Month Long Special - Writing Challenge #12

Today is our finally Writing Challenge for the Month, which means this month's special is coming to an end. But that's okay, we will be revisiting the Reader's Digest Prompts at a later time or maybe even sprinkling them in throughout the rest of the year! So this is Day Seven of the Writing Prompt Boot Camp and the theme is Back From the Future. Again there is more information about this prompt available on their website.

Mary Carpenter was spending a nice quiet day at home. She usually would have been working but with the Spring days quickly turning into hot Summer days, she wanted to get her house cleaned up and ready for the nice weather. She had started with the sweeping and the dusting, and had opened all the windows to air out the house. She was just taking a sip of lemonade after taking a break from planting her vegetable garden when she heard a knock at her door.

She was going to ignore it at first. It was clearly no one she knew. If it had been they would have called or texted her saying they would be over. And besides on a Monday afternoon most people would assume she would be at her little flower shop downtown. Probably someone wanting money. But the person at the door wouldn’t go away. They knocked a second time and then a third. Irritated at this point for the disturbance, Mary marched down the hall to the front door and opened it. She was ready to give whoever it was a piece of her mind and then continue on with her day. She still had cucumbers and beans to plant not to mention the flower bed needed weeding before she could plant those.

The man standing on her pouch looked like he had come straight out of a sci-fi movie. He was dressed in a black suit and he had sunglasses to hide his eyes. He kind of looked like a member of the Secret Service, although she couldn’t fathom why they would be out in the middle of nowhere Maryland and why they would be knocking at her door.

“Mrs. Carpenter? May I come in?” He didn’t really give her much chance to answer either way, he pushed passed her and into her living room almost as if he owned the place. If it had been anyone else she would have tore him a new one or called the police right then and there. But the air this man carried with him made her concerned as to what his business was. He didn’t seem like a vicious person, in fact his soft features and kind eyes reminded her of her late father. But the suit and unannounced presence of the man had her on edge.

“How can I help you?” Mary wondered out loud as she followed him.

The man was seemingly lost in his own world as he stared at the pictures on her mantel. He was paying special attention to ones of her parents and siblings. And he even picked up the picture of her now late husband, Randy. It was starting to make her feel ill at ease with him now. Why would the Secret Service care about my pictures? But she shrugged it off, surely they already knew everything there was to know about her before knocking on her door. Maybe the agent just wanted to make sure.

“Mo-Mary, you’re in danger,” he said as he turned back to look at her.

Danger. Her anxiety spiked as her heart started pounding in her ears. What kind of danger? The only danger she saw was the strange man standing in her living room. It was clear now, he wasn’t a Secret Service agent or anything else her wild imagination may have thought of. As she stared at him trying to make sense of it all, Mary slowly took a few steps towards her front door. Run.

“Please don’t run,” the man said as if reading her mind. “This is going to sound outrageous and may take some time to understand, but my name is - Bob, and I am from the future.” At this Mary laughed out loud. Bob, from the future, yeah right. Now she was getting upset. Whatever stupid prank this way, it was not funny. She had to admit this guy was a good actor but the story line was weak. And the kid wasn’t a good liar. “I can prove it.” He seemed to sense her disbelief.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a newspaper clipping. Mary tracked his every movement as he stepped closer and closer to her. This is ridiculous. But still she did not move. He stopped about midway to her and held the clipping out as far as his arm would reach to her. Slowly she made her way within arms length and grabbed it from him.

Local Business Woman Dies in Fire

As she read the article it made her stomach turn. She was reading a story about her death! And there was a picture of her flower shop, burnt and charred as the firefighters worked to make sure it wouldn’t reignite. As she read the details of the story and her life she had to admit whoever had come up with this plan had done their homework. They just made one little mistake.

“I don’t have a son,” she replied as she handed the paper back to him. “Randy was my husband and he passed away two months ago.”

“Your husband died March 5th from cancer. You took care of all the flower arrangements yourself for his funeral. You have worked everyday since then in the shop, sometimes 12 hours a day just to keep your mind busy. Today is the first day since you have actually taken a break. You decided today to make the garden. Randy hated gardening but he loved all the fresh vegetables you would get from it. You were about to plant cucumbers and beans before I knocked on your door. Which is funny because you don’t like cucumbers and you really won’t eat all the beans you are about to plant. But you justified doing it because Randy loved them and the neighbors always enjoy vegetables from your garden.”

Mary was taken aback. How did he know that? No one but family knew that cucumbers and beans were Randy’s favourite. And this year she had leftover seeds from the year before, she hadn’t even gone to the store to buy them. And unless he had been watching her, there was no way he could know that she hadn’t finished planting the garden yet.

“Who are you and how do you know all this?”

“I am from the future and I need you to believe me. You are in danger Mary and I am here to help you.”