Month Long Special - Writing Challenge #11

Today we focused on Day Five of the Reader's Digest Writing Prompt Boot Camp. This one was called American Graffiti. Again there was more to the prompt than just that, you can find it on their website.

WARNING: This story may content subject matter of a mature nature.

Adam was enjoying his lunch in the park across from his office on one of the first nice days of the year. The snow had all but melted away and the wild life was slowly returning to the area in the form of ducks and geese. Once he was done with his sandwich and coffee from the little cafe down the street, Adam made his way to the public restrooms to take care of business and wash his hands.

Usually, he didn’t pay much attention to the graffiti that decorated the walls of various places, but this was hard to ignore. The bathroom wall was practically the yellow pages and yelp all rolled into one. He read a few of them and chuckled. Most of them were harmless fun, saying so and so was a dork, or that a certain downtown restaurant sucked. Things like that. But one caught his eye.

For a good time call

555 -2536

Adam’s heart pounded in his chest as he repeated the number in his head. That was his sister’s number. His eighteen year old sister had been having a hard time lately. She was going through a rebel phase and it was starting to scare him. They didn’t live under the same roof anymore but their parents were growing increasingly concerned. She had been brought home in the back of a police car a couple of times and sneaking out of the house had become second nature.

He took a photo of the graffiti and then quickly got a bundle of paper towel and wet it in the sink. It took a little elbow grease but eventually he got the number blurred out at least. As Adam scrubbed a plan formed in his mind. He had kept his nose out of things because his mother had asked him to but now it was time for him to step in.

Care to explain this? He sent the text message as he walked back to his office. He didn’t expect her to answer right away but he knew she would be on guard now. Maybe it will be enough to scare her straight. But somehow Adam doubted it.

“Oh my god,” she said out loud as she stared at the text message her brother sent her. At first panic spiked in her chest and her heart started to pound. Who would have done that!? She knew she had been living life fast and loose lately but that was a little extreme. No wonder I have been getting so many weird calls and messages.

Did you erase that?! She didn’t want him to know she was panicking but she needed to make sure no one else saw her number! It looked like some public bathroom and based on her brother’s life and time of day she would assume it was downtown near his office.

She knew Adam was waiting to answer her for a reason. He was trying to scare her, to make her panic awhile before he told her that yes indeed he had gotten rid of it. As much as they butted heads, Adam was a good brother and she knew that. Don’t tell Mom and Dad. She was sure he would. Adam had always been a Momma’s Boy, but she didn’t want them to think she was some slut that men wrote about on bathroom walls. Even if it may be slightly true.