Writer's Book of Matches

I got a book today I didn't order. I was really annoyed and ready to send the book back. This isn't the first time it's happened. I belong to the Writer's Digest Book Club but haven't written anything or even looked at any of the books I'd previously ordered. I began saying 'no' to the club every month. Either I forgot to respond last time or they went ahead and sent a book this time anyway, The Writer's Book of Matches. There are 1,001 prompts in it that supposedly will break my writer's block or get me used to writing regularly.

Whatever.

I'll try it.

The first prompt:

"Well, if you could accuse anyone of being downright evil, it would be him."

He was a charismatic man with piercing blue hair, a man of God. His father was the well-loved pastor the deaf community's church. When his father was killed, the young minister took a crash course in sign language so he could take his father's place. He was openly loving with his parishoners and family.

What a good man, eh?

That is the evil part. He could take you in and you would give everything to him for the church, never realizing he was taking the money and using it for himself. You would believe he genuinely loved people, never realizing how abusive he was to his own wife and mother. You would never realize how he'd talk about the parishoners behind their backs and how he would manipulate them to do what he wanted.

Not everyone was foolled and that was the evil part, too. The treasurer questioned the minister. Where was the money going? The expenses didn't add up; something was wrong. It never occurred to the treasurer that the minister would plot behind his back to discredit him. "We'll say that he is bitter because his wife left him; we'll say that he is an alcoholic and doesn't know what he's doing."

The fact that this minister was able to get away with what he did for so many years just indicates that evil isn't always ugly. Evil sometimes resides behind a handsome face with a charming smile.

And that is scary.