Secrets – WAG#7
WAG #7 Instructions: “Imaginings” This one is people-watching with a twist. Observe a stranger and sketch a brief background for them, including a secret. Then describe why they are in that particular place at that particular time (where you ran into them) and how it will affect their future. Feel free to be creative, but don’t forget to describe the concrete reality that made you pick them in the first place!
I had a surprising amount of difficulty with this one, and I think it was the secrets part! I kept watching people and wondering about their secret lives, thoughts, desires, but my brain kept taking a dark and twisty turn! Then I’d feel bad, and move on to the next person.
Secrets get exposed every day… take the British political advisor who had to resign because he was sending scurrilous messages to a left-wing blogger or Susan Boyle, who stunned the judges of the ITV programme Britain’s Got Talent (for several reasons). Then there’s the secrets that we keep, but we don’t realise everyone knows, like a guy who married a young pretty bride because what he really wanted was a nanny who would sleep with him.
Then I saw an ordinary guy: brown hair, short, slightly pudgy, baggy, comfortable clothes — he was the very picture of nondescript, the everyman. When he saw me looking at him, he gave me a blink, which is, I suppose, a little like a nod but more personal. It was a little secret moment between two strangers who both knew they wouldn’t be speaking. A wink has a promise of a follow-up, an implied invitation. A blink is just, “I see you.” and there’s something nice about it.
He was crossing the street, and considering the evening hour he was likely going home, or perhaps over to a friend’s? He wasn’t carrying anything, so it made it difficult to judge. What kind of secret would a guy like that have? He looked the type who, if he ran across a letter that he wasn’t meant to see, he wouldn’t tell anyone. I imagined this guy would keep a secret, no matter what, but there was a nice openness about his face that made me think he didn’t have many of his own. I imagined if I asked him a question, he would tell me anything about himself, but he’d be very protective about others.
I’m sure I could have found someone who looked furtive enough for a bad secret or spritely enough to have a good secret (like the woman who wrote to PostSecret to tell them she left notes in the pockets of clothing at her favourite clothing store), but I couldn’t shake this guy, this ordinary nice guy, and imagined the secrets he held for other people: his gay friend who wasn’t ready to come out, his sister who had an abortion at 15, his father who drank too much and his co-worker who had a secret tell-all blog about their company’s customers. This was a guy I’d like to know.
Programming note: This week the WAG round-up post is going to be a bit later than usual, but it will get posted some time today! ♥
Related Posts
-
Writing Adventure Group #33: Rescue Me
Posted on Aug 4, 2010
-
Writing Adventure Group 32: Altered State
Posted on Jul 29, 2010
-
Writing Aventure Group 31: Laughter
Posted on Jul 21, 2010
-
Writing Adventure Group #30
Posted on Jul 14, 2010
Tags
Share This
Great piece of observation, Nixy; I really like this piece.
I know that blink but it’s been ages since I’ve had an encounter like that. Interesting how you used that snap in time to develop a whole character.
You know, you’re right. We are all influenced by our biases, so if someone is wearing a cross, it’s a religious symbol, not just a pretty piece of jewelry. Or if you see a flash of metal hidden under a jacket while in a threatening situation (like riding a subway late at night, why is it a knife instead of a cellphone? Yet, if you’re walking down the street and the weather’s fine and you’re feeling good, everyone around you is as innocent and carefree as you feel. We make our world with our own perceptions. This gentle Everyman was as innocent as a newborn babe because you had no reason to think otherwise.
Thanks for running this group. My first participatory article was fun to write.
Cheers! SueO
[ Follow me on Twitter: dasos1 ]
Loved this piece of true imagining, I can picture the guy now. An everyday encounter made special by your words.
Thanks for hosting the WAG!
You have a great eye for detail, Nixy. I never heard of the blink opposed to the wink, but your description came through loud and clear. For some reason, throughout your exercise, I kept thinking, “Looks can be deceiving.” How many times it is the least person we suspect to be the most secretive.
Great angle on the secret part of the assignment! A secret keeper instead of a man with secrets. Neat.
When you said blink I imagined just exactly what you meant, in fact I could almost see him blink. Then I wondered if you meant wink. You made it clear you meant what you said and it worked perfectly. Amazing the difference between a wink and a blink.
~jon
[ Follow me on Twitter: jmstro ]
Interesting. I’ve never really thought of a blink as ‘i see you”.
The nicest person can hold the darkest secrets. You never truely know someone.
Nice piece Nixy.
That is so true about the blink! I’ve never seen that described anywhere before but YES! That’s so true. It also reminds me of the few times I’ve been gazing at someone absently and they catch you at it. You know, when someone turns and looks in your eyes and you jump, because even YOU didn’t know you were staring. LOL! ^_^
Great job, Nixy!