THE POLAR BEAR CLUB ~ SWE ~ GATHER WRITING ESSENTIALS

Challenge: Use prose or poetry (fiction, nonfiction, or essay) to develop a character who is as normal as anyone might define that term and then... have that same character say or do something that is brilliant in response to some stimulus

                                        The Polar Bear Club

Ruth always sat in the back pew on the left side of the church. She  was friendly to everyone but didn’t stand out in a crowd.  After many years of blending in, she decided she should try something new. But what?   She pondered the question for some days and couldn’t come up with anything. 

Then one Wednesday she was going through the weekly ads in the paper and it came to her. She read an article about the Polar Bears club, They were the hardy people who took a plunge in the ice waters of Lake Aspen in the middle of the winter.  She was a swimmer but hadn’t been in the water for years.  Could she do it?

The weekend of the big Polar Bear splash  was coming up.  Ruth decided it was now or never.On Sunday she put on her outerwear and went to the lake to join the others. When she got there the club members were already in the water so Ruth threw off her  coat and shoes  and ran to the water’s edge.

Much to the surprise of everyone there, Ruth entered the water in all her naked glory.  It seems she hadn’t done enough research on the Polar Bears group and thought they  went skinny dipping in the winter plunge.