Shoutout to @namaferd for the word prompt! The 20 minutes is from the moment I jot down the first word till I write the last. I’ll sit and consider the theme and the visual imagery for some minutes beforehand.
“911, what’s the emergency?”
The wife taps her foot on the floor. She can’t smile because she fears it’ll show in her voice. “My husband’s passed out. He’s not breathing.”
“Can you do CPR?”
She doesn’t regret feeding her husband the poison, so she lies and answers, “no.”
The call-taker on the other end of the line keeps talking, doing his job to keep his caller calm. It’s proof the wife is faking it perfectly.
“Are you alone?” the call-taker asks.
This time the smile shows in the wife’s voice: “Yes.”
She’s all alone. She’s finally made sure of it.
A.R.Frederiksen 