Alternate (Signs; A to Z Challenge)

Sheila searched for the Substitute Teacher Plans folder. The desktop was a mess of piles: papers, books,  pens, paper clips and other debris. She sighed, shifting the material around with one hand, dumping her coat and bag on the floor with the other.

The front office had kept her waiting, not completely ignoring her but…

She had less than ten minutes to go over the day’s plans and see if all the materials she would need for the day were at hand.

Finally: the folder!

Opening it, she only found the class roster. No plans. Nothing.

The school bells rang.

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I had thought I would not participate in the A to Z Challenge again. I had skipped last year for various private reasons. My returning to this was prompted by a series of other “various reasons” that remain just as private. So, for April 2014, you will find a story a day (except Sundays) from me on a blog that has been haphazard, at best, for over a year. A to Z: Staring with A on April 1st and ending with Z on April 30th.

Signs is my theme for this year’s outing. Road signs, building signs, warning signs…Signs alert us to a multitude of messages. My plan is to use the alphabet through Signage, but not to stick to what the sign was originally intended to convey. So, the genre of story writing, and styles,  of the posts will vary as my mood and interpretation sees fit. Possibly a poem or two. We’ll see.

I’m also trying something more of a challenge as was laid down in front of me by my SO: “Why not do it as a drabble or other word limited flash fiction style?” she said. A Drabble is 100 Words Exactly.