Day 14: Testing 1-2-3

Instructions: 

Choose one word that most appeals to you: trophy, bible, inhale, giraffe, lava, weed, crush, banana, mask, gas, fender 

Choose one setting that most appeals to you: At a circus, during a war, in a space station, at a park, under a full moon, on a beach 

Choose one starting phrase that most appeals to you: If I could stop, I once asked, The first day, If you must know, The hurricane neared.

Start your story with this phrase and incorporate the setting and word.

The first day that she planted it was just a twig. Honey, the sad song. Reminds me of friend from school. Stephanie, but Honey to family, and Panyang to us, her friends. The latter name she allowed only her high school buddies to use. One of us actually gave her that name. It was the fashion then to make beautiful names "ugly"-sounding. She had her Panyang, Cecilia got her "Zadang" from her last name "Lozada". Zadang's cousin, though, Isabel, with the same last name, got Sabel Sabaw (soup), I vaguely recall from a soft-porn movie of a similar title. A few were spared that awful naming convention, perhaps, I'm only speculating now, their names were already difficult to enunciate, not necessarily ugly-sounding (Wilweville was a mouthful, also a victim of a parallel vogue of combining both parents' names to form unusual names.)

But I digress. I was at this park/cemetery for American soldiers. More park than cemetery. After I figured out how to get there, it quickly became a place I go to when I needed to think. No, not really serious thinking, just letting the mind drift. Like about the twig. And Honey. Or a weed, and how you can't find any among the hectares of grass. That's how immaculately maintained this cemetery is. Not your typical park or cemetery. Visit a local park, and it's littered with trash from fast-food picnics, lovers who need to, but can't afford, to get a room.

While some people might find solace in the Bible in trying times, I go to this place, with two Sunday papers tucked under my arm. Why the papers? My small crises are usually preceded by a change in jobs, so I scour the Sunday classifieds for job openings. Then, done with that, I tackle the giant crossword puzzles. I look up every now and then to follow the planes taking off or about to land at the nearby airport. The ones that are approaching are usually eye-level from where I'm sitting. The ones taking off are farther up, and I follow it until it tucks its wheels in.

Two or three hours there, and I'm ready to head home.