Deanna Repose Oaks

Poetically Captured Moments From the Heart

Prompt Responses

Prompt 28

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There was this house I lived in many lifetimes ago. It was on a hill overlooking the city of Monterrey, Mexico. A city with 3 right turns and no lefts. It is noisy, crazy, and full of people speaking a language I only know from the slang spoken on the streets in Southern California. The best Chinese food I have ever had was in a small restaurant just outside the city center, cooked by Mexicans, still better than all the Chinese food I ate in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

My view of the mountain was magical, especially at sunset. The mountain turns purple at the bottom and red at the top. The shadows fall in a circle around the base all throughout the day. I loved to read in my window box and watch the mountain, every morning. There was a slowness about the day.

Nights were lively, with parties on the streets nightly. Just friends in trucks with music pouring out of the speakers dancing on the beds, enjoying life as best they could. It was fun to watch but was most fun when they reached out and sucked me into the celebrations. I wish I could go back and stay.

Prompt 27

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I took Bruno for the longest walk today. It wasn’t the kind of walk where he dragged me or I dragged him. We walked side by side, in stride, the whole way. It was very peaceful. We walked through the fields near the farm where he was born. The fields were full of flowers and sunshine. We took the road that wove through the forest so that we can play with the shadows of the leaves, but Bruno was too tired to do much playing. We then walked by the park where Bruno would play fetch with the kids. Today, Bruno was not up for following the ball around. I can’t figure out if he is sad or tired or sad because he is too tired to force giggles out of those kids. So, we stopped at Starbucks for a whipped cream doggie drink and a relaxing hour of people watching and dog napping. When Bruno woke up, we walked home to be lazy in the back yard under the big tree in the corner reading books. As dusk fell, we took our normal walk around the block, then took a side trip to see our friends.

As the sun set, our walk ended at the rainbow bridge.

Prompt 26

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I am so excited! My pencil broke and I get to use the new electric pencil sharpener the teacher got for our class last week, finally. I’ve been thinking about using the sharpener since she showed us how to use it. Just push the pencil in the little hole until it starts making noise.

I walk slowly across the class to the new sharpener. It seems so far away because I have to go so slow. The teacher says I can’t run with a pencil, and if I get caught now, I will have to go back to my seat without my pencil instead of using the sharpener. All I want is to use the sharpener, so I am walking extra slow.

All I have to do now is pass Jana’s desk and put my pencil in the hole to sharpen it.

I put my pencil in and a strange noise sounded. I yelped and pulled the pencil out. The teacher ran to me, and asked if everything was okay. I looked down at the pencil. The teacher looked too. She took the pencil from me and sent me to my desk. Then she showed my pencil to the class as the way NOT to sharpen a pencil.

Prompt 25

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I am supposed to walk out on stage tomorrow night, after I walk down the red carpet. I am so nervous. I have trouble walking these days. The replacement hips act up if I walk too far, and I feel like I walked 5 miles during the rehearsals yesterday, which didn’t include walking the red carpet. But, I am determined to walk. I didn’t walk for my college diploma or my high school or any of that. I need to show my kids that even without all that paper, you can still make something of yourself.

My dress is designed by someone whose name I can’t pronounce, and I’ll be walking slowly down the red carpet. I’ve decided that if they ask me about the dress, I’ll ask them if they know the reason I am wearing it. If they tell me it is because I am at the Academy Awards to receive a lifetime achievement award, I’m going to scoff at them. The dress is black, my favorite color, with a teal butterfly across the back. The reason I am wearing it is because all angels have wings, and this dress has wings! No one will guess that answer.

Prompt 24

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I need 24 hours of sleep. Not just the 2 hours I normally get or the 8 hours I get when I am really lucky. I need a full 24 hour day of deep sleep. At least that is what I tell myself as my mind is going crazy because it can’t think and I am forcing it to.

“If only I could sleep for a full day…”

But in my heart, I know this won’t happen. Being a new mom is just so overwhelming. I knew it was going to be bad, but not this bad. My mom’s advice, from 3,000 miles away, of “Just sleep when the baby sleeps” doesn’t quite work when you have no one else to take care of all the things that need to get taken care of like eating, laundry, paying bills, working…

There is just too much to do, so I sleep when I can no longer stay awake. Sometimes that means sleeping while standing up over a sink of dirty dishes.

Even though I have this great need, I put my child first always because his smile lights up my life with enough light I can’t sleep through it, even if I tried.

Prompt 23

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Danielle thought she heard a ghost… so she woke up her sister sleeping in the bed next to her. The ghost became louder and now both girls crept into their brother’s room and woke him up. The ghost groaned again, and they all ran into the bathroom and huddled in the tub.

“You can be brave. Just run into our room and grab the pillows. It is not that far, just the next room over,” Danielle pleaded.

“What about my pillow?”

“Your pillow is in your room. You can run in there after you bring us our pillows.”

“How is that fair?”

“It is fair because our room is closer and we have more pillows.”

“Oh, okay.”

With that Danielle’s little brother jumped out of the tub and ran like hell towards his own room. He was halfway down the hall when the ghost groaned again. He froze, looked around, didn’t see anything, and ran straight back to jump into a tub with a thump.

“What the hell is going on here?” Their dad bellowed as he found them in the tub. “All this running and thumping in the middle of the night. Get back to bed!”

“But, it was a ghost Daddy. We were scared,” Danielle said as she ran towards him for a hug.

“A ghost?”

“Yes. He’s been groaning all night, just like that,” Danielle shrieked as the groan echoed through the hall.

“Oh, that is just the heater.”