Yes, you might remember this character from a previous week. I don't just cycle on my nonfiction. I also cycle on my fiction.
The transcript:
I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for November 30, 2023, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress.
This excerpt is from a short story I’m cycling on, to find the start.
That’s when she felt the prick of awareness at the back of her neck. Long ago, she’d learned to listen to that feeling. When she was debugging code, it told her when she got close. Now, that she and the Nanas sometimes helped the law bring people to justice, that prick helped her recognize when someone was following her.
She glanced over her left shoulder—no one. Then her right. Still no one. Too bad she wasn’t on Boylston Street, where she could use a window to see behind her.
That’s when she felt a hand thump down on her shoulder, almost pushing her to the ground. She started to turn, but the hand kept her going forward.
“Just keep walkin, you old busy-body,” a gruff voice said. “Keep walkin and no one will get hurt.”
“You’re threatening me?” Esther asked. “Me, a little old lady?”
“Sistah, you ain’t no little old lady. You might be old, and you might be short, but you ain’t no lady.”