Sixty-nines

(The StoryADay.org prompt writer apparently took a day off. I decided on a whim to practice a storytelling technique I had picked up at a Richard Hugo House writing workshop in 2007 called sixty-nines. The idea with sixty-nines is to write stories that are exactly sixty-nine words in length, no longer, no shorter. I experimented with the Live from DC project, and produced the following three stories)

Back story

            November 5, 2008. Barack Obama has won the election for president. The streets of Seattle are full of people dancing and cheering.

            I am sitting in Charlie's Bar & Grill with my husband, sipping champagne. As the happiness outside spills into the restaurant, my husband starts to tear up.

            "Maybe the revolution has come," he said. "Without a war. Maybe it's going to be peaceful, after all."

Just before

Sunday, I took the subway into the Capitol and got off at the Smithsonian. I planned to visit museums, but first I decided to walk the National Mall. The first inauguration of President Obama taught me that chaos would reign. Hundreds of thousands of people without tickets would descend on the Capitol, jostling for a good view.

            In a few hours, I would be one of them.

On site

            On the train at 6:30 a.m., off by 7:05. Dawn broke as I reached the street.

            The crowd moved through a security tent. Off came coats, hats, mittens, shoes, and Obama buttons. We turned off cell phones, went through detectors, and were body searched.

            Leaving the tent, I walked fast to the front. A Jumbotron towered beside me, letting me see what I couldn’t see just ahead.