November 2010
20 posts
2 tags
Len - Chapter 5
Previously …
Somehow the word treasure seemed more believable being spoken in this cavernous hideaway. Old milk crates of discarded power cords curled up under the workbench serpent-like and the curved metal roof of the structure caused our whispers to echo slightly.
“Nessie, you can trust me.”
After all I was an impartial observer here. My aim was to collect data. To collect stories,...
TMC: Round 5, Week 4
Amidst all the turducken and roast beast and green eggs and ham last week, we managed to find room to slip in new chapters for four of our stories. Enjoy these after-dinner treats.
I took Althea out of the suffocating walls of Len’s house on her search for Nessie.
Valary got Al and Lindsey back together. He’s still upset, but she’s formulating a plan.
Cary is still stewing...
2 tags
Welcome to Boomtown — Chapter 4
Previously
Earl was alone in the examination room longer than he would have liked. Dr. Gall had left him with a bemused look and one raised eyebrow. Earl felt he could hear the doctor’s judgment cascading from his brain down to his frown. “They’re just lumps, lad,” Earl assured him. “I never have had the prettiest of melons.” Dr. Gall merely turned and...
2 tags
Rummy - Chapter 4
Previously
When I heard Daddy moving around behind the bar again, I made my way down the stairs and climbed onto one of the bar stools. “Good morning, Daddy,” I chirped. His brow was still wrinkled and I wanted to say things that would bring a smile to his face. I liked his face much better when he smiled. He had a good face, and he rarely became angry with me, though I had seen his face...
2 tags
They May Not Mean To, But They Do - Chapter 4
Previously
For once Lindsey didn’t have a quick comeback to Al’s revelation. Perhaps her silence signaled that she was on the cusp of leveling up on the maturity scale in the game of life. Girls that age were said to be more mature than their male counterparts. Rather than spilling out her mouth like water through a sieve, words seemed to be bouncing around her head and then sticking...
2 tags
Len - chapter 4
Previously…
I tried to rouse Len from his seat, hoping there really was a small measure of love guttering in his dark heart, but he remained fixed and staring.
I figured Nessie couldn’t have gotten far, so I went out the front door and circled around the side by her window. There was no sign of her, but the grass was short and trampled; it looked like this wasn’t the first time Nessie...
2 tags
Welcome to Boomtown - Chapter 3
Previously
The bumps had always been there, even when he was an infant. His pa told him it was a sign of special things to come. Thankfully, his hair came in thick as he grew into toddlerhood, so the lumps weren’t obvious unless someone put her hands on his head. That didn’t happen often enough for him to worry about.
Pa told Earl the bumps were like antennae. Each one was tuned into something...
Bye Week
Hah! You thought my chapter for Monday’s story was late. No, no! It’s not due until next Monday.
We’re taking this week off at TMC in order to devote our attention to trussing our birds, mashing our berries, and grinding our sausage. At least that’s what I’m doing. Some of the other writers might be cooking or doing other things to prepare for Thanksgiving.
...
Round 5, Week 3
Things are heating up in all five of our stories. If you have not yet started reading, this is a good time to jump in, back track, and catch up. Just follow the link for each story and go back to Chapter 1, or else go to the archives and catch up that way. This round of stories contains some quirky characters! I’m posting early because I have to be out and about until tomorrow afternoon and...
3 tags
Rummy — Chapter 3
Previously
The storm had blown away by the time I got out of bed. The sun was already up and shining through my window so it looked like a ribbon was wrapped around Rummy’s mane. Miss Marie was gone, too, just like the storm. Daddy never tells me when she and I have a sleepover, but she snores so loud I always wake up. And when she’s snoring away on my floor, it means Daddy and...
2 tags
Round 5, Week 2
I’ve been trapped under something heavy all week, so this Week 2 Wrap-Up is coming to you with three-fifths of Week 3 on the books. This is not a problem, good readers; this is a gift. You see, this means that the overwhelming anticipation you normally feel upon reading these roundups, the nervous waiting that typically stymies your weekends and causes you to obsessively refresh the TMC page...
2 tags
They May Not Mean To, But They Do - chapter 3
Previously…
“You’ve barely touched your eggplant curry, Al. Is it alright?”
Al wanted to say it looked like baby food. Or worse, like baby poo. But instead he smiled and poked at the heart of the yellow gloop and shoveled a substantial forkful into his mouth, smiling at Mrs. Palace. Gina. He always had to remind himself that Lindsey’s parents were Gina and Rick. He swallowed, hoping he...
2 tags
Bedeviled Ham - Chapter 3
Previously
Ham froze as if the phone were a deadly spider that had injected paralyzing venom into his brain. Words wouldn’t form. The alien creature, seemingly affixed to his head, had to be dealt with.
“Ham, are you there? Ham, can you answer me?”
Having pried the phone away from his head, Ham stared at it as he tried to get his brain to instruct his fingers to manipulate it in a way that would...
2 tags
Rummy - Chapter 2
The storm was deafening, even in the harbor. The barges and freighters slowly made their way in from the open water. Freighters dropped anchor there in the harbor, while barges loaded and moved upriver to inland destinations. The ship lights were all but invisible through the driving rain.
Marie shook off her poncho as she came through the tavern door. She hung it on the hook where it dripped onto...
3 tags
Len - Chapter 3
Previously
“Huh?” Len’s stare came into focus, as if he had actually heard me. “What kind of question is that?” “It’s the kind of question I need to ask,” I replied. “Why don’t we go back into the other room and let your mother sleep while we chat.” I moved toward him, as that was the only direction available to me in the midst of the clutter. Len put Lulu down and she disappeared from sight....
2 tags
Welcome to Boomtown - Chapter 2
Previously
Just as scarecrows were a dying breed as family farms gave way to strip malls and factories loomed vacant as haunting remnants of an era fading into history, Earl sometimes felt himself drifting into oblivion. He too was of a different time and the pallor of his skin was making him look increasingly like a character from an old black & white movie. Jimmy Stewart might have...
2 tags
Bedeviled Ham - chapter 2
Previously.
“What about Thursday? I’ve got, let’s see, ‘closed Peterman deal and celebrated with a long run.’”
Ham looked queasy as he checked his journal. “That’s what I’ve got too. What I don’t have is anything about the towel bar I accidentally ripped off the bathroom wall. I was tired from my run and leaned on it a little too...
Round 5, Week 1
I’m a little late with this recap, but that’s a good thing. Now everyone who missed the first week’s chapters because they were wrapped up in the Christine O’Donnell non-sex story or too busy trying to figure out how to pronounce Lincecum or in a sugar coma from one too many dips into the candy bowl can have a chance to rectify the situation.
N.B. “Rectifying The...
They May Not Mean To, But They Do - Chapter 2
JB - November 2, 2010
Previously
A sudden sharp rapping on the closet door made Skip hold his breath, as if not breathing would make whoever was on the other side of the door go away. “What the hell are you doing in there? If you’re having it off, I don’t want to know; if you’re not, then open the damn door.” Skip recognized the voice, having just fled from it to the safety of the closet....
3 tags
Len — Chapter 2
Chapter 1
At first you pretend not to notice. Or maybe it’s more that you learn not to see what you’re looking at. You walk into someone’s living room enough times where there’s an eight-foot-tall mounted black bear in the corner standing claws-out next to a treadmill being used as a dish rack and eventually you learn to not even turn your head. You just smile and ...
