Friday flash: Projects

This week's flash fiction is very flash, because, well, I didn't have time to write more. I did use Chuck Wendig's prompt, which involved using a random phrase generator and incorporating the phrase somewhere in the story. I just didn't avail myself of all 1000 words to do it.

Projects

The garage was a mess, as usual. Lee studied the chaos, and decided that the number of unfinished projects had about reached maximum. She needed to clear off the workbench and organize all the different things she was working on. The trouble was, new projects were always more exciting than old projects, and starting was easier than finishing.

Especially if you weren’t very good at building things, and Lee wasn’t. Oh, she usually ended up with something reasonably functional, if she finished the project.  But nothing ever looked as lovely as it did in the designs in Family Handyman, or in her head, and that was discouraging. With a sigh, Lee started putting tools back on the racks, tossing bits and scraps of wood into the scrap bin, and sorting the parts of two or three projects into the appropriate piles.

The clean-up was about half done when the impetuous workbench took hold of her once more, and Lee found herself laying out lumber to build a—what was it? Oh, yeah, a cat platform.

Lee didn’t have a cat. But Sandra, who Lee hoped to lure into her home soon, did. Wouldn’t building cat furniture be a good way of showing that she cared? Leafing through the massive pile of plans and designs she’d saved from years of magazines and newspaper clippings, she found what she needed. Whistling, Lee set to work.

Hours later, sawdust in her hair and her stomach growling, Lee laid the foundations of the contraption aside. She’d just have some lunch and there’d be plenty of time to finish up before dinner. This one was easy.

Of course, she’d have to go out and get some carpet scraps. Cat furniture required carpet. A glimpse of herself in the hall mirror told Lee that she would need to clean up a bit before going to the store. She wolfed down a sandwich and headed for the shower.

After eating and showering, Lee wrapped herself in her robe. She just needed to let her hair dry a bit before going out, and then she would be able to get the carpet and get back to work.

She picked up a book. It felt good to be clean.

Down in the garage, the workbench was covered with the detritus of the new project. Stretched out on her bed two floors above, Lee turned another page.

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2015