From the Vault: Name Practice

 Every writer practices, and typically these practice documents sit in a vault collecting dust. I'm not here for it. I've decided I'm going to put my documents out in the open for whoever is interested to see! This is one of those documents.

This particular segment is from a very fun practice document. It's one where I practice choosing names. Mostly women's names since my MCs are predominantly women. 

S names

Something told her not to do it, but Sharon just had to try and talk to the man crying on the bus stop bench. How could she leave a distraught person lost in the pain? Every nerve of her body was screaming at her to leave him alone, though.

“Shhh, what’s going on?” Despite the culture of leaving others alone, the man didn’t seem bothered when Shanon put her hand on his arm and gently tried to calm him down. “Sometimes it can help to talk to a stranger. We’ll never see each other again probably, so you don’t have to worry about it coming back up later.” It was this little truth, the offer to vent without consequences, that got him to look at her. 

Tears and snot had gotten on the man’s long black hair. Even so, Sarah just pulled a tissue from her purse and wiped his face with it. Sparkling still, his eyes were a rich brown and were trained on her. “Why would you ask. You don’t know me.” His voice was sweet and light. 

With a deep breath, Susan answered, “It doesn’t take a saint to see when someone needs a little extra support.”

“I’m Christian.” 

“I’m Sally.”

“My grandmother was just diagnosed with end stage cancer.” Christian tilted his head back and released an enormous sigh. “We’re very close, her room has been next to mine as long as I can remember. She taught me how to cook.”

Taking a moment to sit next to Christian, Sandy kept a hand on his arm. “How long do the doctors think she has?”

Another tear slipped out of his eye. “Less than six months. Worse is that she has dementia too, so it’s hard to make sure she’s taking her meds right.”

This was a tough situation. It was no wonder Christian was breaking down in public about it. Now, with sympathy on her side, Sandra thought she’d be more comfortable with the man. She was not. Every instinct was still berating her for sitting there. “Is there anything you need right now? Anything I might be able to help with?”

“No,” He answered. “But thank you for asking about it. This is the first time I’ve said it out loud and now I just want to spend as much time with her as I can.” It was the perfect out, as he intended it to be, and Stacy was taking it. As she stood, though, he placed his fingers on hers. “Thank you,” he repeated, “for reminding me there’s good people in the world too.”

This was a short interaction, and not totally unusual for Summer, but the intensity of her desire to avoid Christian made her remember it. She thought about it all day, all that night, and all the next day too. 

All in all, it was rather inconvenient. Starla had just started her job here and it was making it hard to concentrate on it. It made it hard to concentrate on anything. By that weekend it was making it hard to concentrate on driving.

Then, Saturday afternoon while Sunny was on her way to work, she almost didn’t notice the older woman in the middle of the street. In her haste to stop, the car slid and came to rest crooked in the road. Not that she minded, it blocked an extra lane of traffic from hitting the elderly woman. 

Climbing out of the car, Susie called out, “Do you need help?” The woman had a look of panicked confusion. “Where do you want to be right now?” 

“I don’t know, but I don’t think I’m safe here.”

“Let’s get you to the sidewalk,” Scarlett urged, gently guiding the woman by her hand. She ignored the cars backing up behind hers and honking. It was more important to get the woman out of the busy road. 

The woman pointed to a side of the road she wanted to go to and it only took a few minutes to get her there. “Stay here while I move my car, okay?” Sierra wasn’t convinced her request would be listened to, but she really did need to move her car before trying to figure out where this woman should be. It might take a long time.

As soon as her car was parked, Savannah ran back to the woman she’d found in the street. Strangely enough the woman wasn’t alone.

B names

Next to her was the same man from the other day! Christian, if Britney remembered correctly. He was holding the woman’s hand and trying to get her to tell him where she wanted to go, offering to take her there.

“Do you know him,” Betty asked the woman. Once again her intuition was screaming at her, but a little quieter than last time. “Does she know you?” 

Bridgit found herself the target of an exasperated look, which quickly morphed into surprise and recognition. “Your name is Brandy, right?” She nodded. “This is the grandmother I told you about the other day.”

With a little smile, Bella squashed her discomfort down. This man had shown her no red flags, had been nothing but pleasant, and had only shown kindness towards herself and this woman as far as she could tell. “The one who taught you to cook.”

“I taught my son to cook. It’s important for a boy to know how to cook.” The woman had a knowing look on her face as she said this to Betsy. She then turned to Christian. “Freddie, tell her how I taught you how to cook.”

Beth raised her eyebrows at the man. He shrugged and said, “It’s my dad’s name. I did tell you she has dementia. I’m not even sure how she got here. Her home is quite a bit from here.”

“Well I’ve just parked. If you don’t have a car I can take her home. Both of you, I guess.” It wasn’t an ideal solution, but Barbara couldn’t just leave these two like this.

A glance between Brenda and his grandmother, and Christian asked, “Weren’t you heading somewhere?”

Voice as hesitant as she’d ever heard it, Belinda nodded and said, “I was on my way to work. It can wait.”  It wasn’t the time to think about these things, Bertha had a situation to deal with first. “Regardless, I’m free now and can take you both home if you need it. Or to work.”

Christian’s eyes were soft yet surprised, and the little voice in Britta’s head quieted down about him. “I would really appreciate it, and can reimburse you for your time and gas.” The calloused skin on his fingers brushed Bonnie’s wrist. Ever so briefly, she felt like she could see him becoming a regular part of her life.

“No, erm, no need to reimburse me. It’s nothing if it’s helpful.” Blair led the way to her car.

        When she was about to climb in the drivers seat, Blakely was rebuked by Christian’s grandmother. “I know you fancy yourself progressive, Lily, but it is inappropriate for you to drive when your husband is here to do it for you.”