Date:         Thu, 12 Dec 1996 23:49:13 EST
From: some tink whacked this way comes? <mbarker@MIT.EDU>
Subject:      EXERCISE: I Forgot The Ashes

Somewhere in the old mail I am skimming through, there is a discussion of
ashes...and someone asked about leaving them on the mantle of a fireplace
for the next residents to find...(it was rhetorical, but...)

For the purposes of this little ditty, take (1) character who has an
urn (or whatever) full of ashes (from who?  you decide!) in their
house/apartment/domicile of record...

They have (gone on a vacation/moved out/otherwise walked out of the
picture) and...

The Harcourt family moves in.  How many?  Exactly who is in the
family?  What kind of relations (or poor relations) do they have?  Let
the little grey cells ponder...

Needless to say, the ashes are the turning point here.  The Harcourt's
discover them (the ashes, that is, not the people, although if you
want to let the sprites rise from the dust, that is your write),
wonder about what they are, try to decide what to do with them, take
them as medicine, mix them into soup, do whatever oddball things one
might do with a leftover like this...

You may have your forgetful character come crashing in at whatever
point or in whatever way makes your plot spin.  After all, at some
point the Harcourt's really should find out just what those fragments
of bone and powdery grey stuff are.

There you go.  Take that little scene (or it might make a hilarious
one-act play, suitable for high schools everywhere!) and write.

tink