WRITING DOODLE: DEJA VIEW

The "Daily Doodle" concept is intended to warm up my creative engines, and is essentially free writing, poetry or prose, usually accomplished in under an hour with a minimum of corrections. From time to time, I will post the results here. 

In some cases, the piece will also be a special commission, prompted by a particular buyer. Readers can still custom order their own quick short-short stories: details here.

This particular assignment was to write a story based on a great quote from Woody Allen's wonderful film Manhattan, which I rewatched tonight before embarking on this quest. Also partially inspired, by more own accord, from looking at pictures of actress Jane Greer on Tumblr.

*

“My analyst warned me, but you were so beautiful I got another analyst.” ­- Woody Allen, Manhattan

When Derek realized where he had seen her before, he didn’t quite believe it. It was the smile that tipped him off. Maybe it was the only thing that worked at this proportion. He saw all of her other features as gargantuan, he expected they should be the same size as when he spotted her on that billboard, wearing the red-and-white, polka-dotted bikini, seven stories off the ground and at least two high.

For all the things that a man would notice in that advertisement--the curves of her body, the ample breasts, the curled hair--it was the smile that was dangerous. The other pieces, they could have belonged to any swimsuit model. The smile, on the other hand, was uniquely hers. It was the smile you would see across a crowded room, begging you to approach, daring you not to.

And when he realized that, yes, the brunette he was waiting at the bar with was the same brunette that dangled a lazy finger over Times Square, pretending that the city was a giant sandy beach in which she could carve her name, he immediately regretted that he had opted for the cheesy pick-up line. “Don’t I know you from some where?” Might as well have said, “Don’t you know I’m a dope?”

Not for nothing, the girl didn’t even blink. She just said, “You think you do, but my gut reaction is that you don’t.”

“That’s a fair guess, since when it comes down to it, I don’t know much.”

She laughed. Maybe the self-deprecation had worked.

“Okay, then,” she said. “Of the little you do know, tell me one thing.”

It was a challenge. This would take some quick calculating. Derek took a sip from his drink. It burned his throat the way only the cheap stuff could.

“That tomorrow morning I will be the same as I was this morning, but despite that cold fact, I can do whatever I want right now.”

The girl said nothing. Not until the bartender came and she ordered another round for both of them, and she made sure to tell the bartender to make sure Derek’s was considerably more expensive than what he was drinking right now.

*

Current Soundtrack: Paul Banks, Julian Plenty Lives... - $4 download EP from the Interpol singer, available from Matador directly

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All text (c) 2012 Jamie S. Rich