We threw these “story-starters” out at one of our Writers Group Panera meetings, back when we had those: “You look out a window and a face is looking back at you”; “I had a dream last night about”; “You come home to find the front door is unlocked”; “You come upon a dragon”. So here’s mine:
I came upon a dragon. Just walked down the hallway, and there he was at the bottom. He had eyes like a cat’s, and his belly scales were jewels. He was flying over a castle, but he didn’t seem to be threatening it, because none of the castle folk were crying out, and none of the other people in the hallway seemed too concerned. They just went on looking at the quilts or heading down the hallway toward the rest rooms.
Maybe the dragon was plotting to fly out of his quilt and soar around the corner to snatch the big sheep out of the Ireland art quilt. That sheep looked nice and plump, and he was just lying there, near the edge of the quilt, and the Border Collie was far, far away, keeping the rest of the flock together.