A very short story

As I work mainly on my own in either a gift shop or ice cream stall in my summer job, I have a lot of free time between customers and unlike people who just stand there, I have to make the most of it or I'll go mad. So far I've read Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, a good chunk of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (I'm not an atheist but not hugely religious either so it's interesting to hear all the arguments), a biography on the incredibly talented Joss Whedon and most of the Grimm Fairy Tales (been meaning to reread a lot of them lately and some I've never actually read). But another thing I've been doing is trying to get back into writing. I decided, as an exercise to get me back into the swing of things, I'd write about the first thing I thought about. This freewriting practice has really helped and I've been so much more creative since I started so I'd definitely recommend it, even if you're not a writer.

Here's what I came up with if you feel like reading:

In a park just like any other you've seen; an expanse of green grass covering the ground beneath, within a fence of green trees with a sole green bench sat at the edge of it. On this green bench was a woman, clearly a young mother with her hair loosely tied back and a stain of unknown origin on her otherwise clean shirt. She sat by a big pile of various bits and pieces any mother tends to carry around with her; bottles of various liquids and a change of clothes were only a couple of the items at her disposal and on her lap lay a "Big Book of Fairy Tales". She had just finished reading one of them to her child and was now using it as something to lean on, exhausted, yet still smiling with adoration at her little princess.

The child was no older than two or three yet was running around with the greatest of ease. She had clearly set her heart on catching the little bird that had landed a few feet away from her, a magpie that didn't fear the child but actually seemed to have no problem playing along. First they looked at each other and as the little girl began to step forward the bird moved a little through the freshly cut grass with a piece of discarded bread still in its beak. Then stopped. The little girl went running after it with the steps almost as tiny as the magpie's. As she grew close, stopping just short of it, again it made its way through the grass almost teasing her.

Her mother smiled more broadly as the little girl spun around to see her mother, pigtails following and she saw the child's bemused yet gleeful face looking towards her. They shared a chuckle and so she span around again to chase the bird, who was now hopping away. The chasing, stopping, laughing and a chasing again went on for a few minutes and although the child could carry of running forever, the mother knew the inevitable was coming. The bird has eaten the bread and grown tired of being chased by this pink frilly menace and with one flap of its wings took off. The little girl turned to her mother, seemingly for some kind of approval. Hesitant for a moment, she eventually gave her daughter the nod she was looking for along with a cheerful thumbs up and with that, the little girl took off once again, this time soaring through the air after her feathery friend. The mother smiled, thinking to herself, "You have to let them spread their wings sooner or later"

I'd really appreciate any comment you have as I could do with the pointers. I barely have time to sit down lately with 9 hour shifts at work and exercise when I get in but I'll try to do some more blog updates with other short stories soon. For now, I better get some sleep, one more day and I have two days off work. Woo :)