{"id":284,"date":"2020-02-27T06:41:45","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T14:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/?p=284"},"modified":"2020-02-27T06:41:47","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T14:41:47","slug":"tint-and-lift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/2020\/02\/27\/tint-and-lift\/","title":{"rendered":"Tint and Lift"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo by dog madic<\/a> from FreeImages<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Write a dialogue between two people who know each other, on opposite sides of an issue or problem. <\/strong><\/em>From What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers<\/em> by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter, 1990, pp. 82-83.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see why we need to carry backpacks, Aubrey. We can have porters carry our bags wherever we go, and I personally don\u2019t want to spend our precious few weeks of vacation laden like a pack animal under 38 degree heat.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shep set his shiny Michelin\u2019s Green Guide to Paris down\non the kitchen table and squared his shoulders as he faced her. \u201cI make good\nmoney, dammit, and I don\u2019t understand why you want to travel like vagabonds.\nAnd India? Why in heaven\u2019s name would you want to go to India?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aubrey shook her head and clucked her teeth. \u201cBaby, don\u2019t be so rigid. It\u2019s why your face is so tight all the time.\u201d She set her bookmarked copy of Lonely Planet India on the edge of the sofa and perched herself on the corner. A few pages came loose from the book and fluttered down towards her feet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done it your way. I\u2019m sick of pampered holidays. I\u2019m tired of resorts and all-inclusive getaways. Let\u2019s explore new places and new cultures. All we ever do is move from private car to fancy hotel to 5-star restaurant to private car to fancy hotel. What about the people? I want to meet people, Shep. Real people who aren\u2019t five-star travelers. Is that too much to ask?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shep threw his hands in the air. \u201cPeople? What about the\nDeckers? What about the Harrods? Those are people. You were happy enough to\nmeet them last winter in Barbados.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, sure, Marina Decker, the Botox Queen? And Jennifer\nHarrod, who sent her food back because the color looked off? Quite right, Shep,\nI was happy to meet them, because your attention was wholly consumed by the rum,\nif I recall. Do you remember Ed Decker\u2019s term for the locals?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, yes, I remember that he may have made some off-color\nremarks, though they were rather clever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClever, Shep? Really? He was a buffoon, albeit one with perfect hair. No wonder his wife shoots herself up with Botox \u2013 trying to mask how unhappy she is.\u201d Aubrey folded her hands and bounced one sandaled foot up and down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe real world, Shep. I want to see the real world for a change. India is full of life – 1.3 billion people, Shep!\u00a0 Let\u2019s walk among them, feel the heat, feel the rush of adrenaline as we race to catch a bus. Or no, a rickshaw!\u201d She beamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOr capture dysentery, or cholera, or god forbid dengue fever.\u201d Shep cut her off with a quick hand motion. \u201cDo you realize what you\u2019re proposing? You\u2019d be throwing yourself to the wolves, my dear. We might as well paste signs on our back saying \u2018I Have Money \u2013 Ask Me for Ransom<\/strong>.\u2019 You\u2019re out of your league here, my sweetness. You\u2019ve never gone a day without eyeliner or mascara. And now you\u2019re going to hand wash your clothes after carrying them around in a sack on your back?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll get my lashes lifted and tinted, Mr. Wiseguy, so I won\u2019t need the makeup. And we can hire a local to wash our clothes. I\u2019m tired of Paris and Geneva. The Alps are boring. India\u2019s an adventure \u2013 street food, the Taj Mahal, elephants\u2026 Oh, Shep, it will be new and exciting!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shep\u2019s mouth dropped open, speechless, and he stared at her as if for the first time. He twice started to speak and stopped. Then his eyes widened, he lifted his chin and straightened his back. He picked up his Michelin guide and headed to his study. \u201cHoney, dear, please start taking your meds again.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Write a dialogue between two people who know each other, on opposite sides of an issue or problem. From What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter, 1990, pp. 82-83. \u201cI don\u2019t see why we need to carry backpacks, Aubrey. We can have porters carry our bags wherever we go, and I personally don\u2019t want … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[91,85,86,83,89,90,87,88],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shorts","tag-backpack","tag-couple-argument","tag-dialogue","tag-india","tag-lonely-planet","tag-michelin-guide","tag-travel","tag-wealth","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions\/289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabetholdham.com\/wpd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}