Nov. 3rd, 2014 "Only"

Today, being Monday, I had my writing class,

Our writing exercise was this:

Insert the word “only” into the following sentence and use it as the first sentence.

“She told him that she loved him”

My first stab at it in class was:

 “She told him that only she loved him.”

She told him that only she loved him. Maybe she was right. Maybe I didn’t love him any more, but I certainly cared about him. She may have loved him with all her heart, it’s very possible, but love isn’t everything. The simple heartfelt emotion of love can only go so far.

I made sure that every day he had a good meal to eat. I brought him soup and tea when he was sick. I’m there every night to hear about the terrible things that happened at work each day.

Maybe I wasn’t in love with him any more, but he is a part of my, a part of my life and I know that I am a part of his.

Maybe she did love him, and maybe even he loved her back in some small way, but his life has always been with me, not her. She was only a summer fling S passing fancy.

I’m the real thing, no matter what she told him.

But I also wanted to try:

 “Only she told him that she loved him”

She only told him that she loved him.  She knew it’s what he wanted to hear. She knew that he loved her. But her heart belonged to another man.

She was destined to marry Ralph, so she did what she had to do and told him what he wanted to hear.

Her true love would go on without her and she would be stuck with Ralph.

She recognized that what she was gaining may very well trump what she was giving up. She would live like a queen in a palace filled with servants. She would have countess hours to do anything she pleased, to read, to paint, to stroll in the garden. Ralph would be gone for long stretches at a time where she wouldn’t even have to see him.

In face, now that the thought about it, she may be able to have her cake and eat it, too. She could plan to see her true love when Ralph was out of town. She could go see him, of even have him round to see her.  

She was sure that her true love would be more than willing to sneak to steal a moment together.

Ralph would never even have to know.

And there you have it to out comes with basically the same starting sentence – certainly the same words. It’s a great exercise to see things from different angles.

Try it if you like. :)

Cheers