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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: TEXTING (05/18/17)
Julia glanced at her cell phone when it vibrated on the desk beside her. It had gone off three times in the last ten minutes. She blew the hair off her forehead in frustration. She refused to reply until she finished next week’s projections for her boss. Her real boss.



It wasn’t enough that she had a full time job. She now had a second job, which was more demanding. Buzz again. The text read, Urgent…..” Everything was urgent, like crying wolf. She knew not to answer too soon. Having one boss kept her busy enough. Having two just about drove her nuts.



The new boss lady was her mother who had back surgery a week ago and wasn’t allowed to drive or operate heavy machinery for at least six weeks. Julia loved her dearly, but keeping up with her demands required more time than she had at the moment. Maybe she should have let Danielle do the honors, especially since she offered and did not have a current job outside the home. But Danielle was 37 weeks pregnant and probably needed the rest before the baby came.



Mom normally kept it to one or two texts a day, but this was ridiculous. Buzz. She frowned at the message, 911 BIOTW. What kind of text acronym was that? She ran a couple of options through her mind then pushed it aside. She had completely lost her place trying to run the projections and stared at the spreadsheet on her screen for a moment to figure out where she left off.



Her mom was a goer, a doer. When something had to be done, she did it without delay. She might be out of commission for a couple of weeks, but she by no means would allow anything to sit and wait until she was mobile again. That’s why all the texts. 911 was usually code for don’t forget to pick up something on the way home.



“Julia,” her boss poked his head around the corner. “Line one. She said her name is Karen.”



How could she possibly get any work done today? Taking in a big breath she picked up line one.



“Don’t you even check your phone anymore?” Her mom asked before she could say hello. “I’ve been texting you all morning.”



“I’m kind of busy, Mom.” She replied running out of patience.



“Well, the baby is on the way!”



“Why didn’t you say so in your text? I thought she wasn’t due for two more weeks.”



“I did BIOTW, baby-is-on-the-way. Mark can’t get there in time to take Danielle to the hospital, and she doesn’t want me to call an ambulance.”



“Mom you can’t just make up text language and expect me to know what it means.”



“Isn’t that how it works?” She asked in all sincerity.



Julia didn’t know how to answer that. “I suppose it does.” Who started the instant messaging text language anyhow? “Tell Danielle I’m on my way.”
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Member Comments
Member
Date
C D Swanson 
05/27/17
Great job with this! Loved the wrap-up...cute, and on target!
Blessings~
Eneida Moscon
05/27/17
Nice plot, well placed background between the "buzzes", round and flat characters well described considering the word count, and a climax and resolution with a creative funny twist.

At the first mention of Danielle, I was a little distracted trying to figure out who was she. Maybe "let her sister Danielle" do the honors?

The metaphor of Julia's mother as the "boss lady", as well the old lady naive explanation on her made up BIOTW acronym, caused me to smile and "see" her in flesh and blood.

I'm guessing you'll soon be moved into Level 2!

Great piece of work! Blessings.
Elaine Hemingway
05/27/17
Great job of progression and building the tension with humor an added benefit. Well done and blessings on your future writing.
Phillip Cimei
05/29/17
Outstanding job. You won't be in this level long. It was interesting and kept me reading.

It flowed fairly smooth. I think a couple of paragraphs could have used some transition to the next, but it was overall pretty smooth.

You used some good descriptive writing. Good job.

I will watch for future writing. Keep it up. You did very well.