Author Topic: The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!  (Read 1375351 times)

Offline MaineWriter

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The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!
« on: January 31, 2007, 10:03:39 am »
Drabbles...short snippets of stories or dialogue, are good writing exercises and fun to read. Authors are often challenged to write a drabble in response to a prompt: a word, a phrase, or something similar. A few months ago, I was in an interactive forum where we had an impromptu "drabblefest." A bunch of authors were online and we wrote quick drabbles in response to prompts people threw at us.

I thought we could do the same thing here, but have it be ongoing, not a one shot thing. My thought: someone (me or whoever) can post a prompt and writers can respond with drabbles. Readers are encouraged to join in with comments. There is no limit to the number of drabbles. When the writing dies down on a prompt, someone can post a new one and the writing begins again.

I'd like to keep guidelines to a minimum. Drabbles should be 100-300 words and be somehow BBM related.

I'll start with a few prompts (and the first drabble). Since it is cold here, winter is on my mind. How about it people write something in response to:
  • bitter cold
  • snow
  • winter wheat

Have fun, everyone! Please feel free to join in. All are welcome to share their writings, ideas, and comments. Enjoy...

Leslie
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Offline MaineWriter

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Re: The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2007, 10:12:49 am »
Lazy L Farm
Quanah, TX


“Damn, I hate being sick.” Jack pulled out his handkerchief and blew his nose again, eyes red-rimmed and bleary.

“Can I get ya  somethin’, a cup a tea?” Ennis asked.

“No, just sit here with me, keep me company,” replied Jack, patting the seat on the couch next to him.

Ennis pulled Jack close in his arms, tucking an afghan around his legs. “C’mere babe,” he said softly, feeling Jack curl up like a cat against his body.

“I’m fuckin’ freezin’ and I can’t get warm.”

Ennis could feel Jack shivering, and rubbed his arms, trying to warm him with his own body heat. Then suddenly, “I’m sorry, Jack, sorry for all of it.”

“Sorry for what?” Jack mumbled, his head buried in Ennis’s chest.

“For makin’ you go campin’ all those times, in the fuckin’ cold. You used ta shiver like this and could never get warm.”

“Ya don’t need ta apologize, En. It was a long time ago.”

“Yeah, but you’d get cold, yer muscles would ache. I never appreciated how busted up you were from rodeoin’ til we got here ta Quanah. I’d make ya sleep on the ground in the snow and rain…what a fuck up I was.”

“It’s all in the past, En. Don’t worry ‘bout it. Yer here now, keepin’ me warm.”

“I don’t know if there’s enough warmth in me ta make up for all those cold days.”

“There is babe, believe it. I’m feelin’ it now.”

“You are?”

“I am.”

“I love you Jack.”

“I know.”

(254 words)
« Last Edit: February 17, 2007, 08:06:08 am by MaineWriter »
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Scott6373

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Re: The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2007, 10:33:52 am »
Ennis stood on the self-made stoop of the run down shack that he and Alma shared with the children.  Winter, in all it's fury had set in, with not as much snow as bone chillin cold.  He shoved his hands deeps inside the pockets of his coat and stepped off the stoop, lowering his head against the stiff, cold breeze.  Whe the wind died down, he looked out over the vastly unforgining terrain that had been his particular view every morning.  The only thing seemingly unaffected by the cold were the fields of winter wheat he could see on one of the neighboring farms.  His thoughts turned to that last day on Brokeback.

He had been sitting on that hill all morning, even before Jack had risen from a fitfull night of sleep.  The grass on the hill undulated like surface water on the lake where they had stripped their clothes and dove, carelessly beneath the cool liquid.  That first meeting of skin and water causing a shock that sent crawling and tingling pins of excitement through their bodies.  The memory of the cold brought him back, as another burst of chilled air caught him looking out at the field of winter wheat.

"Gotta mail that off to Jack today," he said, as if in reply to the urgency of the wind.  Don Wroe's cabin next month.  The whole week.  With Jack.

232 Words
« Last Edit: January 31, 2007, 10:39:50 am by Scott6373 »

Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!
« Reply #3 on: January 31, 2007, 04:03:37 pm »
   Ennis was up early in the morning and checking the sheep.  He decides to see how those lambs are making it in the cold the ones that had to be carried in a sling on horseback up the mountain.
   The ewe was laying on the ground with the small white bundle she was wrapped around all safe and warm in her bodies curve.. He could see the small whiffs of breath hitting the cold predawn air.  His own breath showing as steam coming out in long spurts.  It seemed to be
getting colder these past weeks,,,it seemed..Probably just a cold snap he figured...Summer will return in a blast of indian winds coming down from the mountain. so  jack and me can go back to the river in the early evening and go skinny dipping again.  Ennis returns to
the small pup tent,along with,the smelll of cat piss, He snuggled in
for a couple of winks, before rising early.  Ennis lay down thinking of
jack and jack, and a good warm breakfast.
  He woke feeling his feet and face frozen, and the air so very chilled, the air from his lungs was filling the tent as he rose..The sun was
already up and he squinted and opened his eyes,,,reluctantly.  As
he did so he could see the ground was white and the place was all covered in snow... He slammed on his boots and jumped outside, and
then could see it was covered with snow everywhere,,,but the
sun was obviously out so they could sure use that cup of Joe.
  He saddled cigar butt and headed out for breakfast........

 
   
« Last Edit: January 31, 2007, 04:14:44 pm by MaineWriter »



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Offline el_wing

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Playin' in the snow
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2007, 04:14:08 pm »
148 words

“Damn Ennis, it’s bitter cold out here. Don’t ya think we should be doin’ this somewhere’s else? And we ain’t far from that house neither--someone could see.”

Ennis rocked his hips forward. “Since when were you the one ta begin worryin’?”

