City Life

In today's story, City Life, some small town kids head to a big city summer camp

Today's prompt was inspired by some upcoming vacation plans. While I sometimes like to head to the beach or mountains, I also need a few city trips throughout the year.

As always, this story was written from the prompt, with no planning and very little editing. If you enjoy today's story, please share it with your friends and leave a review for Freely Written. Thank you!

More about Susan Quilty

Susan Quilty mainly writes novels, including two standalone novels and her current YA series: The Psychic Traveler Society.  Susan's short stories for Freely Written are created during quick writing breaks and shared as a way to practice her narration skills before she dives into recording audio versions of her novels.

Website:  SusanQuilty.com
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Transcript

Below is the transcript for Season 1, Episode 119 of Freely Written, a podcast by author Susan Quilty:

Welcome to Freely Written where a simple prompt leads to a little unplanned fiction. 

[Light piano music]

Hi, friends! I’m Susan Quilty and today’s prompt is City Life.

Today’s prompt came up while I was looking over some vacation plans. While I love an ocean view, I’m not that much of a beach person. For me, scenic vacations can be nice, but I also need to plan for some city time. Time to visit museums, take in a show, or just wander through busy streets in the shade of skyscrapers. 

Not everyone agrees, I know. For some, a city is stressful, dirty, or scary. But I love the energy that comes with so many people living and working in close quarters. The architecture is beautiful, and I love finding little pocket parks tucked between buildings. 

With that in mind, I came up with the simple prompt of City Life. I’m not sure where that will go, but that’s the point of this podcast. If you’re new here, or as a reminder, this is how my podcast process works: 

I sit down with a prompt and write whatever comes to mind, with no planning and very little editing. Then, I record the story and share it with you. Any genres or styles are fine, though I do try to stay family-friendly.  

It’s a fun exercise and a big difference from the meticulous work that goes into my novels. If you want to know more about my novels or other writing, you can visit my website: SusanQuilty.com. There are also links in the show notes. 

For now, let’s get on to today’s story:

City Life

Billy threw his backpack over one shoulder and tapped the seat on the right side of the aisle. After five hours, he was more than ready to get off the bus. Yet his stomach twitched as he lined up behind the other campers. 

Through the tinted windows, he could see people passing by. So many people! They all seemed to be in hurry, moving quickly toward some unknown destination. They probably weren’t all going to the same place, but Billy had a hard time imagining all the places they could be going in such a hurry. At home, no one hurried, unless there was something special happening, like the Fourth of July parade. 

Thinking of the parade brought a smile to Billy’s face. He’d gone with his friends this year, like always, but they’d met up with some of the girls from school there and he’d stood by Sarah Connolly as the school bands and parade floats passed by. He’d hoped to sit by her at the fireworks, too, but his friends had dragged him up to their favorite spot on Jacobson’s hill. 

Next year, he thought to himself, as the bus doors opened, and the line of kids finally started moving up the aisle. 

When he stepped onto the sidewalk, Billy blinked and squinted in the sunlight. He’d expected the city to be shady with all those towering buildings, but where they stood, the sun glinted off the white sidewalk and glass windows. It dazzled him, and he stumbled as a man in a suit suddenly pushed past their group. 

As his vision cleared, Billy saw the other kids looking up, their necks craned far back and hands shielding their eyes. He looked up, too. Way up. All the way up at buildings that were even taller than they had seemed in pictures and movies. 

“Stay together!” Miss Natalie was calling to all the kids with waving hands, as if corralling chickens in a yard. “Don’t worry about your bags. We’ll head into the hotel while they’re being unloaded.” 

Billy followed the others, both disappointed and relieved to move inside where he couldn’t see the skyscrapers crowding in. A hotel lobby was nothing new, just more crowded than ones he’d been in before. Though he didn’t see much, what with the kids all jostling around as they waited for their room assignments. 

They already knew their roommates. Billy would be bunking with Trevor, a friend from his neighborhood, and two boys they hadn’t known until getting on the bus. Allan and Jake had seemed alright on the bus, but now that they were at the hotel, Billy was wondering what it would be like to share a room with them for two weeks. 

