Category Archives: Fiction

Thrice Told

Posted on by February 25, 2020

This week, Trifecta celebrates its 33rd weekly challenge. It’s actually three challenges, and it ends at 8AM tomorrow. I’ve been travelling, so posting these has had to wait. That means you’ll be hearing from me three times today (and then I’ll be quiet on Thursday). The first challenge is to respond to the following quotation

“What I tell you three times is true.” — Lewis Carroll.

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Thrice Told

A young mother wore her baby through the airport and pulled two suitcases behind. She was alone.  “My husband died,” she said to the woman beside her in the boarding area.

Her husband quickly joined her then.… Read the rest

The Right Buyer

Posted on by February 25, 2020

When she saw the house from the road, Leslie Weiner groaned and stopped the car. She hadn’t driven up to this end of town for years. She was beginning to remember why.

The house was old. Parts of it were supposed to date back to the Civil War. But it was a strange structure, built in one era and added onto at two other times. The front part of the building was all brick, but the middle and rear sections were covered with white wood siding. At least, Leslie thought, it used to be white. Now it was more moldy green.… Read the rest

Edgy

Posted on by February 25, 2020

“Dad, it’s time to stop edging.”

Rick was middle aged. Maybe forty five, perhaps even fifty. His father Andrew did not stop pushing the edger along the sidewalk, neatly partitioning grass from concrete.

“Dad, you need to turn off the machine.”

Andrew let go of the trigger, and silence descended to the street.

“Thank you!”

“Oh! Hello Rick! Good to see you.” Andrew eased himself down to hands and knees and used a stick to work loose a chunk stuck in the blade.

“Dad.” Rick pointed to the machine, “You need to put that away.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” The old man used the handle for support and got back up.… Read the rest

Scriptic 24 hour challenge: Potted Plants

Posted on by February 25, 2020

Potted Plants: A Play In One Scene

CHARACTERS

NATALIE SMITH (NATTY): 80 year old woman

GINA SCHULER: Natty’s 25 year old granddaughter.

MARLENE SCHULER: Gina’s 50 year old mother. Natty’s daughter.

FRANCINE DRAKE: Natty’s next door neighbor and attorney

LESLIE: Natty’s Neighbor

JEAN: Leslie’s teenage daughter

LESLIE and JEAN’S DOG

TIME

Late afternoon

SCENE

 

(A pair of rocking chairs flank the door on the back porch.

 There is a porch swing hanging at one end, and

a small table with four chairs are halfway between the

door and the other end of the porch. Three stairs lead

down, and the sidewalk runs the length of the stage.… Read the rest

Where It’s At

Posted on by February 25, 2020

 

Club Aqua burned on a Tuesday, and by Wednesday morning, the DJ and bartender were celebrities. Val, the DJ, wasn’t pleased. “I didn’t do anything,” she protested.

But Larry the bartender disagreed. “Listen, that whole fucking ceiling was coming in, and you was standing out on the floor directing traffic just like you was calling a square dance or something. If you hadn’t had your shit together, those people would have flipped out and stampeded. We’d all be dead.”

“OK, I wasn’t the one carrying people out on my goddamned shoulders,” Val snapped. “All I did was tell people where to find the doors.… Read the rest

Blue

Posted on by February 25, 2020

Rachael crunched through the yard. A pinecone, crunch. Dead leaves, double crunch. Her feet on the ground sounded like her teeth when she bit into a ripe, crisp apple. When she tired of crunching, she decided to swing. Kick up, lean back; tuck feet, lean forward. It seemed backwards to her that she should lean back to move her body forward and lean forward to move her body back.  But her Daddy said life was backwards sometimes. She had tried to do it the other way, leaning forward to go up and back to go down, but she didn’t go much of anywhere.… Read the rest

Cow in the road

Posted on by February 25, 2020

I spent my childhood chasing other people’s cows. The farmers who rented our fields were supposed to keep up the fences, but they never did. And the cows never got out during the day. No, they escaped at midnight or two AM, so that we all had to scramble out of bed looking for feed when someone banged on the door. And I slept downstairs, so I always heard the knock.

I hated those cows. I wanted them to die. But, especially once we bought the house and land, a wreck would have been on our insurance. While Mom tried to raise the cow’s owner, I tramped up State Route 286 in my nightgown chanting, “Come on cow, stupid cow, gonna get us both killed cow.”  … Read the rest

On The Draw

Posted on by February 25, 2020

Brenda Cowden stepped out of the club’s back door and took a long draw.  She tried to stop her legs from shaking. When they wouldn’t, she finally sat in the alley beside two days of garbage and a leaky dumpster.  The cigarette  slipped from her fingers to smolder in a pile of refuse.

“Put that thing out.” Her roommate Annie left the club as well and crushed the smoke under her heel. “What went wrong in there?”

“I got fired.”

“Because you’ve got limits on lap dances?”

“No. Rob says I’m hiding tips.”

“Oh.” Annie screwed up her lips. “Well, let’s go down the street and put in at Shimmy-Shebang.”… Read the rest

Three wrecks

Posted on by February 25, 2020

I was 19 and lost. I didn’t see the stop sign until a truck struck my sedan. No injuries, but the car was totaled. I thought I was taking my friend to research.

I was 21 and new to Kentucky. I stopped at the light, but the car behind me didn’t. She thought the light was yellow. I thought I was taking Mom to the castle.

I was 35 and composed. I had the green light, but the other car didn’t see me. He thought he was moving a vehicle. I thought I was taking my kids to swim.… Read the rest

Spiderweb

Posted on by February 25, 2020

“Who’s the new lady friend?” Russ Simon’s officemate Joel nodded at the redhead who had just walked over to the Hors d’oeuvre table.

“That’s my sister Karen.”

“Ohhh.”  Russ waited out Joel’s pregnant pause. Finally,  Joel said, “She seeing anybody?”

“Married.” Russ wanted to punch the people who had asked that question, all four of them so far. He hated office parties. And he hadn’t expected the single men to circle his sister like a bunch of goddamned sharks. In fact, Joel’s red nose suggested he had been partaking a little too heavily of the cash bar.

Karen came back with two crackers coated in something pink that looked suspiciously fishy.  … Read the rest