2026 Writing Challenge: Write On Prompt - Ned Comes Home

 Note: During our Write On meeting last night, we continued to study Point of View during our Writing Workout session. We had two prompts and spent about 15 minutes on each. This is the first prompt and what I came up with. I will post the second in the coming days. 

Part 1: 15 minutes.

Ned is returning to his childhood home for a reunion with his family, and he is very nervous. Write a few paragraphs or scene in first-person POV from Ned’s perspective as he greets his family.

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The left turn came at the top of a long incline on the two-lane highway in rural Illinois. I stopped at the top, waiting for an approaching minivan to pass, and considered hitting the gas and continuing north, maybe follow the road the entire sixty miles or so to Wisconsin. It wouldn’t be the first time I said I was coming back, only to beg off because of illness, or bad weather, or the rotation of Saturn in the solar system. I eased off the brake, so tempted to hit the accelerator, but then the van passed, and I turned onto the gravel road, probably more out of latent habit than desire.

The house was three-quarters of a mile down; a two-story, clapboard structure with a wrap-around porch and a yard spotted with dandelions. Two boys frolicked in the yard, each carrying sticks and wearing football helmets missing the face guards. I suppose those are Josie’s boys. Eli was the oldest; he was probably ten by now, and the other, Edgar or Evan or something, was probably eight. Talk about being a shitty brother, I don’t even know the names of my sister’s kids.

They waved as I entered the driveway, parked beside an outbuilding that leaned noticeably to the southeast. Twenty years, and the place still looks the same. I still feel the same, too. That knot in my gut. That cold trickle of sweat sliding down my spine. I can’t face these people, not on this turf.

I left the engine running and stared at the rickety wooden stairs leading to the front entrance. It was four stairs, but it looked like Mount Everest. Josie appeared at the door. She was short, just like Mama, with her dish-rag blonde hair cropped tight to her ears, and she had a baby in her arms.

I can’t believe I’m here.

Tap. Tap. A finger at my window. I jumped, my hand hit the steering wheel, and a short, peppy beep came out.

Eli’s grin nearly extended to the ears of the football helmet.

“Well, come on out, Uncle Ned.”

Evan or Edgar stood beside him, the stick held before him like a sword.

“If you dare,” the other brother warned.