Exercise 5

Prompt: Describe a setting of time and place without directly mentioning the date or location.

High heels that clattered when she walked. Click clack click clack. Hair curled in a short and fancy bob, dancing around her face as she walked. Click clack click clack. She floated onto the waiting bench like a leaf, her silk stocking covered legs poised in a regal fashion. I watched her adjust her hat through the corner of my newspaper and noticed her beautifully tanned fingers, all golden except for a pale while stripe across the third finger.

A few older ladies passed in front of the woman, and they gazed at her through their eyelashes, a deep set grimace protruding from their faces. When they came in front of me I could hear them whisper.

"Did you see that dress?"
"Shorter than a boy's knickers!"
"The nerve!"
"I've heard about women like her, dressing like scamps, talking like men, some even take the devil's drink!"
"I say..."

Their voices drifted off and my focus turned back to the woman, who was now adjusting her long beaded necklaces and checking the time on the nearby clock.

There was a deep rumble and I looked up to see the train approaching. I sat still; my train would not arrive for another half hour. But, to my dismay, the woman arose delicately and picked up her belongings; seven or eight shopping bags labeled with the names of boutiques that dotted 5th Avenue.

Click clack click clack. She approached the train doors, causing the oncoming passengers to part in front of her like the red sea, mystified by her other-worldly aura.

I looked at my watch and sighed.

"Hell with it," I muttered, grabbing my suitcase and jumping out of my seat.

I stepped onto the carriage just as the doors were closing.