a writing prompt from the book: Write the Story by Picadilly

challenge words: eruption, salad, fire, career, assume, roller skate, draw, promise, full moon, sweet

The full moon’s eruption was anything but expected. For years, scientists assumed the moon was a dormant rock. Little did they know what lay beneath the surface. Salad.

Yes. Salad.

With the eruption of the moon came what would be known for the next one hundred years as “The Salad Winter.” Leafy greens blocked the sunlight. Sliced olives fell like fiery comets to earth and killed ten percent of the population. Ranch dressing floods devastated another fourteen. The rest of us? We dug. Deep. Before the croutons, falling like porous refrigerators, could crush us in their descent. Before the chopped walnuts could pepper our homes, schools, and hospitals. Pelting us to death. Before cherry tomatoes could stick in the wheels of our roller skates and trip us up.

My career, before The Salad Winter, was going to be as a Wall Street Broker. I had my final interview in the form of a fancy lunch at a place called Sweet Promise. My future employer was drawing up my contract when the eruption occurred.

I’m not a broker now.

The Salad Winter changed everything.

The Salad Winter changed me.