Writing Challenge: The Unknown

“You got a name? Where you from?”

“Easy there Clara,” Howard said. He lifted his hat and wiped beads of sweat from his forehead. “It’s just shock is all, we don’t need to be crowdin’ around askin’ questions like an interrogation squad.”

“You never had a stomach for this, Howie,” Clara snapped. “Go make some tea. Must be ‘bove forty out there. We’re all parched and you got the stink of a dead pig.”

“There’s no call for insults, Clara,” said Cliff. “Not when we got this here problem to deal with.”

Howard shuffled over to the kettle and sniffed his armpits. “Ain’t smellin’ no pig,” he muttered.

Clara leaned forward. “You got a tongue? Speak up.”

“I’m thinking it’s one of them robots,” Cliff suggested. “Like them what took Millie and Ted and the others.”

“Twaddle!” Clara said. “We ain’t seen no bot goin’ on ten years. They don’t make ‘em no more, Cliff.”

“I don’t know so much,” Cliff replied. He didn’t like it when Clara pretended to know the unknown. “Hardly anyone comes this way no more, least of all folks wishin’ to abandon this…heck, I don’t know what to call it.”

“It’s a menace,” Clara told them. “We ought to be rid of it before it does something we don’t like.”

“Easy Clara, let’s not be too hasty. Brand new thing such as this might be worth keeping. Heck! I swear none of the neighbour folk have one.”

“They don’t got squat,” Clara said. She didn’t like the neighbours much. “Morons and inbred swine, the lot of ‘em. Ain’t none of ‘em got the sense God gave ‘em.”

Cliff put a finger to his lips. “Clara!” he hissed. “There’ll be hell to pay if they hear you talkin’ like that.”

Clara waved her hands at him. “Pah. They ain’t hearin’ us. If they’d stayed in the basement like the rest of us they wouldn’t be messed up the way they are when the fire burned the sky.”

“Skinny Earl ain’t got the effects yet,” Cliff told her. “He’s a wily one. Always snoopin’ around. Best we keep hushed up ’bout this lest he shows up with his boom-stick. You know what happened last time.”

Clara was quiet for a moment. “Poor Jacob,” she said. “Never stood a chance. I ain’t never seen so many holes in a person.”

“So we’re keepin’ it quiet then?” asked Howard. He passed around cups of tea. “At least till we figure what to do. Sure is a pretty thing.”

“We could cook it.”

Howard and Cliff gaped at her suggestion.

“Just jestin’,” Clara said. “You nitwits got no sense of humour.”

“Bad taste that,” Cliff said.

“We need to fathom what it’s for,” Howard told them. “Ain’t there a note or nothin’?”

“Looky there,” Cliff said. He pointed to a slip of paper wedged in the box.

Howard carefully removed it and handed it to Clara who peered at it through her spectacles.

“Well I’ll be…” she gasped. “Says here: My name is Rex. I am six months. My owners can’t look after me cos they got sick with the effects. I need lots of love and treats.“

“Six months what?” asked Cliff.

“Howie, pass me the big blue book,” said Clara.

They crowded around the book and Clara flipped through the pages until she found the right one. They stared at the picture then at the new arrival and back to the picture.

“What’s a dog?” Howard finally asked.

-x-x-x-

This short story was inspired by Indigo Spider’s Sunday Picture Press - a challenge to write a 500 word piece of fiction using one of 2 photos as a prompt.

This time I went over with 570 words but it was worth it! On the last Writing Challenge: The Shelter, I gave a slight explanation of my story but this time I’ll just leave it open to interpretation. If you want to join in and write a short piece of fiction clicky-click Indigo Spider’s link above and wrap your imagination around one of the photos!

The photo is called The Unknown by Diane Arbus.

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Angry Mood!!!

I’m in an angry mood today and I hate it! I want to be all smiling and laughter but everything around me is grating on my nerves! I’m hoping that if I blog my fingers to the bone the anger will just drain right out of me.

So why am I so angry? Honestly, I have no idea. It’s like a gang of time of the month hormones jumped ship and invaded my usually calm oasis of serenity.

So, here’s my list of reasons to be angry today, even though they’re pretty stupid reasons they’re MINE!

#1. Sleepy time interrupted. Dragged out of bed for no reason. It’s Sunday and I wanted a lie in. I get rudely interrupted from a warm, cosy dream by someone phoning me asking if I’m getting up? Does it look like I am? Hey, I’m in bed which means I’m asleep! So that didn’t inspire any happy fun time mood right from the start. One day a week and I want no one hassling me. No one asking to come do a pointless chore, no idiotic questions that I don’t have to answer. Where’s the thing-a-me-bob gone? How the F should I know? Where did you last see the [insert random stupid object here]? I don’t know!!!! I am asleep!

#2. Arguing people. I’m all for a lively debate but sometimes I just don’t want to get involved. It should be pretty obvious that when one person is being quiet during an argument it means they don’t have anything to say or want to stay well out of it. Please don’t draw me into it!!! Oh no. I was asked my opinion! I just shrug and when I do speak no one listens because the argument has already moved on in the last 2 nano-seconds!

#3. Shopping trolleys. So we’re in the supermarket and I’m hauling around this huge trolley and my friend keeps putting her hand on it to guide it out of other folks way. Oh. I’m so happy you’re here with me! In the last 36,328 times I’ve been shopping on my own I’ve never had to steer my own trolley! How did I ever navigate the rush hour in the supermarket on my own? Take your hand off the shopping trolley!!!! I’m a big boy, I can do it, please let me do it!

