Teacher's Write: Wednesday Edition

Some of the posts I'm skipping now, because I'm not in a great place to write them. I either don't have a timer, or I'm not comfortable doing a post about people-watching at this moment. Writing about a character and an object that they love? That I can do.

The first thing that popped into my mind when I read Melanie Crowder's prompt was a girl and a pair of mismatched earrings. One was blue with yellow and white dots, and the other was yellow with blue and white dots. Clearly a pair, but different. Next, I saw a gap-toothed smile, freckles spread across a sunburned face. I see her as a bit of a tomboy, but with this flair for "girly" stuff that's not too much so. She doesn't match her socks either.

I'm thinking of all of this on the fly, so she doesn't have a name yet. I feel like she's just starting to emerge from childhood and these contradictions are her way of staging her independence. Mom and Dad may try to make her match up, but she's not going to. She's independent.

Rachel. Rachel is her name, for now anyway.

Rachel carefully picked out those earrings. Different, yet the same. The way she feels lately. It was easier, before her mother left her job to figure out what she wanted to do next, before her father got stressed out being the primary breadwinner. It was easier for her to just coast around outside on her scooter, hair blowing out behind her as she went up and down her street. Now, she hears things she's not sure she wants to hear. Arguments about responsibility and money. She slips the earrings into her ears. Maybe she'll forget about it for a while. It's time to go outside and scooter.