AC-This is a one-shot I did for a timed writing in my writer's group a couple of years ago. We had ten minutes to answer this prompt: "Write a story in which your favorite television or movie character comes to YOUR house for dinner. The why is not important, but what happens when they get there? How does your family react?"
Knock-knock. Our dinner with my mom and two siblings was interrupted by a knock at the front door. Our dad, a former Marine, was away on business again. When I went to answer it, Ziva David from NCIS was at the door!
"Hello!" I said. "Would you like to have dinner with us?
"Actually," she said in her thick Jewish accent, "I have come to secure your house."
"Oh," I said. "Are we in danger?"
"Yes," she replied. "Tony and McGee will be joining us in a few minutes."
My mom had come up the hallway behind me.
"Ziva!" She said. "I wasn't expecting you tonight."
"The hour has come," she cryptically replied.
"What's going on?" I asked as my mom quickly left the room.
"You probably do not know this, but your father has done special work for the government for many months. Now the information from his operation has been leaked, and all of you must be out of sight for a time. Don't worry – we will make sure that you are safe. We will keep our eyes on the target," Ziva said.
"I think that's 'eye on the ball,' Ziva," said Tony as he walked in the door.
"Oh, another American expression," Ziva said.
"Let's secure the house now, Ziva," McGee said as he entered right behind him. "Gibbs will be here soon."
My mother appeared in the hallway with small overnight bags for each one of us. She gathered my brother and sister and me and told us that she had been preparing for this for some time, but she hadn't known that it was coming so soon. She said that we would all be going away together for a short while, and we would meet up with our father before long.
Then we heard the loud, rapid gunshots.
"Get down!" Ziva commanded.