Wordzzle 86 - Past times
This is my contribution to this week's Wordzzle. Wordzzle is a game in which each week word lists, used to create stories, are given on the blog Views from Raven's Nest. Participating users post their stories on their own blogs.
This is my entry number 30, for Wordzzle week 86.
Ten Word Challenge:
Incensed,
sidewinder,
bogus,
conniption,
Haz-mat,
conniving,
customize,
perforated,
zeal,
rolling off a log
"The incensed sidewinder came at me, rolling off a log it had been hiding behind. In its zeal it was spitting venom everywhere, so much so the Haz-mat people had to come and clean up afterward. It spit so much venom that when it finally bit me, it didn't have any left, and had a conniption fit when I wouldn't die. Well, I got my staple gun and perforated it back, no critter bites me and gets away with it. I stuck it to the log with some staples, where it can be seen to this day. I had these special customized boots made in memory of the occasion, and renamed my ranch the Stapled Sidewinder.
"Now, it is only because of extreme financial difficulty that my brother and I are forced to sell this ranch. We are not even able to properly feed our animals anymore, and the roosters have stopped laying eggs and the steers have stopped giving milk. We are desperate, and are willing to take much less than market value."
"That's totally bogus, man. You people are just conniving to get my money. If you bother me again I'll call the cops."
The two watched him walk away. "Where did we slip up?"
"I told you to cover up the Made in China label on those boots."
Mini Challenge:
abstemious,
chlorophyll,
origami,
cheerleader,
dung beetle
Formerly a cheerleader for somewhat unusual notions, he became a bit more abstemious in his ways, and now gave his friends carrot cake, with cheese slices on top folded into origami animals. His friends gratefully accepted this, the memories of last year's chlorophyll and dung beetle fruitcake still fresh in their minds.
Mega challenge:
Incensed,
sidewinder,
bogus,
conniption,
Haz-mat,
conniving,
customize,
perforated,
zeal,
rolling off a log
abstemious,
chlorophyll,
origami,
cheerleader,
dung beetle
I saw her again at the fair. She was in a little booth selling plastic paperweights with dung beetles in them, and little pictures of sidewinders about to strike, and other such things. She had been a cheerleader back in high school, and I had mostly made little paper origami animals. Her father, who had a Haz-mat business, didn't think I was good enough for her. He was incensed when he caught us together in her bedroom, and threw me and my clothes out of the house. I was very grateful for my clothes, because the snow was very cold without them.
I tried to see her after that, but he had a conniption fit every time I came to the door, and I was getting awfully tired of landing in the snow. We just got to see each other at school and were conniving to sneak away together when the school year was over, and go to another state where he couldn't find us. She abruptly disappeared, though. She was there one day and gone the next. Her whole family had gone with her, moved away, no one knew where, or if they did they didn't say. I never saw her again.
I had gotten pretty wild for a while, and gone heavily into drinking and drugs, but had become much more abstemious since then. After finishing with my schooling, I went through various jobs, from selling chlorophyll drinks to customized T-shirts to bogus humorous college degrees to perforated wallboard, and more. I can't say I had much zeal for any of them, though I had to pretend to at the time.
I had pretty much given up on seeing her again, but still thought about her sometimes. I guess a part of me hadn't given up hope. Now, after all these years, here she was again, at a fair in a town I was only passing through, on the way to somewhere else.
I picked up a small drawing of a drunken cowboy rolling off a log. It was amazing that people bought these things.
"Can I help you with anything? Is there anything in particular you'd like to have?"
I picked up a small branch with a row of varnished pebbles with flat plastic eyes on them. The pupils in the eyes moved around as I tilted the branch. "I'll take this."
"That's a good choice. Lots of people are buying them." She paused. "Have we met before? You seem familiar somehow."
"I was thinking I had seen you before, too."
"My family moved around a lot when I was a teenager. I could have been here before, I guess. Or maybe not. It's hard to tell."
She put it in a bag and handed me the receipt, then looked at me again. "You really seem familiar but I just can't place you. I don't know, maybe I was thinking about somebody else."
"You look familiar, too, but I guess that's possible."
"I really feel I should know you, but I just can't think of anything. I can't think of anybody it might be. I know I sound really silly, it's probably a mistake, it must be somebody else."
"I suppose I could be mistaken, too."
"Maybe."
I picked up the bag and looked at her again. She looked back at me, her eyes searching mine.
"I guess it must have been two other people," I said, in a lighter tone than I thought I could manage, and turned and walked away with my purchase.
This is my entry number 30, for Wordzzle week 86.
