Remnent of a possible story

“Okay girls line up.”

Elaina and her friend Rainy stood in line with all of the other dancers.

The Madam continued. “Throughout all of the practice times and performances this month we will have the honor of Frederick Elwood from the royal palace.” The girls looked over and saw a large man with a gentle face.

“He is a close associate of the king who was sent to choose a young girl to dance for the Harvest Banquet. It is sure to be a large affair for the whole kingdom has been invited.”

Madam looked over at Frederick and smiled. He nodded back and attempted a halfhearted smile.

“He will now tell you what he is going to be looking for.” With a sweep of her hand she ushered him forward.

Frederick stood and straightened his jacket. “Thank you Madam.” He turned and faced the girls. His six foot four frame seemed to tower over them.

“I am not a dancer- obviously.” He stated, a couple snickers were heard at the end of the row. “So I am not going to be determining who is chosen only by skill. There will be numerous ways that I will pick the dancer; and you will find out as the month goes on. I will be glad to meet each of you personally. I am looking for a unique dancer who has a passion for what she does.”

He paused and looked carefully at the dancers. “The one thing to remember is that you will not be dancing for the whole kingdom- you will be dancing for the king. Which is an honor few can enjoy. If the kingdom judges you one-way, the king will judge you an entirely different way. Please keep that in mind. The king himself is the one who decided to have a solo dancer for the banquet. Also the one who is chosen will be solely responsible for picking and choreographing a song. I will of course view it before the banquet, but you will be mostly in control.”

He walked down the line of dancers. “For the first two weeks please pretend I am not here. It will be after that period that I will have any interaction with you. Thank you for your time.” He gave a small bow. The girls responded with a curtsy and walked back to their positions.

Frederick thanked Madam and walked to a chair in the corner and sat down.

Madam clapped her hands, the signal for the girls to get back to their places on the bar.

“Yes I am sure we can pretend that he is not here.” Rainy said sarcastically to Elaina, as they took their places at the end of the row.

“Come on Rain that won’t be hard.” Elaina whispered back.

With a small laugh she said,“I am probably the worst dancer here and I've never done a solo. There is no way I will be picked. You might have a chance though.”

“I would love it. But why are you giving up on the idea? It's the largest festival of the year. Wouldn’t you like to do something different for a change?” Rainy asked, wondering why her friend appeard not to care.

Elaina shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind meeting the king- I don’t even know what he looks like. But I am always dancing in front of a ton of people, that part is not very appealing.”

A Writing assignment from long ago

He could hardly believe it, an order of 150 mattresses Caden swiveled his chair around to face his secretary who was seated six feet away from him. "Joanne, where’d we get an order for 150 of our cheapest mattresses? Hotels wouldn’t pick our cheapest."
Joanne smiled at his puzzled expression and said, "There is a new orphanage called ‘Living for Hope’ that just opened in one of the northern suburbs. They already have 50 kids coming and they have room for 150."
Joanne turned back to her computer.
"How are they paying for them?" Caden asked.
"I am not sure. I think some old rich guy is buying them." Joanne replied while not taking her eyes off her computer.
"He could have upgraded to the Feather Feel, it is only 10 bucks more each than the Sleep N' Save, and they are much better."
"You know how rich people are, like to give but not too much."

30 minutes went by; suddenly there was a loud knock on the wooden door at the front of the room, causing the occupants of the room to jump. Caden looked at it with a scowl on his face. "Joanne didn’t we put a sign on that door telling people to use the other one?"
"Yes I thought we did." she said while still looking at her computer screen.

There were two doors in the office. One was more of a formal door, and led out to the lobby. The other door led to the large office and construction area and everyone used that one to come in to speak with Caden. Because it was never used boxes and a filing cabet had made their home in front of it. Another knock sounded.

Replacing the scowl with a smile Caden asked "Joanne could you get the door?"
"I really don’t think I could lift those boxes sir." She said not noticing his expression.
"Well I supposed I shall have to do it." Caden got out of his chair and after a couple seconds managed to move the boxes over, and with one great pull he opened the door.
A lady stood outside dressed in a white suit, she had a large frown on her face. Seeing the sweat glistening on her face he remembered that their lobby’s air conditioning had broke last week and it was extremely hot in there. All of the workers just went through the back door and the lobbyist moved somewhere else to avoid the temperature.
She must be roasting in that suit, he thought.
"Come in, please." He said with a sweep of the hand.
"It is excruciatingly hot in there! Don’t you people know what AC is?" She then noticed the coolness of the room and was silent.
"My secretary Joanne McFatter." He said with a sweep toward Joanne. "And I am Caden Darril."
"Nice to meet both of you, my name is Leah Frederickson. I am here regarding the Living for Hope order you have received."
"Please sit down." Caden motioned to a chair next to his desk. She sat down quickly and started.
"I would like to change that order from the Sleep N’ Save brand, to the Ultra Deluxe Pillowtop."
Caden felt as though he had never been so shocked in his life. "I hope you realize that that could mean the price could be over a hundred thousand dollars more."
"I am willing to pay." She stated firmly.
"But, but----"
"You are selling mattresses Mr. Darril?" she asked him pointedly.
"Yes, I am." he said after composing himself, "Who will be paying?"
"I am willing to write out a check right now." She got out her checkbook, after asking for the amount she wrote it down and handed it to him. He looked at it in amazement. "One hundred, fifty-two thousand." He looked up at her face as if questioning if that was real. "This is not usually how I do business." he said.
"It’s good." She said firmly sensing his doubt. "I really must go now, thank you for your time. Goodbye Joanne- Mr. Darril." With a nod she left.
Caden swiveled in his chair to look at his secretary who has a shocked face that matched his own. "Well I'll be."

Rutabaga

He walked slowly down the busy street, oblivious to the commotions around. The sound of the sellers yelling, were drowned out by his dark and luminous thoughts. But then something broke through his reserve.
“Excuse me sir, would you like a rutabaga?” He looked down to see a young boy around six or seven standing in front of a wheel barrel full of rutabagagas. The boy had tussled red hair and freckled that spread all over his face. He looked around to see if anyone was with the boy, but he didn’t appear to be with any of the other vendors. The tattered appearance of the boy’s clothes and the dirty face, made the man forget his own worries for a while.
“Well my boy, how much are these beautiful looking rutabagas?” They really were exceptional ones. He slowly reached for his wallet while admiring the ripeness and the size of them.
“They are $1.50 each sir, or 3 for $4.” The boy looked hopeful as he took out some bills.
“I’ll take the whole barrel!” Seeing the joy on the boy’s face was worth emptying his whole wallet.