#4. The Checkout. I try to put the cold foods together and frozen food together and the soft stuff together, but hey, if I don’t then so what?? Oh you’re doing it wrong again. The cheese shouldn’t be next to the soap powder on the conveyor belt thingy. And the bread should go in last because it will squashed. Um. And the heavy things should be done first. OH REALLY? Well when I go shopping on my own and no one else is there to guide me, it’s amazing that the food arrives at home perfectly fine isn’t it??

#5. Landlines. You have a mobile phone so bloody well use it to call your pals and not the land line! Our phone bill has gone bonkers recently because the kids are looking up their mates numbers on their mobile phones, then using the land line to call them! Use your bloody phone!!! If you don’t have any credit then go buy some!! You have a part-time job, so why should someone else pay for your social life?

#6. Noisy people. I understand that some folks only have 1 day off a week, Sunday, and they want to get certain things done like mow the lawn or do chores in the garden etc. But does that really mean you have to use every power tool at your disposal for 5 hours straight?! I swear one of neighbours must have lined up every gardening tool powered by petrol and worked his way through them. I had this vision of our neighbour sat in a chair with sly grin on his face and a chainsaw propped up next to him just whirring away. I was prevented from “having a word” because “we” don’t want to start a fight with the neighbours. Sigh.

#7. Telesales. I’ve already covered this topic in a previous post but today is Sunday! A day of rest and relaxation! Although I didn’t answer the phone I could still hear the moronic voice of someone asking if I want to buy [insert useless thing here] on the answer phone. So instead of turning it off and letting the phone ring and ring, I just pulled it out of the wall!

There.

I’m done.

The rant is over.

Deep breaths. That’s the key.

In and out.

Feel the calmness soothing away the anger.

Reeeeeeeeeeeelax.

Do I feel any better?

Hmmm. Actually yes. A little. Thank the Lord WordPress for providing us with such a gift!

</anger management>

Throwback Thursday!

Top 10 Movies from the 80′s!

It’s time to get your retro-noodle on! Sit back and enjoy some classic 80′s movie trailers! I’d like to thank Brenda over at A Scribbler’s Tale for her inspiring post that I’ve stolen borrowed in order to bathe in the warm glow of 80′s movie nostalgia!

10. The Goonies (1985)

My sister & I watched this so many times we could recite every word to each other. I love how the trailer has the voice-over man telling the audience everything they need to know about each scene.

9. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

I remember watching this at my Uncles house and being bored rigid because of the opening scenes. I hated cowboy movies. Then the big ball starts rolling behind Indy, arrows flying everywhere and the chase through the jungle, I was hooked!

8. Poltergeist (1982)

Considering its age this movie still has the ability to shock and put you on edge. The direction was excellent and the effects still look good, it’s a shame they had to ruin the concept by making 2 dreadful sequels. The bit where the steak slides across the kitchen counter top made my skin crawl! My sister and I would often look at each other and say: “They’re heeeere!”

7. Back to the Future (1985)

For once here was a movie with a genuine cliff-hanger ending, and sequels that were every bit as good as the original. A recent highlight was seeing Michael J Fox in Scrubs, looking slightly older but still managing to out-shine every other actor.

6. Spies Like Us (1985)

I’m a bit Chevy Chase fan. He and Dan Aykroyd work so well together in this movie. Chevy Chase has such great timing that makes it look like he’s just winging everything without much or any consideration for the consequences. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor.

5. National Lampoons Vacation (1983)

More Chevy Chase gold! Like so many 80′s movies, this was another my sister & I watched over and over again. We didn’t like the European one quite so much or the rest of them, although the Christmas Vacation was pretty funny stuff.

4. The Cannonball Run (1981)

I loved this movie so much that my Dad & I would recite the hilarious bar scene between Sammy Davis Jnr and Dean Martin: “God is our co-pilot?” – “Uh-huh.” – “Where’s he gonna sit? Where?” Classic!

3. The Shining (1980)

Damn this movie scared the crap out of me the first time I watched it. I’d been reading Stephen King for a year or so but hadn’t read the book, so I was pleased to find the same sense of uneasiness and tension even though I saw the movie first. Jack Nicholson was born to play psychos in fact I think he thoroughly enjoys playing unhinged characters. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

2. Aliens (1986)

Alien was an amazing movie. A real on the edge of your seat, nail-biting event that forces your previously unknown claustrophobic nature to crawl all over your nerve endings. But it was Aliens that really did it for me, the classic all American marine shooting the hell out of monstrous alien beasties was simply awesome. I didn’t care for Alien 3 at all, it was poorly written and paid little attention to the plot details set up by the first 2 movies. They mostly come at night, mostly.

1. Stand By Me (1986)

Without a doubt this is my all time favourite movie. It highlights the true meaning of friendship, loyalty and the trials of youth. I firmly believe that most people only ever have a handful of true friends during their lifetime, the ones that will stick with you no matter what happens, through the good times and bad.

Everything about this movie reminds me of my own childhood, how my friends and I stuck together through some crazy adventures, though we never went looking for a dead body! The sound track by Ben E. King is also my favourite song, gives me goose bumps every time I hear it.