My friend, Chris, suggested this first line to me. I wrote for five minutes. This is what I got. (If any of you have any more suggestions for prompts please let me know.)
I learned on Tuesday just how vehemently my daughter hated butterflies.
June had broken up with her boyfriend, Ryan, the night before, but I had a surefire way to cheer her up.
She was sound asleep when I crept up to her bed at seven in the morning and whispered, “Juuune! It’s time to wake up!”
My daughter stirred and mumbled something between snores.
“Open your eyes! I have a surprise for you.”
June groaned and lifted her head. Her eyes bolted open and her mouth dropped when she saw that I had filled her room with four thousand butterflies.
“Do you like them?” I asked, grinning. “I thought they’d cheer you up!”
June pulled up her legs as a cluster of butterflies flew away. “Mom! This is weird! What the hell is going on?”
My face dropped. “You don’t like this? I thought most girls loved butterflies.”
“Thank God you didn’t think I loved horses! Get them out of here!”
“Well, here’s the thing. I paid for these butterflies until noon so-.”
“Mom! This is totally weird! Get them out of my room!”
“Okay! You don’t have to shout!” I grabbed the net and began catching the butterflies so I could shove them back into the crate. I didn’t know what I was going to do with them until noon. Maybe I should take them over to Ryan’s house and try to cheer him up.