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Writing Prompt Repost: The Nine Moo Teacup

This writing prompt response is from the early days of  my original "The Eighth Shot of Espresso" writing blog on Wordpress. I've reposted it here in the new prose blog. 


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From The Write Brain Workbook by Bonnie Neubauer. Prompt is in bold.)

Pick one of these anagrams of "Once Upon a Time" to add in the starter to make your story a lot more interesting! Start with "Once Upon a time, long before the..."

Once upon a time, long before the Nine Moo Teacup opened, the building was a wizard's home. Rows upon rows of herbs lined the front yard and gave the walkway a pleasant scent. When you climbed the stairs and stepped onto the porch, tables and chairs beckoned you to sit and relax. The double doors led into the parlor. Bookshelves lined every wall, with tomes of all shapes and sizes and colors. The wooden floors gleamed in the sunlight. The wizard's experiments merrily bubbled in their flasks over the fire. All in all, a homey atmosphere for any curious students of the arcane.

Fifty years later, the Nine Moo Teacup occupied the very same house. The proprietor, Miss Nine Moo, kept the furnishings exactly the way it had been for so many years. She expanded the kitchen to include the coffee and tea bar, with pastries and other munchies baked daily. The wizard's treasure trove of herbal alchemy inspired all sorts of new flavors. Miss Nine Moo, ever the enterprising sort, loved to try out unfamiliar tastes that became quite familiar.

The smell of baked goods complemented the smell of the herbal gardens. Customers from all around flocked to the Nine Moo Teacup. She fed prince and pauper alike. Those who couldn't afford to pay in coin paid in errands or chores, or she steered them to other opportunities for work. After all, one good turn deserved another, and Miss Nine Moo firmly believed that.

She enjoyed her life's work. This was what she meant to do, and she had no intention of giving it up for anything. Nothing could make her leave the Nine Moo Teacup. Nothing.

Of course, you could still make a difference and never move an inch.

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