So, I’ve mentioned previously that I sort of blanked out Thursday. That means I didn’t participate in Thursday Threads, even though the prompt–“She can hear us.”–is/was a good one! And the #1lineWed prompt was equally good–SURPRINGSLY, Off-guard, Taken by, Bombshell.

See? Good stuff to work with there. Well, I finally got around to putting the prompts together and this is a happy little scene that clattered from the keyboard. It happens soon after a previous scene, where the famous rock star who is aow a military commander appears in our refugees’ encampment. Note that Maxim is the teenaged boy in the group.
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Muffled giggles followed the whispered, “She can hear us.”

Meg lay very still, concentrating on keeping her breathing measured, as if she was still asleep.

“No she can’t. She’s sleeping.” More giggles from behind hands pressed over mouths.

Her command of the Ukrainian language was far from expert but after spending almost a month with the orphans, she was picking up the finer nuances of their conversations. Twelve-year-old Anichka and the slightly older Galyna had curled together, sharing their sleeping bags.

“Can you believe Vadim was here?” Anichka asked, her surprise and glee evident despite her best efforts to mute the volume.

“He hugged me.” Galyna’s voice, filled with wonder, returned to almost normal volume.

“I was so jealous,” Anichka admitted. “But then he signed things for all of us.” She sighed a deeply feminine sigh that was so pre-teen.

“He is handsome.”

Anichka’s voice turned a little sly. “I thought you liked Kin best.”

“I did,” Galyna said. “But I can’t marry him. He is Meg’s.”

“So you think you can marry Vadim?” There was teasing in Anicha’s tone but also a touch of scorn.
Meg tensed. She’d never noticed the other children being mean to Galyna and she was hoping that she hadn’t misread Anichka.

Galyna laughed. “No, silly. He is a big star with lots of pretty women. He would never marry me.”

Meg’s heart broke a little at the stark truth and acceptance in the little girl’s statement.

Now it was Galyna’s voice that sounded a little sly. “What about you? I thought you wanted to marry Maxim.”

A sharp “Shhh!” was followed by the sounds of a rustling tussle. Once more she thought to intervene but was caught off-guard when a low, husky voice whispered in her ear.

“Am I yours, Meg?”
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And there you have it. A little “free range” writing to add to the on-going story. Writers, do you have any suraprising words that you don’t want “her” to hear that you want to share? And readers, who was your teenage crush? I’ll confess. I had two–Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees and Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders. And if you know who they are, then you’re old as dirt like me. 🤣