CHARACTER STUDIES
Writing Exercises
I've set myself a writing challenge and this is to hold myself accountable. There is a merry band of fantastical people in my mind. They all belong to different stories so here I'm going to get to know them.
MABEL
Over the clatter of dirty dishes and waiters shouting new orders, no-one had heard Mabel say she felt faint. Chef was stomping and banging, barking at anyone who came through the swinging-door and so Mable hadn’t told Chef about her dizzy spell earlier that day. Quiet by nature and preferring to spend her time in the library, Mabel never really needed to make herself heard and so her voice was rarely more than a whisper. Up until now Mabel’s timid nature had been a blessing in the kitchen. Chef always knew that a shift with Mabel meant that the pans would sparkle and they wouldn’t run short of Knickerbocker Glory glasses. Mabel never caused a distraction to anyone. The waiters only came to the kitchen to deliver orders or collect food and there would be no fluttering eyelashes under Mabel’s thick lenses. Chef often wished the same could be said of the other porters for whom a shift in a busy kitchen seemed the ideal place to pick up young boys who couldn’t spell ‘spinach’. Surprisingly even the big Polish lad got more attention than Mabel. The waiters would flock round the dishwashing station to learn dirty Polish words which they would then say to the English girls, who would mistake them for compliments. Chef never told Mabel that it was a pleasure to work with her and in return, Mabel never bothered Chef. Therefore it was quite a surprise when Mabel hit the floor during a Sunday roast, taking with her a teeming gravy boat and half a pot of burned Brussels sprouts.