Here’s another really fun paragraph that is the result of an assignment in my Creative Writing class. The professor gave us a list of opening lines from which we were to choose. We were to complete the sentence then write an opening paragraph to go with it. I chose the line, “I don’t normally dress this way, but…” and the ensuing paragraph is loosely based on the wedding of one Maggie Thrash, one of my many favorite former students, a writer in her own right.

White Wedding

I don’t normally dress this way, but it’s Halloween and Maggie is getting married. The venue is out in the country where huge trees shrouded in Spanish moss crowd around an old barn. Its windows emit a flickering glow that comes from the lanterns clinging to its rafters. Many of the guests are decked out in elaborate costumes. There, by the bar, is a beautiful harlequin sporting a costume of red, white and purple with bells hanging from his hat that tinkle cheerfully every time he moves. Standing beside him is a skeleton dressed in a full length black velvet cape, his silver glasses framing empty eye sockets.  A tiny Scooby Doo and a lovely little Alice just darted in front of me; in search of the mysterious Mad Hatter, perhaps? On the dance floor, husband and wife are dancing an Irish jig. Maggie is wrapped in a lacy gown that is layered so that it looks like a mummy’s shroud. It hugs her slim, pale shoulders then falls away like a cloud of dust to the floor. Her death-black lips whisper in her husband’s ear. Nico is handsome in his top hat, pinstripe tails and vampire-white face. His pointed, pearly fangs graze Maggie’s throat. Music from the bagpipes wails like a banshee, oops, there she goes now, tripping over her tattered robe.