Writing Exercise

Inspired by this piece on McSweeney's, one of my daily stops when I do my rounds of the tri-dub (that's the World Wide Web, and the abbreviation is also courtesy of our friends at McSweeney's), I wrote the following lead of my own. This could be addictive...

There was an unusual amount of traffic in the lactation room yesterday afternoon. It happens to be the only room with reliable cell phone access in the 32-year old building, set far back from the turnpike with its endless strip of mini-malls topped with towers erected by Verizon, Cingular, and the like.

New mothers fumbling with their breast pumps startled each time the door opened and frantically clutched their blouses closed over their swollen chests. A more experienced and frequent visitor to the "Milk Bar" calmly chewed her salad laden with alfalfa sprouts as she manipulated her pump with a practiced hand, not offering so much as a docile gaze to the commotion surrounding her.

Whether they successfully completed their ministrations or not, their babies would not suffer from hunger on that evening. Nor any other.

Add your own lead! They're journalrific!