Ideas Worth Keeping and Pursuing

A Murderous Moment

"You're not going to hit me with that thing, are you?" Phillip backed up, but didn't look the least bit frightened.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't." Tess held the heavy ornate vase above her head. She hadn't meant to pick it up and it wouldn't have been her first choice as a weapon. The fireplace poker or the pistol in their mother's bedside stand would have suited her better.

But, no. Her cousin's greed and his haughty attitude had enticed her to grab for the first thing that resembled a weapon. The vase. Now she held it high in both hands, ready to bring it down on Phillip's pompous head. There was just one problem. He was standing on the second step of the grand stairway while she stood at the bottom.

"Don't come any closer."  She lifted the vase a bit higher.

He laughed. "Come on, Tess. Give it up. You're not a killer. And even if you were, you couldn't do much damage with that thing."

She wasn't. Normally. But at this moment, or maybe it was the moment before, she'd been angry enough to kill the man. Angry enough to bash his head in.

Most of the anger had seeped out now and her weapon was growing heavier by the second. She sighed and lowered it to the floor. "You're right. I guess killing you isn't the answer."

"No it isn't." His cockiness almost made her want to reconsider.

"We'll have to figure out another way to work things out." She only hoped they could.

He smiled. "I have the perfect solution."  Phillip drew a pistol from his pocket and shot her. 

Now what?

Don't you just love classes or sessions in which the leader offers an exercise in which you are asked to participate.  I never used to, but as a writer I've come to appreciate those in-class moments when you are asked to just write whatever pops into your head.  I was in a writing group at a retreat when I wrote this little piece.  It came to mind as I was asked to pick an object in the room and write what I felt. I saw this vase and immediately thought that it might make a good murder weapon.  (Don't ask.) And minutes later my mini-mystery emerged.  

It could stand along I suppose, but it's one of those pieces that begs for more.  A lot of questions come to mind that need answers.  For example: Why were Tess and Phillip fighting? Where were they? Did Tess survive? Did Phillip pay for his crime? Was it really a crime?  Maybe the pistol was full of water rather than bullets.  

I don't know the answers as yet and maybe I never will.  I added my little mystery to my many other bits and pieces of stories with the idea that one of these days it may turn into a book.