Below is the transcript for Season 1, Episode 147 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 Cut and Paste.
Do you ever think about how often you cut and paste? It’s a timesaver that’s taken for granted. On my computer, on my phone. Texting, emailing, writing novels.
At the risk of sounding as old as I am, I grew up with a typewriter. Admittedly, that wasn’t for long, since we had a word processor and home printer by the time I was maybe ten or so. But before that, I learned to type on my mom’s old manual typewriter. There was no cut and paste. There was no delete key. There was Wite-Out and retyping, if you caught a mistake in time.
When I was little, cut and paste meant to literally use scissors and glue. Which I did; a lot. Always making arts and crafts projects or even gluing together handmade books—though staplers were better for that.
Anyways, I chose today’s prompt as a nod toward the value of cut and paste. As always, I sat down without a plan to write whatever might come to mind. My Freely Written approach to freeing my imagination and letting go of perfectionism.
Here’s the story that came up today:
Cut and Paste
The day was dawning when Cut sat up in bed and stretched her arms above her head. It was a Saturday, the one day when she could stay home from school and skip her chores. The sunny morning stretched before her with a promise of adventure.
When Cut entered the kitchen, her mom was fussing with her baby sister while her dad flipped pancakes at the stove. There were blueberries in a bowl on the table beside a pitcher of maple syrup. Cut greeted her parents with smiles and kisses, then reached for her plate.
“Wait a minute,” Cut’s dad said with a raised hand. “Before you eat, can you pick some more blueberries?”
Cut peered into the blueberry bowl, seeing that it was barely a third full.
“There’s enough for breakfast,” Cut said hopefully, but her dad shook his head.
“There’s barely enough for breakfast, and I want to make muffins for later. Please go pick some more while I finish up the pancakes.”
Cut looked to her mom for help, but she had her hands full with the baby. With a sigh, Cut picked up the bowl and headed out the front door.
Cut’s family had three fat blueberry bushes in their front yard and five more behind the house. The blueberries were abundant, and they sold whatever they didn’t eat at the local market. As Cut filled her bowl, she noted the many blueberries she would be tasked with picking the next morning. It would be an early day to fill as many baskets as she could before the Sunday market.
While Cut liked being helpful, she didn’t like picking berries on her day off. She wanted to eat breakfast and go find some friends to enjoy the beautiful day. Before she could finish, a friend found her.
“Whatcha doing?” It was her friend Run, calling over the picket fence. “It’s Saturday.”
“I know,” Cut answered with a shrug. “Dad’s making muffins.”
“Aw, really?” Run stood on tiptoe and craned his head to look into Cut’s half-filled bowl. “Looks like enough berries to me. Leave them on the porch and let’s go have some fun.”
Cut and Run eyed each other assessingly. Cut was tempted, and Run nodded encouragingly. But after a glance toward the porch, Cut shook her head.
“Nah, my dad needs the berries. Besides, I haven’t had breakfast yet. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Run dashed off, looking for adventure, while Cut finished her task. She brought the blueberries inside and ate three pancakes, giggling as her sister dribbled mashed blueberries down her chin.
After breakfast, Cut went back outside and looked around the neighborhood. It was quiet for a Saturday, which meant her friends had already gone down to the stream. Cut whistled as she walked down the sloping path in the woods, smiling when she heard voices near the water.
Her smile faded when she saw who was sitting by the stream. Though she was happy to see two of her friends, Dried and Paste, she wasn’t keen to see Copy sitting close by Paste’s side.
“Hey,” she called lightly, moving slowly across the last few feet of grass.
“Cut!” Paste called happily. “There you are! We were waiting for you.”
The smile on Copy’s face reflected Paste’s joy, but Cut didn’t believe it was genuine. Dried stretched out in the sun, barely acknowledging any of them.
“Slow breakfast,” Cut mumbled, not wanting to repeat the whole story. “What are you up to?”
“Nothing,” Dried said decisively. “I’m resting in the sun, while Copy and Paste blather back and forth. You know, a typical Saturday.”
Cut nodded and inched closer. She wanted to sit by Paste, but there was more space on the far side of Dried. After a brief hesitation, she settled farther from the water in a patch of grass diagonally behind both Dried and Paste. Cut nodded to Copy, who nodded in return.
“Has anyone seen Run?” Cut asked into the silence. “He stopped by earlier but took off when I wouldn’t ditch berry picking to leave with him.”
“He’s around here somewhere,” Dried answered matter-of-factly. “You know Run, can’t just sit still and enjoy the day.”
“Right,” Cut agreed uneasily. When Cut and Dried talked, Cut found it hard to keep the conversation going. Everything with Dried was a non-starter. A fact that didn’t leave room for discussion.
Turning to Paste, Cut felt moved by her gentle eyes and sweet demeanor. Paste was a natural helper, always stepping in where needed. Cut felt seen by Paste in a way that was both thrilling and unsettling. It sometimes felt like Cut was losing herself in Paste’s company, yet she enjoyed the feeling of being transported to new experiences.
“Did you hear about Ms. Apple?” Paste asked with shining eyes. “Well, she was sitting at her desk at the end of the day when Well and Good asked for help with their homework. It’s not the first time, of course. Those two are always making sure they get it right before they go on to the next lesson.”
Cut chuckled, appreciating Paste’s storytelling. Dried yawned, having heard it before, though Cut didn’t notice her reaction.
“But this time,” Paste continued, “Ms. Apple had to tell them she couldn’t help because she’d already agreed to help Now and Again after school. Well, that was a surprise to Well and Good, of course, because how often do Now and Again stay for homework help?”
“Like, almost never,” Cut agreed, though she didn’t know for sure. She’d seen them meeting with Ms. Apple occasionally but had never given it much thought.
“Exactly,” Paste smiled, happy to be relating the story so well. “And then…”
She trailed off, thinking for a moment before turning to Copy. “What happened next?”
Copy picked up the story, telling Paste, “Well and Good didn’t want to leave it at that. They told Ms. Apple that they understood her helping Now and Again, but couldn’t she stay to help them after? But Ms. Apple got impatient with them. She said she couldn’t stay there all night, and she guessed they had other things to do, too. So, Well went off to fetch water for his mom, and Good left to help her dad in their store.”
“Right, thanks,” Paste turned from Copy to relate that part of the story to Cut. But Cut interrupted, saying, “Yeah, I heard.”
“Oh, right,” Paste said awkwardly, realizing that she wasn’t needed when Cut had already heard the story from Copy.
After a moment of silence, Paste stood up and said she’d be right back. She hurried into the woods, and Cut rushed to follow. Copy watched them go with a look of confusion on his face.
“Why are they always running off like that?” Copy asked with a tinge of jealousy.
“Oh, that’s just Cut and Paste,” Dried explained. “Don’t worry. Paste will tell you whatever Cut says later. They just keep it between themselves first.”
Copy nodded, though he secretly thought his relationship with Paste brought a lot more to the world.
The End
Thanks for listening. That was a really weird one, and I don’t know that it made much sense, but… that’s sometimes what happens when you have a weird imagination and free-write without a plan. If you want more carefully planned and polished stories, you can check out my novels and other books on my website, SusanQuilty.com, or search for “Susan Quilty” wherever you buy books. There’s also a link in the show notes.
If you enjoy these Freely Written stories, please share them with your friends. You can also subscribe and review Freely Written on your favorite podcast app. Your support means the world to me!
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]