Two weeks! It was a short camp compared to most Billy had attended. Something his parents had squeezed in before his usual six weeks at Nature Camp. In fact, Billy was going to miss the first two days of Nature Camp this year and he wasn’t happy about it. All because his parents thought it would be good for him to go to a city, broaden his horizons. 

When they got to their rooms, Billy could hear other kids running down the halls to check out each other’s views. Some claimed they could see the Empire State Building or Rockefeller Center, but Billy doubted they knew which buildings were which. The view from his room looked out at the building beside them, all brick and windows. 

“You’ve gotta lean in, like this,” Jake told him. The windows were set back on deep marble sills. If you leaned your head close, nearly pressing it to the glass, you could look up the street. It just looked like more brick and glass to Billy. He was more interested in the traffic passing below, both cars and people. So many cars; so many people.

“Do you think they all live here?” Billy asked, as he watched more people walking swiftly down the street. 

“Nah, man, we’re in, like, the touristy part of town. There’s probably no one down there that lives here. Or not a lot. Ugh. Could you imagine living like this?”

Billy only half-listened. His eyes were skipping from one person to another. They were on the 12th floor, so the people looked pretty small, but Billy thought he could maybe tell the difference between tourists and people who lived in the city. 

It was the way they walked, he thought. Not rushing like they were late but moving steadily without a second look at the buildings and people around them. They barely even glanced at traffic when they crossed the streets, just stepped into a crowd that was waiting for the crosswalk and moved with it when the light turned. Like fish in schools. 

They’d be going out on those streets soon. Billy had practically memorized the itinerary. Hardly anything they were doing was at their hotel. Just sleeping, breakfast, and some blocks of time in the pool. Otherwise, they’d be out on tours of buildings and museums, and going to a few Broadway shows. 

There was some time one day when they’d have a picnic in Central Park. Billy had thought that would be the highlight of camp. But now that he was here, leaning his forward against the cool glass and watching people flowing in packs through the shadows of impossibly tall buildings, he was beginning to think the city might have more to offer. 

“Can you believe we have to go to plays?” Trevor asked, and the other boys laughed. 

“Two of them are musicals!” Allan reminded, and they laughed some more. But Billy didn’t think that would be so bad. His sister was in musicals at the art center back home, and he kinda liked some of them. Though he didn’t tell his friends that. 

“And we’re going to some Chinese place for dinner tonight.”

Billy turned to Trevor and frowned, saying, “You like getting Chinese at Golden Sun back home.”

“Yeah, but my dad says that’s like American Chinese food. Like Taco Bell isn’t real Mexican food. Who knows what this place will have.”

“Like those ducks with their heads on,” Jake suggested, and Billy turned back to the window. 

Dinner was still hours away. First, they’d be going up in the Empire State Building. Billy looked down at the people walking by and imagined how much smaller they would seem from the top of the Empire State Building. But they’d still be there. All those people going wherever it was they needed to go. 

As Billy watched, he thought about riding his bike down Main Street back home. The busiest place in town, where there were still only a handful of people passing by at any given time. Even less now that so many did their shopping from home. 

“Can’t believe we’re missing the start of Nature Camp for this,” Trevor complained, and Billy gave a half-hearted shrug. He was saved from saying anything more as kids out in the hall started spreading the word that their bags were being delivered. 

Billy pulled himself away from the glass and scanned his home for the next two weeks. Two double beds, a TV on the wall, a little desk with one chair, and a bathroom stocked with fresh towels. He thought of his usual cabin at Nature Camp, with its view of the lake and big, old trees shading the windows. 

For a moment, he felt a split in his mind, picturing the serenity of his small town and the bustle of city life. Like two worlds that were too different to exist on the same planet. Then he shook it off and went to join the other kids in the hall. 

The End 

Thank you for joining me today. That was a rather simple story. Sometimes I like getting caught in a quiet moment with a character. What would you write for this prompt? If you write your own story, let me know how it goes. You can reach me through social media or my website: SusanQuilty.com. 

Until next time, try a little free writing of your own. Let go of any planning and see where your imagination takes you. 

[Light piano music]