“Since I’m standin’ here with bare ass stickin’ out.”

“Mmm, it’s damn near as white as the snow too--like ta of blinded me. Damn perdy though.”

“Shut up--" Jack groaned, "now over to the right more. Yeah, that’s it—right--right--there that's the spot.”

Ennis sucked in a lung-full a' cold air.

“Pull down them jeans farther if ya don’t what ta git ‘em mussed up, Jack.”

Jack shifted his weight to his left leg.

“Damn winter wheat--keeps getting’ in the way," Jack said, poutin'. "It messed up crossin’ the T.”

“Boo-hoo. Way you talk, ya think ya never wrote yer name in the snow before.”



Leaves turn over with the times,
The sun breaks each day with shines,
Hither awhile, then whither back--
It is life that people lack.
     ~el-wing

Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2007, 04:22:09 pm »


   Very funny, and tricksey



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Scott6373

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Re: The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!
« Reply #6 on: January 31, 2007, 04:22:48 pm »
That warmed up MY Winter chill el...don't know about E&J's :)

Offline haunted_by_bbm

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Re: The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!
« Reply #7 on: January 31, 2007, 08:06:06 pm »
The Middle of Winter...


January 31, 1968 - 6:07 p.m.


Ennis in Wyoming
~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


Ennis del Mar stepped out onto the rickety balcony to have a smoke, hands shaking from the cold, as he brushed a distracted arm across the top of the railing.  He watched, unfocused, as the snow fell below, and continued billowing from the sky.  Looking up into the mid-winter atmosphere, his mind couldn’t help but wander to a particular dark-haired man…and their most recent conversation about the cold.

‘I’d sit out here in a blizzard in the middle a winter…so long as you was with me.’ 

Ennis had said those words on their last night together in Pine Creek.  And he’d meant them…the memory making the corners of Ennis’ mouth quiver and twitch.   

He heard Alma mumbling and grumbling even through the closed door, saying something ‘bout the war that was goin’ on…something ‘bout a ‘cease fire’ of the day before that had been broken today by the Viet Cong. 

Ennis sighed, staring out into the snow, knowing he should care more than he did…but in truth, the only thing he cared about was the fact that one man in particular had been ‘too busted up’  to be of any use to the army, and therefore was safe in some city in north Texas, rather than some far away place Ennis had never heard of prior to this confusing war. 

Sighing deeper, Ennis glanced down at his left wrist, ugly-ass watch adorning his arm, checking the time, counting down the minutes until his favorite show…‘The Beverly Hillbillies.’ 

Thoughts resting once again on the crazy-ass man who’d given him the watch…the chatty bastard who did nothing but complain about the cold…Ennis couldn’t help but grin.


January 31, 1968 - 8:07 P.M.


Jack in Texas
~~~~~~~~~


‘Damn, it’s cold!’   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(300 Words)    ;)   (Even my drabbles go long)    ;)
___________________________________________

« Last Edit: February 01, 2007, 03:53:31 am by haunted_by_bbm »
"The room stank of semen and smoke and sweat and whiskey, of old carpet and sour hay, saddle leather, shit and cheap soap.  Ennis lay spread-eagled, spent and wet, breathing deep, still half tumescent, Jack blowing forceful cigarette clouds like whale spouts..." – Annie Proulx

Offline haunted_by_bbm

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Re: The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!
« Reply #8 on: January 31, 2007, 08:09:56 pm »

“Can I get ya  somethin’, a cup a tea?” Ennis asked.
“No, just sit here with me, keep me company,” replied Jack, patting the seat on the couch next to him.
Ennis pulled Jack close in his arms, tucking an afghan around his legs. “C’mere babe,” he said softly, feeling Jack curl up like a cat against his body.
“I’m fuckin’ freezin’ and I can’t get warm.”
Ennis could feel Jack shivering, and rubbed his arms, trying to warm him with his own body heat. Then suddenly, “I’m sorry, Jack, sorry for all of it.”
“Sorry for what?” Jack mumbled, his head buried in Ennis’s chest.
“For makin’ you go campin’ all those times, in the fuckin’ cold. You used ta shiver like this and could never get warm.”
“Ya don’t need ta apologize, En. It was a long time ago.”
“Yeah, but you’d get cold, yer muscles would ache. I never appreciated how busted up you were from rodeoin’ til we got here ta Quanah. I’d make ya sleep on the ground in the snow and rain…what a fuck up I was.”


aaahhh,  sweet Ennis just warms my heart.   ;) 
"The room stank of semen and smoke and sweat and whiskey, of old carpet and sour hay, saddle leather, shit and cheap soap.  Ennis lay spread-eagled, spent and wet, breathing deep, still half tumescent, Jack blowing forceful cigarette clouds like whale spouts..." – Annie Proulx

Offline coffeecat33

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Re: The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!
« Reply #9 on: January 31, 2007, 11:39:11 pm »

White
It was the silence that woke him. It was the light permeating the tent walls that woke him. It was the cold that woke him. He sat up, shivered like a man with malaria, his teeth clacking loudly. He gathered a blanket around himself for warmth but it didn’t help. He jammed his feet into his boots; they felt like two blocks of ice. He staggered outside. The white was so bright it blinded him. He ran through the knee-deep snow. Everything familiar was covered in white. He ran in circles, trying to get his bearings. He was in the same place as when he lay down to sleep but different. White. His breath came out in puffy white clouds. He could hear how ragged his breathing was.

He thought the world had come to an end. He felt he was missing a vital part of himself. Something was missing. He looked around the white world trying to find it but it wasn’t there.

The sun came out but it was a cold white sun in a blue-white sky. It was time to go back down the mountain. He folded up the tent. The horse had wandered away looking for green grass. Ennis found the horse, loaded the gear and headed down the mountain.