Opening Lines

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Write an opening line for the photograph below:

IMG_0151Edith: I TOLD him not to drop the damn laptop case. Those innocent little cherry blossoms were about to be blown right back to Tokyo.

Jessie: Miles took one look at the beauty all around him and dropped everything to start a new life as a park ranger.

Barb: “I’ve told you officer. He walks our daughter to kindergarten every morning through the park. When the school called asking why she was absent, I rang his office. He never arrived. I ran out here and this is all I found.”

Julie: The Wicked Witch was out of ideas, until she saw the cherry blossoms dropping along the path. Dorothy would never guess that this was poppies 2.0. Serves her right. A lawyer? She goes back to Kansas to become a lawyer? Really? “I’ll get you, my pretty,” she said. “And your little Filofax too.”

Sherry: If he loved me as much as he loved the laptop, I might not have started tossing things out the window.

Published by Sherry Harris

Sherry Harris is the author of the Agatha Award nominated Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series and the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Mystery series.

38 Thoughts

  1. It was the last day of school, the students were gone, the halls were silent, and the park beckoned her to throw off her inhibitions, throw down her bag, and become a child again, running gleefully through the trees.

  2. The lure of the warm May morning and the pristine lake were almost too much to take in after the long gray winter. Damn the office! After dropping his bag he ran towards the sparkling water, shedding his garments one by one on the blossom-covered grass. The lake was cool and refreshing, but the blissful day suddenly turned grim when he realized that he wasn’t alone in the water.

  4. At last, the perfect metaphor. Here I am, face down on the path of life, covered in little shards of last summer’s dreams. I side-stepped the bag and walked on toward the light.

    1. The editor inside me is already at work. I was a little hasty, and realize that last summer doesn’t work for falling blossoms. I’m changing “last summer’s dreams” to “shattered dreams”.

  5. For years, I’ve fought off Spring Fever. But today was just too good not to enjoy. Forget the office, I’m calling in sick.

    That was almost the biggest mistake of my life.

  7. Hey, who’s still in contact with Barry Eisler, our #Crimebake Guest of Honor from a few years ago? 🙂 It’d be fun to see what he comes up with.

  8. The bag moved.
    “Wait. I hear something. Don’t go near it.”
    “Oh, Daddy. Look. It’s a puppy!”

  9. The murder victim lost his briefcase in the struggle. His body is elsewhere. Could’ve happened like that in a TV show.

  10. Sherry, I love your opening line. Here’s mine;

    I always thought that neighbor of mine was shady. Mystery writer, she says. My ass. I figured it was a cover for planning to kill her husband or something. Then this morning, she dropped a suitcase on a path near the woods behind our houses. And she left it there. Bet the thought no one was watching. Yeah, that lady’s up to something. Which is why I called the cops. They’re heading to her door right now.

  11. Farquhar dropped his laptop in excitement when he got his buddy’s text: “WOW bosoms ever weird jiggle path.” Where, he wondered, did all those women get to?

  12. What a beautiful day to walk through the park on the way home. She was captivated by the falling blossoms as she viewed them falling from the sky. As she looked up, she was not aware of the crack in the sidewalk. She fell and her head hit the sidewalk causing her to pass out. When she came to, it was dark. She did not know who she was or where she was, so she got up and started walking leaving her bag behind on the path.

      1. And I want to add to it!
        This was the beginning of her “Unknown Journey.”

      2. May not be fancy words – but I liked the concept!
        She doesn’t know who or where she is…..or where she is going!

  13. Southern snow, she exclaimed in delight, after a storm blew the pear blossoms to the ground. The girls finished soccer practice with a training run through the woods; all appeared except Claire. Only a laptop case remained on the path.

  15. As she was walking through the park day dreaming as the cherry blossoms fell , she was attacked. Her briefcase fell to the ground as someone grabbed her and carried her away.

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