There's a man in an elegant Italian double-breasted, well-tailored suit. It's charcoal gray, his shirt is winter-white silk and cuff links glitter at his wrists. His black tie has yellow smiley faces on it. His hair is uncombed and his shoes are in one hand, his socks in the other. He is skipping down the sidewalk with three young children, grinning bigger than any of the others, and panting from the exercise. Why? What's happening here?

Note: We used this prompt in workshop yesterday. The portion before the "--" was written during our workshop writing period. The rest was 10-minute practice for today.

Anton quickly slipped out the kitchen door unnoticed and turned to make his escape and ran right into a child who promptly fell backward and landed in a heap on the herringbone paving stones. Two more children exploded from around the corner of the house and stopped short, their faces a mixture of concern, dismay and downright fear. He imagined that his face looked much the same, only with a little irritation thrown in.

He knelt down beside the child, thankful to see the eyes slam shut as he did so. There was no blood anywhere, no swelling or bruising that he could see.

"Are you all right? It's okay, I'm not going to scream for your parents." It just so happened that he recognized all three of them, but only by sight, not by name. The fallen hero was the son of the chauffeur and his wife. The other two lived with their parents in the cottage at near the gate. Their parents were also long-term employees of the estate.

With that the boy opened his eyes wide. It was almost frightful. "Promise?"

"Promise. Hey, go easy there," Anton said as the boy began to scramble to his feet. "Let's test things out as we go, shall we? Make sure nothing is broken. Come on over you two. He's fine." Anton gestured to the two others who were still rooted in their tracks, one boy and one girl. Anton guessed that they were all around 10 or 11.

The other two approached cautiously. The boy was shaking out arms and legs. "All in working order. I'm sorry for running into you."

"Ditto. So who are the three of you and why are you lurking about the kitchen patio?"

"I'm Herman. This is Joseph and Pauline."

"Nice to meet you Herman, Joseph and Pauline. I'm Anton Brewer. And what about the rest?"

"The rest?" asked Herman.

"The rest of the question. Why are you here?"

The boys maintained a cautious silence, but Pauline piped up, "We wanted to see what it looked like in there. We wanted to see the ladies in their gowns and the gents in their tuxes. We had a bet--"

"That doesn't matter anymore," Herman cut in, scowling sideways at her. "I'm sorry we trespassed."

"No matter. And let me tell you, I was escaping from in there. Yes, it looks nice, but it is more boring than....than.... I can't think of anything more boring than that party. What I wouldn't give to be your age again and have some real fun."

--

He looked at their upturned faces and could tell they didn't believe a word he had said. "It's true!" he protested. "See this tie? What do you think of this tie?"

He held the point of the black tie out toward them and watched them all grin, just like the yellow smiley faces that polka dotted the black silk. "I think this is a cool tie, don't you?"

"Yeah, it's a cool tie," Herman said.

"Well can you believe that my father was upset with me for wearing this tie here tonight. I ask you," Anton tucked the tie back inside the suitcoat where it belonged and stood at attention, "does it detract from my overall appearance?"

"No, you look very handsome," Pauline replied.

"Well thank you. My dad said it made me look childish."

"Dads are like that," responded Joseph. "I think they go to work too much and forget how to play. My red sneakers go perfectly well with my church pants and they're clean, but never in a million years will I get to wear my red sneakers to church."

Anton rolled his eyes. "Don't get me started on shoes!" The kids all giggled and then a silence fell over all of them. Anton knew they were on the verge of taking their leave, but something inside him wanted their company a little while longer. "Do you really want to see what's going on in there?"

All three heads bobbed eagerly.

"Okay, here's the deal."