Four stories in 20 minutes!
At the April meeting of Gulf Coast Writers, everyone was talking at once. Amazingly, the result was not chaos. Four teams of writers collaborated to create stories based on lyrics from the American songbook of the 1970s. Members were given just 20 minutes to craft a story based on their song assignment. Take a look at the results, below. Teamwork opportunities will continue in future meetings. We are the new Gulf Coast Writers!
“Eleanor Rigby” song lyrics
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Father McKenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working, darning his socks in the night when there’s nobody there
What does he care?
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people
Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved
All the lonely people
(Ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
(Ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all belong?
“Eleanor Rigby” the story
By Corinne Mazzocchi, Claudia Geagan, Mary Lou Williams, Jan Porter, Avery Porter, Juanita Chapman
Eleanor Rigby peeked into the church window to watch a wedding taking place, the kind of wedding she always dreamed of having for herself. She watched as the procession exited the church, leaving only the tossed rice behind.
She picks up the rice and lets it fall through her fingers as she envisions her dreams falling away – slipping through her fingers as well.
Eleanor owned her white lace dress, brought for the wedding to her lover who had passed away. She never married – she lived her life alone. Her only solace was Father McKenzie’s Sunday Mass.
Eventually Eleanor is the only congregant to show up on Sunday morning. Father McKenzie’s sermons were only for her as she sat in the empty church.
When Eleanor died, Father McKenzie gave the sermon for Eleanor’s funeral in an empty church. As he was speaking, people who knew Eleanor began coming into her funeral service.
Everyone got to see Eleanor in her white lace dress.
