good writing from his days in high school, but when the moment came to make a blank sheet of paper less pure, he was always caught in the vise of not wanting to say the wrong thing in the right way.

Sammy, feeling pale, stared out the window and watched a Blue Jay pecking at an empty bird feeder in the sun.

Sammy rapped his knuckles on the paper in time with the fluttering of the bird’s wings.

When the Blue Jay flew away, Sammy crumpled the paper into a ball in his fist.

As his frustration settled, Sammy unwound the crumpled mess with his fingers and smoothed the paper flat again with the non-business edge of his forearm.

Sammy picked up a red crayon and scrawled a few burgundy words across the pulpy, virgin, landscape.

“I have your daughter and I am holding her for ransom.”

It was a good start, Sammy thought, as the rush of success flushed his ruddy face crimson and he cinched the rope tighter around Katherine’s bleeding hands.

5 Comments

    1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
      David W. Boles says:

      Heh! Yes, I’m sure Sammy is very proud!

  2. ANNE – I live and teach on the upper West Coast of the United States. My interests are Philosophy, English, and Social Communication.
    anne says:

    A kidnapper with writer’s block! So scary! Great last line.

    1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
      David W. Boles says:

      Thanks, Anne! This was a fun one to write. The end was tricksy to turn.

  3. Pingback: Jerzy Kosinski and a Blank Piece of Paper | WordPunk

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