The jigsaw-zumba-baking-painting-jewellery making-reading club

 

Welcome to The Spot Writers. This month’s prompt is to write something with these words: emotion, thumb, copyright, chapter, misery.

This week story comes from Chiara. Chiara is currently in Berlin, Germany, not quarantined anymore but still doing her best to catch up with semi-abandoned writing projects.

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The jigsaw-zumba-baking-painting-jewellery making-reading club

by Chiara De Giorgi

 

“A reading club?” said Jennifer, raising an eyebrow, unconvinced.

“Why, what’s wrong with a reading club?” asked Felicity. “We want to spend time together, don’t we? Winter is coming, we all have families, and it’s going to be hard for us five to all agree on a time and place and go out for a drink.”

Lana frowned. “Besides”, she added, “I’m three months pregnant, I can’t possibly go out for drinks. It would be pure misery to sit with you and sip sparkling water.”

Summer waved her copy of the last Stephen King, using her thumb as a bookmark. “Yes, and we all like reading, don’t we? I think it’s great that we have that in common. We could meet once a month and discuss books and drink wine… That’s how it’s done, you know, I’ve read it somewhere. We could easily provide an alcohol-free champagne for Lana, after all.”

Jennifer sighed. “It’s just… A book club is hardly original any more. Everybody belongs to one. I wish we could be unique, do something special together.”

“We can always make our own unique and special book club”, Erica offered with a smile. “How about a chick-lit reading club? I’ve never heard of one. We could even register the copyright for it!”

“Yes!” cried Summer. “What an amazing idea! All the people who want to have their own chick-lit book club should pay us money, and we’d be rich like those blog-moms. God, they’re everywhere, aren’t they?”

Lana was annoyed by her friend’s enthusiasm. She had actually been considering to become one of those blog-moms Summer clearly found insufferable.

“Are you joking?” she asked. “A chick-lit book club? We’re supposed to read a chick-lit book every month? I’d rather shoot myself, thank you very much.”

Erica laughed. “Oh, you’re such a snob!”

“Am not! I can read a chick-lit novel once in a while, but not all the time! In a few months I’ll have a baby, and then, what? Am I supposed to spend my time between nursery rhymes and Sophie Kinsella? I need some food for my brain cells, real food!”

“Ladies, be quiet!” called Jennifer. “I think I know how to make our book club really unique.”

“Do tell!”

“It won’t just be a book club. It will be a book and something club.”

The women looked at one another, uncomprehending.

“Explain?”

“We pick a second activity and make the reading club about that as well. This way, we’ll be free to read whatever we want: once it’ll be chick-lit – don’t kill me, Lana, I said once – then we read a crime book, a sci-fi novel, a romance… hell, we could even read a biography if we feel like it! And in the meantime, we… I don’t know. Do something else.”

“Like crochet?” asked Felicity.

“Well, I can’t crochet, but that’s the idea, yes.”

“I like jigsaw puzzles!” said Summer. “We could discuss a book and put together one at the same time!”

“Oh, God, no…” moaned Erica. “I find jigsaw puzzles terribly boring, I’m sorry. I couldn’t even discuss one chapter before falling asleep!”

“We should find another thing we all like, apart from reading”, considered Lana. “I’ve known you guys for years, but nothing comes to mind, I’m afraid.”

“Let’s make it simple”, said Jennifer. “Let’s each one of us write our favorite hobby – our second favorite hobby, of course – on a piece of paper. There must be something else we have in common. If there’s not, then we pick the activity that has more preferences. Agreed?”

The five friends looked at one another, then nodded.

“Ready?” asked Jennifer, when they all had written their note. “Let’s hear about your hobbies, then. Felicity?”

“My favorite hobby, after reading, is baking.”

“Hm. Okay. Summer?”

“As I said before, jigsaw puzzles.”

“Right. Erica?”

“It’s oil painting for me.”

“O-kay. This is going to be trickier than I thought, I’m afraid. Lana?”

“I love making jewellery… What about you, Jennifer? What’s your second favorite hobby?”

“I love zumba…”, she confessed. “Girls, what are we going to do? Our hobbies and interests are so different!”

“I know what we can do!” cried Summer. “We’ll all do what we like best while discussing books with the others!”

“How do you mean?”

“Easy! I’ll put a jigsaw puzzle together while you do your zumba jumps and Erica paints and Lana makes jewellery and Felicity bakes a cake. In the meantime, we discuss a book. Like I said: easy!”

“So, we’ll be…”

“The jigsaw-zumba-baking-painting-jewellery making-reading club! Oh, I already like it!”

“It does have a certain je-ne-sais-quoi…”

“How exciting!”

“So we’re all agreed?”

“I think so, it gives me quite a thrilling emotion, this book club.”

“It does, doesn’t it? And it’s all ours! Unique and special, just like us.”

 

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The Spot Writers—Our Members:

Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/