What is under wraps in this picture? You can probably tell it’s a car, draped in a tarpaulin. What you can’t tell is that it’s all made from concrete.
Remember last week’s Story Starter? The car park with the barrier you’d have to limbo under? Well, same car park; this is outside. It’s near our Science Centre, and this fits that theme, because – can you see the writing around the bottom edge? It’s a chemical equation, presumably the reaction necessary for the internal combustion engine. I’m not sure. Physics and chemistry defeated me after O-level when it all became a bit serious. Words just made more sense.
But as a Story Starter it’s pretty cool, isn’t it? My first thought was what I’ve titled this post: under wraps. It could apply to anything – or anyone – being kept secret. Being kept hidden. A grand surprise. A shock. A guilty secret. Shrouded in mystery….though that’s a total cliche.
What else does it make you think of? The obvious: a race car about to be revealed for the first time. A car that’s been rescued from somewhere. Where? And why?
Maybe it’s that chemical reaction that sparks your ideas.
Love. Romance.
It might be that you take the idea of something being hidden and transplant it. I’d try to resist a hidden garden. Been done. Similarly a secret party, and a secret child. Both done. A hidden message?
I’m playing a computer game at the moment, which isn’t like me, but our illustrator Sarah recommended it. And what a puzzle it is. So challenging. It centres on an object in a room with clues inbuilt that you have to figure out – where to find them, what they mean, how to make them work. It’s a real work-out for the brain.
Maybe that’s what this is: one of many hidden messages that lead to….what?
Shirley Blair Fiction Ed Shirley’s been with the “Friend” since 2007 and calls it her dream job because she gets to read fiction all day every day. Hobbies? Well, that would be reading! She also enjoys writing fiction when she has time, long walks, travel, and watching Scandi thrillers on TV.
