When Nelson and Lynn were in Istanbul...

So began the conversation. Where it went from that point, I don't know...I stopped listening.

As someone who puts fingers to keyboard in an attempt to create some interesting prose from time to time, I find inspiration in the oddest of places. Yesterday, a very mundane conversation about the different alert sounds I use on my Iphone strayed off course, when "the uncle" spoke those seven words.

"When Nelson and Lynn were in Istanbul."  Now, I've met this couple... but that fact had nothing to do with my fascination with that sentence.  Instead my mind raced with the possibilities. The setting had to be something out of a black & white movie from the 1940s.  Who were Nelson and Lynn... and why were they in Istanbul? 

I could almost picture Nelson standing tall in a double breasted suit and a fedora. Lynn in a tailored suit, a large brooch on her lapel...and on her head, a cloche with a large flower.

Were they undercover agents set to infiltrate a Turkish smuggling ring? Or the hot couple from Hollywood about to film a movie? Or were they just a husband and wife from Long Island on vacation?

As a writer, the possibilities are endless, but the challenge is deciding which direction to take. Will I take this contest to the next level? No, I actually know the answer to who Nelson and Lynn are, and why they were in Istanbul. The point of this exercise is to demonstrate how easily the mind can influence the imagination.

So, who are Nelson and Lynn, and why were they in Istanbul?
Use your imagination.

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