Writing Exercise April 15 

Using a Picture Prompt

Here is my offering from yesterday. 

Photo by Nathan Wright on Unsplash

The skylights offered a darkened sky as Jim worked on his latest novel. His thoughts kept drifting to other times before this room became known to him. His grandfather had hidden this gigantic library within the walls of the manor, blocking off all acccess to it from the outside world. It was only by accident that Jim had discovered its existance while renovating one of the other rooms. Once he cleared the dust away he discovered this room was in the center of the manor. His grandfather had left detailed notes in different places that explained aspects of the room to Jim. Even after all these years there were still notes to be discovered. Just the other day he had come across one that led Jim to find the entrance to a basement room. Much to his delight he found bars of gold stacked on the shelves in the room. So far there had been no explanation of why or how they got there. Jim was grateful for the find. It offered him a it of comfort in these desperate times.

Another discovery was shelves of rolled of oil paintings hidden behind a secret door fitted to look lie a wall. Apparently his grandfather had commissioned a number of fake paintings done in the style of the originals. During the 1920’ s there were a number of scandals where paintings were stolen. They happened to match the paintings that Jim found. He had taken one to an expert who got very excited by the painting. The expert had just seen the actual painting in a museum. He was having a hard time verifying whether Jim’s painting was an actual painting or a forgery.

Jim was sitting at his desk mulling over an old ledger he had found that detailed money transactions during the 1920’s and 30’s. He was having a hard time trying to decipher the pseudonyms used to hide the personalities involved. Apparently smuggling liquor was another passion of his grandfathers during that time frame.

Jim turned to his novel organization page and started adding new details. Eventually he would get the story down and write an epic book. It may take him years or maybe even a two or three part story.

He smiled at the life his grandfather had led. It made his life seem boring. However he had to remember they were different times and the things they did could not be realistically done today.