TheBanyanTree: Story Starter

[Jim Miller]

If you are participating (everyone is invited to participate) in the 500
word or less story writing experiment, this is the simple guidance:
 
The paragraph provided must be used in your story word for word. You may use
the paragraph anywhere within you story. Create a complete story, beginning
to end. There is no minimum, but do not exceed 500 words. Do not post your
story until Thursday December 26. (Friday December 27 for New Zealand and
Australia participants) All stories should be posted on that day only. 
 
I hope the paragraph will allow the flexibility to take your story is any
direction. Crank up the creative juices. Have fun.
 
This is the paragraph that you must use in your story.
 
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Fall hangs heavy over the city. Like a decaying drape, it diffuses the light
and leaves a grey pallor. I sit on a concrete bench at the edge of a
multi-million dollar rock garden the city proudly proclaims - the ultimate
urban park. I nurse my Grande coffee and watch the office drones enter and
leave the Starbucks across the street. With ordered predictability, each of
us settles into a mindless rut.
 
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