Prompt: Snow Globe Much?

Write for at least 10 minutes (no editing) about:

Image via Flickr (sonyasphoto)

"You don't just stop collection snow globes. This one guy I knew. When he ran out of space to hold all his snow globes, you know what he did? He put them on his bed. He slept on the floor and put the snow globes on his bed."

Well I suppose that makes sense. Rather than putting them on the floor where he might step on them or trip.

"That's right. He was a smart man."

What happened to him?

"He died. Accidental drowning. Happened last summer."

How tragic. What became of his snow globes?

"Well a lot of them are here. He family didn't really know what to do with them and dummy didn't have no will so they had a garage sale."

What was that like for you? I mean, you're a collector of snow globes. You've been collecting them for over 30 years. And someone who shares your interest dies suddenly and his life's work is out on the street...

"At the time... I really didn't think about like that... At the time I just wanted to get more snow globes. I wanted to see which ones he had and if they were different than the ones I had. I mean, I've seen some of his collection before but you never know what he might've been hiding or what he just picked up."

How do you feel about it now, looking back on it?

"...I don't know. I mean, I know you're trying to get me to reflect on this a certain way. To see the significant or insignificance of what I do in the greater scheme but -"

Is that what you think I'm doing?

"Well isn't it?"

What was his collection like when you went to the garage sale.

"It put my to shame. It was so beautiful. He had over a thousand of them. All of them in perfect condition."

Did he have ones that you already had?

"Yeah. I saw that we had some of the same ones... But I don't know, looking at his. They looked different, better [tears up]."

Feel free to write your own in the comments below.

Stephen Maher is a librarian in New York City. He has written poetry and short stories -- some of which you may have heard at an odd open mic night or two. He is catching up on a backlog of NPR podcasts and reading Paul Auster's new book Man in the Dark.