My Writing Exercise

Yesterday, I posted an exercise for you to try. I've posted my effort below. You can see that it is a response to an exercise, but it's also a possible beginning for a story. More than one story or novel has started with a simple writing exercise. How did yours turn out? Care to share? 

Describe a landscape as seen by an old woman whose abusive husband has just died. Do not  mention the husband or death.

Tess plodded down the winding path that led to the pond. This morning, her legs moved in jerky strides, feeling heavier than they ever had. She needed to go faster, to get to the calm pond where she might sit and sort out her feelings.

The few wildflowers in the field looked like dancers doing a slow waltz on this only slightly breezy day. Branches on the willow trees seemed to sway to music, too. Seeing them brought to her mind a powerful word—freedom. Tess stopped, put her hands over her face, as a strange sound erupted from somewhere deep inside her. Laughter!

She straightened to her full height and lifted legs that suddenly felt like feathers as she moved on. A bullfrog croaked and a blue-toned dragonfly zipped past her ear. With a smile as broad as a boat paddle, she tasted the sudden freedom that had come her way only today. She would laugh now whenever she wanted to. She would sway in the breeze like the flowers and the willow branches. She would taste life again, life denied her for so many years.