High heels, red soles. Short skirt. Dangerous.
The table overflowed with chips, cheese boards and dips. Her plate, empty.
I approach. “The problem of too much choice?”
“I normally know what I want.”
And you get it, I bet. “Have a favourite dip?”
“I do enjoy a skinny dip.”
Outside, the lake sparkled.
Afterword
The mission was to write a story of exactly 53 words about a ‘dip’. Swimming came first to mind, shortly followed by hummus, guacamole and tzatziki. There were plenty of other possibilities – e.g. an artist dipping their brush in paint, or a person hoping to win a prize in a lucky dip.
I’m interested in how you read this one.
e.g. How old are the characters, and where are they? Teenagers at a birthday party? Work colleagues at a company retreat? Or something else entirely?
e.g. Did you picture the main character as male, female, transgender, intersex or of a different identity?
e.g. Are they meeting each other for the first time? Or are they exes? Or did they meet once years ago? Or…
In what way does the main character perceive the other person as “dangerous”? (Yes, there are a number of possible answers here.)
Is the line “I do enjoy a skinny dip” trying to hit on the main character, or make them uncomfortable to bring the conversation to a swift end?
Photo attribution: thanks to Aaron Burden on Unsplash.