Prompt: Narrate an incident in which an object appears at the beginning, ideally in the first sentence, and then assumes a critical function by the end of the theme. Think Chekhov. (Decide whether or not the gun, so to speak, should go off.)
The desk that sat near the rear of the oval-shaped room supported a red telephone, some notes with scribbling, a fountain pen and holder, and a silver half-dollar coin. Across the coin’s surface strode Lady Liberty toward the rising sun, IN GOD WE TRUST behind her and the year 1941 etched underneath her feet. Sitting down at the desk, Harry caught a glint from the coin in the corner of his eye and reached for it. He thought: Liberty provided a fine example; soon we would all follow her to the land of the rising sun with open arms rather than open fire.
Harry’s musings were interrupted as a group of suits blustered in through the side door. The gray lines of their clothing were replicated in the dark bags under their eyes, and three or four sported unshaven shadows of faces, indecorous in any time other than this. Their untamed hair replicated, if unintentionally, Lady Liberty’s as it swayed in the warm wind etched into the coin.
“It’s time, sir.” Hearing this, Harry swung around in his chair and looked the suit in the center, Byrnes, in the eye and nodded, almost imperceptibly. Still in Harry’s hand, Liberty twirled from one finger to another, dancing furiously over his skin. In a flash, Harry flicked her up to the ceiling. As she reached the apex of her journey and started to turn over and over herself, she faced woodwork and then windows then Harry then desk then Byrnes then couches and then woodwork again. She landed on the mahogany of Harry’s desk looking toward the ceiling. Heads. “Bomb.” The single word slipped through Harry’s teeth as he swung back toward the window.
And thus, one last time, Lady Liberty opened fire on the land of the rising sun.
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