Winner -- 11/6/07:
Prompt: Write aboout someone raking leaves.
Robert viewed his front yard and sighed. When he and Mary bought this house four years ago, he thought those maple trees were beautiful. Now, as he looked at the leaves covering his beautifully manicured lawn, he was tempted to cut them down. He started raking.
I'm going to do it, he thought.
I'm going to have them cut down.
He continued raking for what felt like hours. His shoulders and back ached, but finally all the leaves were in one mountainous pile. He leaned the rake against the house and picked up a large bag.
Seven-year-old Bobby came out the door and saw the leaf pile. With a yell he ran down the sidewalk, jumped and disappeared. His sister, six-year-old Linda, quickly followed him. The children rolled around in the leaves laughing and throwing them into the air.
Robert frowned angrily and opened his mouth to yell, but didn't.
Oh what the hell, he thought. "Look out, here I come," he hollered and landed on his back between the children. Linda laughed, scooped up an armful of leaves and dumped them on his head. Grinning Robert threw a handful at her.
"Oh yeah," Bobby shouted. "Leaf fight!" With that he scooped up and threw leaves at his father and sister.
Laughing and yelling the threesome rampaged through the pile throwing leaves at each other, until Mary called from the doorway. "It's time to come in. Dinner's ready."
Robert followed the children up the front walk. Before going in he turned and looked at the lawn. All his hard work was completely undone, but he smiled and looked at the trees. "Ok, Guys," he said. "You win. You can stay."
280 words