Category Archives: Writing

And what came after

Posted on by February 25, 2020

 

Becky’s whisper jerked Marilyn out of sleep.  “It’s under my bed again.”

Marilyn muttered, “Honey, you’re nine years old. Use your flashlight.”

Becky didn’t say anything. Marilyn cocked one eye and didn’t see her daughter. Then she opened the other one. “Really?” she said to the darkened room. “The one night she actually sleeps, and I have to dream her coming in. Damn this house.” It was too soon. The divorce was too fresh. She should have stayed in the a few more months instead of uprooting Becky in the middle of the school year.  She jerked the pillows into a new shape, turned over and pulled the blankets tightly around her.… Read the rest

The Ballad of Adrian and Lou

Posted on by February 25, 2020

“You’re a goddamned attention whore.”

Lou flinched to one side as a paperweight thocked into the wall by her head. “You’re drunk, Adrian.”  She bent down to unbuckle her shoes in the bedroom’s semi-dark. She forced her hands not to shake. When had it gotten so bad?

“What the hell were you thinking?” She heard another whack in the place where her head had been. Something bounced onto the carpet.

“I was dancing.”  Lou pulled off the shoe. She reached for the other buckle. There was no quick escape from this pair; the vinyl was warped and stubborn. There was no quick escape from this room; Adrian stood between her and the door.… Read the rest

On What Saved Jeanine

Posted on by October 19, 2012

On what saved Jeanine

In the last three weeks, I have posted two linked stories that deserve a bit of backstory:

http://jesterqueen.com/2012/10/01/on-the-cutting-room-floor/

http://jesterqueen.com/2012/10/18/on-my-honor/

First, you should know that I’m a contrasting sort of girl. If the story is bleak, odds are I’m giggling and clapping at my own cleverness while I type. If it’s heartwarming, I’m sniffling self-sorrow and rolling my eyes in disgust. If it’s cheerful, then you can bet something AWFUL is going on in my life. My neutral and my stories’ neutral are about the only emotional matches.

Second, let me be clear. I have never been suicidal.… Read the rest

Happy Anniversary Redux

Posted on by October 12, 2012

I don’t repost a lot here on Jester Queen. In fact, this will be a first time ever. In honor of my eleventh anniversary tomorrow, here is what I wrote about the tenth anniversary last year.

 

Last modified on GMT. 0 comments. Top.

… Read the rest

Blood and Violence

Posted on by February 25, 2020

Poor Scott.  He’s my sounding board for all my story ideas. He has to be prepared at the drop of a hat to answer questions about presidential elections, random animal behaviors, and everything else that pops into my head. I can Google this shit. But I don’t. At least, not until after I ask him.

Because here’s the thing about Scott. He is a repository of facts. If he hadn’t gone into history, he’d have made a damned fine librarian, because he is also an expert in knowing what questions to ask.

And usually, when I ask him these things, I’m in a spurt of idea generation.… Read the rest

Learning Curve

Posted on by February 25, 2020

When Caroline was three, she hated swings and couldn’t dangle from monkey bars. She knew her colors, but she couldn’t recite them reliably. She loved the slide at the local park, but if she didn’t walk to the top by exactly the same route every time, she sat down and cried. She adored other children, but if a group of them came too close, she put her hands over her ears and cowered. And ‘too close’ was typically about a car’s length away.

In the bathroom, she never washed her hands without a fight. The preschool director used to accompany her and talk her gently through the process multiple times a day.… Read the rest

Loki’s son

Posted on by February 25, 2020

Thor, Sif, and Loki walked into the bar.

“Oh fuck.” It was twenty minutes to closing and the place was deserted, except for the bartender. She snapped her fingers and the sign flipped from open to closed. “I told you to stay out of here.”

“Relax, Sigyn,” said Sif. “He’s with us.” Sif  shook her hair loose from her cloak, and four beer steins sprang onto the bar. “What ‘s on tap?”

Sigyn stared at the mugs for a few seconds. “The Sam Adams isn’t bad.” She regarded Loki with lowered eyebrows, while he looked at everything in the room except his wife.… Read the rest

Rider

Posted on by February 25, 2020

“Fit!” I ordered the tire gauge. But it popped off the valve with a hissing sigh. My bike tire was still malleable even after three go-rounds with the air hose. I didn’t really need to read the PSI to know  I was doing it wrong.  “Here, you’ve actually got a car flat.” I handed the air hose to a man waiting beside me.

“Take your time,” he said.  But he didn’t hand it back. Instead he shook it. “There’s the problem. It’s broken. There isn’t enough pressure to force the inner tube to inflate.”

I glared at the machine for deceiving me with its hiccupping hum.… Read the rest

Great White

Posted on by February 25, 2020

The Great White Shark flossed her incisors. “The better to eat you with, my dear,” she murmured to the mirror. It was the wrong line, from the wrong fairy tale, but the Brothers Grimm didn’t have any stories about a big toothy fish she could draw from. And it fit the case. It was what the defendant had repeated to his victim when he killed her. His bite marks on her body were some of the strongest evidence in the trial. That and the eyewitness testimony from her daughter.

In the kitchen, the Shark’s husband handed her a travel mug with hot coffee, Raven’s Brew.… Read the rest

Teeth

Posted on by February 25, 2020

Sherry the hygienist scraped along my gumline. “I did this funhouse for Halloween last year,” she said. “They had me dressed up as the little kid in that Freddy Kreuger song.” She hummed a few notes of the movie’s eerie minor-key version of the old “one, two, buckle my shoe” rhyme.

“That’s freaky.” I didn’t use any consonants, because she had a gloved hand and a dental pick jammed in my mouth, but she understood me anyway. In the background, the dentist’s drill whined as he filled another patient’s cavity.

“I know. It completely flipped this one woman out. She like ran back to the entrance.”… Read the rest