SaR Group Contest Challenge

Welcome to the Serious about Reviews group contest.

It needs to be noted that this is a members-only contest... if you don't belong to the group please don't enter this contest. If you do *points to a pair of boots*, you will be shown the door.

Right.

How this contest will work:

1. Read the scenario below.

2. Take one of the characters referred to in the scenario and write a story based on them, with only one restriction - the story you write must be related to the scenario in some way, shape or form.

3. Use some out-of-the-box thinking. Be creative. Don't enter a straightfoward story.

SCENARIO:

Brittany clung to her mum’s left hand; her tiny fingers scrunched between the folds of shopping bag handle plastic and her mum’s warm, slightly sweaty palm. She took hurried steps to keep up, barely keeping her excitement contained as they rushed past coloured displays and glass-encased wonders.  

“Mummy! Look!” She stopped and pointed her free hand at a basket filled with the brightest toys she had ever seen, and her mum jerked to an impatient stop beside her. 

“After lunch, Britty.” 

She heard the sigh, but still swivelled her face upward. She tugged on the hand that ensnared hers and grinned in the way only a four-year-old can. “Want bear...” 

There was a corresponding tug and her mum bent over as she drew Brittany closer. “No. Daddy’s probably already waiting.” Another tug, more insistent, “Come on.” 

Brittany gave the red bear with the huge daisy on its chest a sad look and then reluctantly turned away. As her mum pulled her arm, she followed, clomping after her. 

They soon entered the busy food court of the shopping centre; a huge number of people milling and chatting and eating from a variety of plates and containers. Brittany gawked at everything and everyone. Her inquisitive stare was hardly returned, but she gave her toothy grin to everyone that turned her way. 

The toy shop forgotten, her stomach rumbled in response to the sight and smell of food. She pointed first in the direction of the yellow ‘M’ and then at the picture of the funny guy with the beard, but her mum didn’t stop. Without being bumped and jostled too much, Brittany and her mum weaved through the maze to arrive at a cluster of tables near the centre of the Eatery.  

“Daddy!” Brittany ran the last couple of metres into her father’s arms. She clutched his sweater and buried her face in it for a brief second before leaning back and chattering about everything she’d seen that morning. 

Dave Payne grinned and nodded as his daughter rattled off the list, occasionally glancing up at Belinda – wife and mother – for confirmation.  

The peculiarities of suburban life exchanged, Belinda left Brittany and Dave at the table with the shopping and went to order lunch. 

Coming to end of her story, Brittany now entertained herself with surveying the people around her. She giggled at a woman sitting near a potted plant display. With the bright flowery blouse, the big woman reminded her of her auntie Mel – even down to the metal bracelets which clanked on the table as she shovelled salad into her mouth. 

Brittany was then distracted by another woman – this time a neat, slender girl, dressed in a pair of black slacks and a plain white collared shirt. She carried a small tote with spray bottles and cloths in, and Brittany watched, entranced, as she attacked a recently-vacated table and transformed it from messy to immaculate. 

A shout drew Brittany’s attention to a gaggle of skateboard-carrying boys – all attired in baggy pants and black shirts. They sauntered through the milling crowd, the wake of youth surging forward as one rather than mingling with everyone else.  She waited until they drifted from her view before letting her eyes rove around until they settled on the spread of a newspaper, suspended above a table by two hands. She stared until the paper rippled and folded in on itself, revealing a dour-faced man. He saw her looking and scowled at her, and in response, Brittany shuffled closer to her dad.  

As she stared at the ground just in front of her table, a flicker of brown hopped around looking for morsels of food. “Birdie,” she said with a grin, but the sparrow fluttered to the safety of another table without giving her more than a cursory tilted glance. The sound of clattering behind her made Brittany jump and also made her father turn away from her. 

A drawn-out screech of metal on hardened floor was quickly followed by the clank of a chair falling to the ground. Brittany swivelled in her own chair in time to see a very upset woman back away from the table with her hands held up in front of her. An angry man thumped a balled fist on the table and then swept a plastic tray and its contents to the floor.  

With a thumb in her mouth, Brittany watched with fearful fascination as a plastic plate tumbled in the air, flinging fried rice and other food across the multi-coloured mosaic on the floor. 

“Paul, please...”  The tremulous words from the woman did nothing to placate the man. 

“I want what you promised me, Kate.” 

“You know I can’t. The investigation...” 

The man pushed the table aside and, when it fell to the floor, silence and stillness washed over the watchers.  

With her dad’s arm now around her shoulders, Brittany whimpered; the angry man scared her. 

“Give it to me!” A vicious slap followed the snarled demand and the woman screamed. 

“Hold it right there, mister.” 

Brittany jerked her head around toward the owner of the new voice. 

A tall man in a uniform stood just off to one side, holding a radio is one hand while his other hovered near his belt. “The Police have been notified. I suggest you move away from her.” 

The angry man glared at the security guard and then darted his gaze around as if looking for something. Seemingly discovering what he sought, he abruptly moved away, brushing past several shocked bystanders.  

Brittany followed his progress, her brow crinkling when he reached into his sports coat and withdrew something shiny. She caught sight of her mum, too, the angry man pushing against her as he walked past.  It happened quicker than she could comprehend; her father stiffened and jumped to his feet, there was a collective gasp and a scream. 

“Nobody move.”

• Must be a member of the SaR group
• Story must follow the guidelines above
• Story to be a story - no poetry, scripts, rants etc
• Must have at least 500 words and no more than 3000.
• Please edit and proofread your entry. Correct spelling, punctuation and grammar is necessary.
• Have fun.

• You could write the story of how a character arrived at the scenario.
• You could include the scenario as a minor plot point.
• You can choose write a story that starts with the scenario. However, do NOT rewrite or reword the scenario.
• You could use your story to explain what led to the confrontation.
• Just about any genre will fit - even sci-fi - for instance, perhaps the scenario isn't real, or maybe one of the characters is an alien spy...
• Think beyond the norm. Is the man with the newspaper hiding something? What was the angry man really after?