Opening Lines

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Wickeds add an opening line for this photo:

Barb: They stood on the storeroom shelves like dismembered sentries–the lines of arms, legs, torsos, and heads. “How do we get rid of these, Dad?” I asked. He rubbed his hand across his grizzled chin. “One at a time, buddy. One at a time.”

Liz: At first glance, it looked like a sad, discarded mannequin in the trash bin. But when I looked again, it was halfway out of the bin…and looking right at me.

Edith/Maddie: Sawyer slammed on the brakes when he spied, there for the taking, the perfect thing to practice his dismembering technique on.

Sherry: Qendrun quietly edged her pod open wondering where she was this time.

Julie: She’d thought it would be funny to dress a mannequin up and have it sitting in the front room waiting for her philandering husband to come home. She’d figured out how to use the portable speaker after her third glass of wine. What she hadn’t figured on was it all scaring him, well, to death. She’d tried not to hum too merry a tune as she threw the torso out.

Readers: Add your opening line!

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. White as sheet, complete blank look. Yep, Miriam is drunk as a skunk again. But why was she hiding in the trash barrel? Or, was she discarded?

  2. A few dismembered body parts in the garbage would surely garner the attention of the trash man. But Josie hoped, by tossing in a mannequin, the overworked crew might assume the odd leg or arm was merely part of the dummy.

  3. Trapped inside the mannequin, Ellen managed to poke its head out of the trash can, just as she heard the rumble of the approaching garbage truck.

  4. Just when The Doctor thought the battle had been won and Earth was safe once again, the Auton began climbing out of the trash bin…the invasion was far from over!

    And Edith, your opening line was gruesomely awesome!

      1. Edith, you are welcome!

        Sherry, thanks. It harkens back to the events of the first episode of the 2005 Doctor Who revival series as the Autons were the bad guys in the first episode and a trash bin figured heavily into part of the plot.

  5. No opening line, because this photo hits close to home! In our neighborhood an older woman lived in a corner house with a front porch she decorated with mannequins dressed like Roman Gods. Sadly, one night this past summer she had too much wine (so the neighborhood gossip goes) and hit her head getting in or out of her hot tub and died. Her children have been trying to sell her house and finally decided they needed to “clean up” the porch, so into the garbage cans went the mannequins. I promise, this is a true story…I did not make it up. Oh, and right after the mannequins came down from their lofty porch perch, the for sale sign went away. We think the house sold, but no one seems to be sure. Yes, we live in one of those unique neighborhoods in the old part of our town, no cookie cutter homes here. LOL
    PS I liked all the first lines!

  6. He came up with a foolproof method to get rid of the bodies; shave their heads, dismember them and dip the parts in liquid plastic. Then he could put them out with the trash and everyone would think they were mannequins.

  8. None of the cops got it when Jeff joked “parts is parts,” but they roared when his partner Wendy showed them the old ad on YouTube.

  9. No opening line, but yours were all great fun. Sherry: are you working on a sci-fi time travel piece?

  12. If you would have told me the Robot Uprising of 2021 began in a trash bin, I would have laughed. And then cried.

  13. I don’t have an opening line since I’m not all that good with them. But Edith/Maddie’s line was fantastic and pulled me back to Dexter and his dismembering techniques. Interesting openers, everyone.

  14. I just about had a heart attack when I stopped the head sticking out of the garbage can. On closer look, I realized it was just a dummy. But then I looked even closer. I wish I hadn’t.

  15. If I told you once, I told you a hundred times,stop throwing your mother in the recycle bin.

  16. The number one rule was “Do Not Let The Naives See you”, but Aurquonra wished they’d researched disguises better.

  17. Silly little bird, trying to escape from me again! Sneaking out in a trash can can no less. Golly. She doesn’t know how good she has it—always dressed in the finest dresses and gorgeous hats and resplendent wigs! All the lovely wigs. She better watch it. If she keeps pushing me, I’ll trade her in for a newer model.

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