The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!

[cwby30]

Childress, Texas June, 1989

Part 4

Most of the lights were off, the help gone home, the bride and groom on their way to Dallas and then St. Thomas. Only family remained in the large hall. They sat at the one magenta tablecloth-covered table midst a sea of cleared brown tables, 10 chairs, 8 occupied, some sipping the last of the champagne, ties undone, corsages and boutonnieres somewhat the worse for wear, 8 pairs of eyes looking at the dance floor where one couple slowly swayed, arms around each other, cheek to cheek, keeping time to the music after the deejay called "last dance, ya'll."

After you, who
Could supply my sky of blue?
After you, who
Could I love?
After you, why
Should I take the time to try,
For who else could qualify
After you, who?
Hold my hand and swear
You'll never cease to care,
For without you there what could I do?
I could search years
But who else could change my tears
Into laughter after you?*


1, 2, 3, 4.

*Cole Porter, from The Gay Divorce [no meaning intended from the source!] [modified 07/24/07]

[Clyde-B]

       “Don’t go gettin trigger-happy, I got a wife and kids.”
      The rider aimed at the mechanic.  “Want me a do em a favor?”  A trigger squeeze, a sharp report, the tarmac exploded between his boots.
      “Holy Shit!”  The mechanic recoiled, grabbed Ugly, dragged him hobbling towards the towtruck.  The stocky one roared off in that rustbucket jalopy he called a pickup.
 
      She paced the hospital room.  He looked frail laying in that web of wires and plastic tubing, hooked up to God knows what kind of new fangled contraptions that breathed and blinked.  Outside, the magenta western twilight was fading.


      100 words

[Clyde-B]

Hey Clyde - now that was really good use of those prompts.  Flowed nicely too. 

Merrily

Thanks Merr,

For all your kind comments.

Good to see you back among us! 

[Clyde-B]

A Helping Hand

 
He chuckled to himself and took Junior's hand as they left the post office, imagining the look on Jack's face when he received his postcard written in a pink crayon. 

What a cute idea!   
Love to see the look on Jack's face too!

  The curtains were a dusty, faded magenta color; the carpet was threadbare and had cigarette burns in several places.  The room smelled of mothballs and bleach and whiskey and sex. 
 

I think I stayed at this motel! 

   "Yes maam we sure did.  We surely did."  He remarked with a bit of a smile and a remembered summer he could not relate, but it kept him fairly warmed inside.  "Yes we did, and thats an fact."  but he couldn't tell her about that.  nope that was just for him.  An Jack.
     

Janice, sweet. 

   His arms and legs were still mixed up with Tom’s.   
 

Marl, Great way to wake up!
I'm glad Ennis isn't alone.

 8 pairs of eyes looking at the dance floor where one couple slowly swayed, arms around each other, cheek to cheek, keeping time to the music after the deejay called "last dance, ya'll."

1, 2, 3, 4.

cwby30,
You can see him counting!   

[Cameron]

Thank you for your kind words,  Merrily, Marie, Cowboy and Clyde.

Great drabbles today Marie, Janice, Cowboy and Clyde!!

M, always wonderful when you drabble!!!

[MaineWriter]

Hey drabblers!

For today, let's try:

• a gallon of gas
• a gallon of milk
• a gallon of paint

L

[mariez]

. . . . where one couple slowly swayed, arms around each other, cheek to cheek, keeping time to the music after the deejay called "last dance, ya'll."

1, 2, 3, 4.

Thanks for this happy drabble story, cowboy.  Nicely done. 

       “Don’t go gettin trigger-happy, I got a wife and kids.”
      The rider aimed at the mechanic.  “Want me a do em a favor?”  A trigger squeeze, a sharp report, the tarmac exploded between his boots.
      “Holy Shit!”  The mechanic recoiled, grabbed Ugly, dragged him hobbling towards the towtruck.  The stocky one roared off in that rustbucket jalopy he called a pickup.
 
      She paced the hospital room.  He looked frail laying in that web of wires and plastic tubing, hooked up to God knows what kind of new fangled contraptions that breathed and blinked.  Outside, the magenta western twilight was fading.

      100 words

"Holy Shit" is right, Clyde.  Love that rider....but I'm still worried. 

Marie

[mariez]

Summer of '74

Ennis's heart sank as he drove by the gas station and spotted the sign. Goddamn.  53 cents a gallon?   Could've sworn it was 30-something just a few days ago.  He bit his thumbnail as he thought of the six singles and loose change in his pocket and tried to do some quick figuring.  He'd need to fill up before he left Friday ……fuckin' truck was leakin' oil like a sieve….what was that gonna cost?.....  He cringed at the idea of asking Jimmy for more credit, but it couldn't be helped.  He was leaving early Friday come hell or high water.

~~~~~~~
100 Words

[mariez]

You guys are so quick I can't keep up with you! .... And so talented .... they're all wonderful stories!.  I'm having so much fun reading all of them.

Susie

Nice to see you, Susie!  Wow - now you have an awesome "Ennis" montage - love it.   

Marie

[Cameron]

The Decision

He drove alone on the road.  He drove for miles and miles and miles.  He drove all day and though the dark night.  But he had to know, he had to find out.

He drove through endless empty fields, and lonely old towns.  He drove over hills and by the mountains.  He drove past farms and acres of corn and wheat, dancing in the never ceasing wind.  He drove through some larger towns, and saw people walking about, absorbed in their own mysteries.

He drove and drove, stopping only for a few gallons of gas.  He didn’t stop to eat, he didn’t stop to sleep.  He didn’t even pause to hear his thoughts, or to listen to the spirits, always speaking to him.

He drove and drove, until he reached the fork in the road.  Then he stopped, and stayed there for a long time.  He didn’t know which way to go.  He waited there, waited to be told which way to go.  But the spirits had gone silent.  He now had to decide on his own.