Word for Word: Bistro
I’m in a writers’ group that meets on Zoom, though before the pandemic we met in person. Every week, we do a writing prompt: someone gives a page number, and our organizer picks a word from a huge dictionary. We write for five minutes. In this example, the word is: bistro.
Exploring art galleries all day can feel overwhelming, so I stopped at the first bistro I saw on a corner. I sank onto an outdoor chair. I inhaled the yellow roses in a small vase on the table and looked around. There were five other small, circular tables, where people sat talking and sipping from teacups.
I turned to the Art Nouveau double doors in hopes of spotting a server. Instead, I watched a crowd of patrons running out, some screaming, one dropping a teacup on the sidewalk. The cup shattered. I raised my eyebrows and wondered how atrocious the service or food must be for such a response from patrons.
A man in an apron stepped out. Everyone sitting at outdoor tables sat staring at him. One customer had a teacup half-raised to her lips.
The man threw up his hands and exclaimed, “The poltergeist is at it again!”
Spells and Enchantments is the first volume in my middle grade fantasy series Rowanwick Witches, which includes a dragon named Brimstone and is available here: