Pool on the rooftop

 “He’ll never do it,” I chuckled loudly to attract the attention of the other party-goers. Ben quickly turned away from the rail where he had been standing, gazing at the ground 30 stories below. Red-faced with chest heaving, he stared at the people splashing in the pool to avoid my eyes. 

As I reached out to him, he spun away. In his rush, he tripped on the chaise lounger, knocking it into the water. He shoved the chair in his path harder than necessary. Action in the pool froze as metal frame screeched against metal frame.

He didn't hit anyone. 

I wrote this in response to the photo prompt posted on Twitter by @100word_story. Honestly, I'm not quite sure where the story came from. But, the first line came to me as I studied the photo and thought about giving 100-word-story-writing a try. It grew from there. 

Also, I created this new blog and came across this photo prompt while working on the first day of our Critical Pedagogy and Storytelling track at Digital Pedagogy Lab 2021. I've tried blogging before, usually to write about my historical research or for class purposes (Here's one for my Mexican Revolution class [includes writing by me and my students], another for Intro to Latin American Studies and one more for History of the US-Mexico Border). If you clicked on any of those, you'll notice that I'm not good at blogging--I've written a few things in fits and starts. Maybe this time around will be different.