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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: ZEST (10/01/15)
A story about what? Zest? What’s that?

Wait – I’m thinking. It’s something you feel, right? I vaguely remember it as something that takes energy. Oh, dear - I’m too old for anything that takes much energy. It even takes energy to say the word.

But I’m still thinking. I ask an orderly to look up “zest” for me. He has a dictionary on that flat phone of his. He’s telling me that zest is defined as a sense of excitement, anticipation, and energy. See, I knew it took energy. He also says zest is living life as an adventure.

Ha – nobody here gets excited and none of us have adventures, except when they take us to the doctor. That’s always an adventure because the workers have been known to drop us when they pull us out of our wheelchairs to stick us in the van. True, there is anticipation on doctor day, but not the good kind. It hurts when they poke us with needles and pinch our arms with that blood pressure gizmo. Sometimes they are nice and just give us pills but I can’t remember what they’re for anymore. I only know that the docs don’t have a cure for what ails us. Only God does.

Wait - the orderly is telling me that “zest” also means “motivation in challenging situations or tasks.” Well, the folks who live here sure have a challenging situation – seeing how long they can live being cooped up and wheelchair-bound. Ha! See that man over there? He says his motivation is to outlive his son-in-law. He just might do it. He’s the only one who demands to be taken to the exercise room. He’s been here the longest - over ten years.

The orderly with the flat phone is still by my bed. He’s taking care of me. This guy has challenging tasks. I bet he wishes he had more zest. So I ask him if he knows where we can both get more of that zest. He laughs and says yes. He says he’ll bring me a zest-filled surprise at dinner time.

I close my eyes for a nap. Suddenly I am young again. I am in a kitchen and I have a baby on my hip. A three year old girl is at the table eating vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce. I put the baby in the high chair and give him a pile of Cheerios. He smiles and looks at me with chocolate brown eyes. I smile. The girl has blue eyes and chocolate syrup all over her face. I laugh and that makes her smile. I put a pink wash cloth on my finger and tell her I am going to chase the chocolate cooties off her face. She giggles.

I push a load of clothes into the washer and start to sing “Jesus Loves Me.” Then I dance around the kitchen table with the empty clothes basket while the girl sings with me and the baby laughs.

I wake up from my nap and think about my dream. Is this what zest feels like?

I suddenly remember that the baby and the girl were my children, the first of five. We all must have had a ton of zest back then. Every day was probably an adventure for them. Now they are adults. They tell me about their busy lives caring for my grandchildren. I think I have fifteen of them. I sure hope they have lots of that zest stuff, because they’ll sure need it.

Here comes the orderly again. He tells me I have chicken pot pie for dinner with a side order of zest. I love chicken pot pie. I immediately start to crawl out of bed. He helps me settle into my chair and arranges my tray. As I lift my fork, my tummy rumbles. I savor the first bite and mumble, “Yum.” The orderly smiles and sits down beside me. He tells me I am eating with zest. I smile with my mouth full of pie.

Now he's showing me a book called “The Zest-Filled Life; God-Centered and Spirit-Led.” He says it has faith-based stories and scripture in it. He begins reading it to me as I eat. By the time he’s done with the first story, I am ready for my dessert. I ask for vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and another zest-filled story on the side.

This is a work of fiction 737 words
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This article has been read 367 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Judy Sauer 
10/08/15
Thanks for entering the challenge. You may want to use a Thesaurus for alteranate words for zest, et al. Too much "zest" loses its appeal and sounds repetitive. I hope to encourage you with my words, not discourage. I pray this feedback is taken in the spirit of one writer trying to help another writer. Keep writing.
Pat Small
10/08/15
This was a creative entry, with a nice touch of humor. I really enjoyed it. True, you could have used some other words instead of repeating "zest", but in this story it was not as objectionable as in the previous entry.
Lynn Smith
10/10/15
I liked your story and I could tell that you tried very hard writing it. I feel for your MC who is wheelchair bound and I am sure many people can identify with her.

All the best. :)
C D Swanson 
10/10/15
You were on topic and brought forward a good story line. I enjoyed it.

God bless~