I pasted
David Kearney's 200 words and changed the font to differentiate it from
mine. He had a typo on the last sentence so I fixed it. Here are
the pertinent web links:
***
The lecture
theatre door slammed shut with a bang so loud half the room jumped in their
seat. Alice descended the stairs, not oblivious to the 200 pairs of
indignant eyes boring through her, and took the only available seat at the
front of the class.
Professor
Gordon Kane stood at the lectern and looked over the top his glasses at her.
“Welcome Miss Turner, what a remarkable entrance. I was just about to introduce
my colleague to your classmates, may I continue?”
Alice’s face
burned so hard she thought her hair might catch fire.
Kane gestured
toward a tall man wearing a green turtleneck and an tweed jacket with
leather patches at the elbows. “I expect that many of you will recognise our
guest,” he said.
She
recognised him immediately, in fact he was the very reason she was late for
class.
“His
book, Changing Minds, has spent the last six months perched at the
top of the New York Times Best Sellers list, his television show of the
same name has surprised an delighted audiences around the world and we
are very fortunate to have him here today. It is therefore, my very great privilege
to introduce, Dr Lucas Spencer.”
The room
erupted into deafening applause. Dr Spencer moved to the lectern and held up
his right hand. “Thank you Gordon, thank you everyone” he said. “I’d like to
ask for five volunteers.”
Alice’s hand rocketed upward. She willed with all her being that he
choose her. She didn’t want to look too desperate, but she had to be chosen.
Doctor Spencer looked around the room and his eyes locked briefly with hers.
She hoped her loud entrance was enough to get on stage. The blast radius was
only five feet so she had to be in his “bubble.”
Doctor Spencer
chose a diverse group of volunteers. Different ethnicities and social standing,
but they were all male. Alice wondered if she had chosen the wrong gender.
After four of her classmates made their way to the stage, Doctor Spencer looked
at her and smiled.
“Alice, please
join us on stage.”
Alice glanced at
the watch covering the scar on her wrist. She had worked hard to show her peers
she was just like the rest of them.
If they only knew, she thought as
she ascended the steps to the stage. It was almost time - her purpose on this
world had almost reached fruition. Doctor Lucas greeted each volunteer with a
hearty handshake. That would be her moment.
The room was awash with hundreds of conversations, but she focused on
only Doctor Lucas.
No comments:
Post a Comment