Ten Word Challenge:
Incensed,
sidewinder,
bogus,
conniption,
Haz-mat,
conniving,
customize,
perforated,
zeal,
rolling off a log
"The incensed sidewinder came at me, rolling off a log it had been hiding behind. In its zeal it was spitting venom everywhere, so much so the Haz-mat people had to come and clean up afterward. It spit so much venom that when it finally bit me, it didn't have any left, and had a conniption fit when I wouldn't die. Well, I got my staple gun and perforated it back, no critter bites me and gets away with it. I stuck it to the log with some staples, where it can be seen to this day. I had these special customized boots made in memory of the occasion, and renamed my ranch the Stapled Sidewinder.
"Now, it is only because of extreme financial difficulty that my brother and I are forced to sell this ranch. We are not even able to properly feed our animals anymore, and the roosters have stopped laying eggs and the steers have stopped giving milk. We are desperate, and are willing to take much less than market value."
"That's totally bogus, man. You people are just conniving to get my money. If you bother me again I'll call the cops."
The two watched him walk away. "Where did we slip up?"
"I told you to cover up the Made in China label on those boots."
Mini Challenge:
abstemious,
chlorophyll,
origami,
cheerleader,
dung beetle
Formerly a cheerleader for somewhat unusual notions, he became a bit more abstemious in his ways, and now gave his friends carrot cake, with cheese slices on top folded into origami animals. His friends gratefully accepted this, the memories of last year's chlorophyll and dung beetle fruitcake still fresh in their minds.
Mega challenge:
Incensed,
sidewinder,
bogus,
conniption,
Haz-mat,
conniving,
customize,
perforated,
zeal,
rolling off a log
abstemious,
chlorophyll,
origami,
cheerleader,
dung beetle
I saw her again at the fair. She was in a little booth selling plastic paperweights with dung beetles in them, and little pictures of sidewinders about to strike, and other such things. She had been a cheerleader back in high school, and I had mostly made little paper origami animals. Her father, who had a Haz-mat business, didn't think I was good enough for her. He was incensed when he caught us together in her bedroom, and threw me and my clothes out of the house. I was very grateful for my clothes, because the snow was very cold without them.
I tried to see her after that, but he had a conniption fit every time I came to the door, and I was getting awfully tired of landing in the snow. We just got to see each other at school and were conniving to sneak away together when the school year was over, and go to another state where he couldn't find us. She abruptly disappeared, though. She was there one day and gone the next. Her whole family had gone with her, moved away, no one knew where, or if they did they didn't say. I never saw her again.
I had gotten pretty wild for a while, and gone heavily into drinking and drugs, but had become much more abstemious since then. After finishing with my schooling, I went through various jobs, from selling chlorophyll drinks to customized T-shirts to bogus humorous college degrees to perforated wallboard, and more. I can't say I had much zeal for any of them, though I had to pretend to at the time.
I had pretty much given up on seeing her again, but still thought about her sometimes. I guess a part of me hadn't given up hope. Now, after all these years, here she was again, at a fair in a town I was only passing through, on the way to somewhere else.
I picked up a small drawing of a drunken cowboy rolling off a log. It was amazing that people bought these things.
"Can I help you with anything? Is there anything in particular you'd like to have?"
I picked up a small branch with a row of varnished pebbles with flat plastic eyes on them. The pupils in the eyes moved around as I tilted the branch. "I'll take this."
"That's a good choice. Lots of people are buying them." She paused. "Have we met before? You seem familiar somehow."
"I was thinking I had seen you before, too."
"My family moved around a lot when I was a teenager. I could have been here before, I guess. Or maybe not. It's hard to tell."
She put it in a bag and handed me the receipt, then looked at me again. "You really seem familiar but I just can't place you. I don't know, maybe I was thinking about somebody else."
"You look familiar, too, but I guess that's possible."
"I really feel I should know you, but I just can't think of anything. I can't think of anybody it might be. I know I sound really silly, it's probably a mistake, it must be somebody else."
"I suppose I could be mistaken, too."
"Maybe."
I picked up the bag and looked at her again. She looked back at me, her eyes searching mine.
"I guess it must have been two other people," I said, in a lighter tone than I thought I could manage, and turned and walked away with my purchase.
posted by Stephen at 10/23/2009 11:57:00 PM
2 Comments:
Your 10-worder made me laugh - great ending. I was expecting it to be the 'buyer' was not impressed by roosters laying eggs and steers giving milk.
Chlorophyll and dungbeetle cake! He must work in our staff restaurant!
Oh, your mega was very poignant. I fully expected the two characters to recognise and be reunited. You have used the words really well as usual to produce some very interesting reading.
Sorry I'm so late. I thought I had checked back regularly but I missed your posting. These are delightful as always. I LOVED the mini which made me chuckle and but the bitter sweetness of the last one touched me.
Thanks for the guidance on the blog problem. I'm not sure I'd recognize misplaced code if I saw it, but maybe it's worth giving it a try. I've been trying to do most of the writing at the blog itself these days but I might have done it elsewhere last week. It's been kind of an intense time here what with construction and strange people tromping around day after day for weeks.
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