Writing Prompt 2

Anyone can play!

A woman is forced to empty her purse without endangerment to her life.

Deandra Lawson drove her Pontiac Grand-Am into the parking lot of the First Union Pacific Bank of Decatur, Georgia. She was on a mission. The Federal Agent she spoke with this morning, on the phone, promised her an interview. Only he thought she was there to interview him as a potential hero for a novel. Wouldn’t he be surprised when she served him with a subpoena!

She hadn’t worked as a court officer for very long. It’d be six months come the 15th of this month. However, during this short amount of time she’d learned her trade well. When she first started the job, her conscience bothered her for the lies she had to tell to get close enough to the defendant. But now she rarely thought anything of it.

Dressing for each lie was a must. Today, she wore a black dress with large, red roses. Long red scarfs twisted around her neck and draped down her back. For the first time in years, she actually hot rolled her long, brown hair.

She parked her car, smeared I’m Really Not A Waitress lipstick across her lips, puckered and then extracted herself from the car. She felt like a real, honest to goodness romance writer.

Inside the bank, a security guard greeted her. She took the elevator to the second floor. In the hallway, a metal detector loomed in front of her. A man motioned for her to come near.

“Hello,” she batted her eyelashes. “I have an appointment with Agent E.C. Marshall.”

“Place all metal objects in the bowl and pass through,” the humorless fellow said.

She dropped her purse on a large machine, dropped her jewelry in the bowl, and then passed underneath the gate. The man clutched her purse, sending it through the x-ray machine. A loud buzzing noise resounded with a series of beeps.

“Ma’am, I need you to empty your purse.”

“Do what?”

“I need to see the contents of your purse.”

“I feel uncomfortable with you seeing what’s in my purse.”

“Then you need to leave.”

“Paul,” a man with incredible blue eyes and an athletic build appeared. “Is anything wrong?”

“No, sir.” Paul handed Deandra her purse.

“Ma’am,” the handsome man said. “Are you looking for anyone in particular?”

“Yes,” she said. “I have an appointment with Agent E.C. Marshall.”

“Paul?” he placed his hand on the man’s shoulder.

“The machine went off when I scanned her purse,” he said. “I told her I needed to examine the contents of her purse but she refused.”

“Ma’am, empty your bag,” the Robert Redford look alike said.

If it weren’t for the subpoena in her bag, she would’ve gladly revealed her cluttered purse…well, almost. However, with one look at that slip of paper, she’d never get through to see this agent. She reached into her purse and extracted a small notebook, stuffing the subpoena quickly inside it. Then she dumped everything into a bowl.

Satisfied she didn’t possess a bomb, the two men handed her empty bag and a bowl filled with two handfuls of bubblegum wrappers, one red lipstick, a tinker bell wallet, two sanitary napkins, keys, and four chocolate candy bars. Her emotional eating habit required the last items, which had started when she began working for the courthouse. The men shared a mutual grin as if they’d communicated something extremely funny, which only they’d know.

“Are you Ms. Deandra Newman?”

“Yes, I am.”

The incredible handsome man extended his hand. “I’m Agent Marshall. Let’s go into this office where we can talk.”

One of the drawbacks of this job…meeting eligible men and then making them despise you.