The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!

[mariez]

A picture really is worth a thousand words - and in this case the picture is worth a thousand or more sad, frustrating, heartbreaking words.  Yes, Alma, it was always Jack.  Really, really fine writing there, Leslie.

Thanks.

Marie

[southendmd]

Nice, Leslie.  Really expresses who Alma is:  sad, yet determined. 

Love the "lost portrait".

[ifyoucantfixit]

    "Well Ennis it is my considered opinion,  the ranch won't last out the year."  "The price
of beef has been dropping for the last two years."  "I really don't think it is going to
change much in the forseeable future."  "I have tried to  stick it out, but it isn't
getting any better, at all."  " I am looking at a potentially embarressing bankruptcy here." 
"Rather than have it come to that, im getting out while i can still look folks in the eye."
    Ennis left Stoddamiers office, with a not surprised, but resigned look..He had expected
it.  It had been coming for some time now.  He figured it was the last of his old life.  He
didn't have his job anymore, he didn't have, Jack no more...he looked at the long low,
rolling hills leading to the high mountains, and wondered what could this life hold anymore.
Was there anything at all that might give him a reason to get up tomorrow...?

[mariez]

Aww, Janice, that made me want to jump into your drabble and give Ennis a hug - but the saddest part is I don't know what I'd say to him.

Thanks - Marie

[MaineWriter]

A second one from me today...that picture really hit home! Please notice the date. We have a little bookend thing going on here.


July 15, 1976
Quanah, TX

Ennis opened the drawer, reaching for a clean tee shirt, then paused, and picked up the stack of snapshots that lay on the top of the dresser. These were the pictures they took when they finished painting: lots of pictures of the house, to show Hal;  Ennis in shorts, Jack smiling. At the bottom of the stack were a few of the two of them, taken by Tom Lawrence—standing, sitting, Ennis with his arm around Jack’s shoulders.

Ennis picked up one of the pictures of him alone, studying it carefully. He realized he had rarely seen himself in a photo. He looked at it, trying to be dispassionate…thinking of it not as himself, but some other man. He took in the long legs and happy grin, the blond hair. The picture was too small to see his eyes but Ennis lifted his face and looked in the mirror, gazing at his brown eyes, thinking of Alma’s brown eyes, so different from Jack’s.

His mind wandered to the memory of his wedding picture that had hung in the living room throughout his marriage. “I hated that picture,” he thought. “I looked like I was goin’ ta my execution.” He idly wondered what had ever come of it…it had disappeared off the wall after the divorce. He didn’t really care…he never wanted to see it again.

Ennis sorted through the rest of the pictures, pausing at the one of him and Jack on the steps. He looked at their open smiles to each other, his arm around Jack. “This is a more fittin’ weddin’ picture,” he thought, tucking it in the frame of the mirror.

(281 words)

[Brokeback_Dev]

nice drabble leslie

the first drabble from july 15 1976 was so sad

this one makes me smile

[ifyoucantfixit]

     " Jack, have you gotten enough to eat?"  " How did you like those
pickes."  "They had a very unique taste." "What were they?"  "They were
pickled mountain oysters."  "Mountain oysters, i ain't never, heard  of
piclin mountain oysters Ennis." 
     "Well its a special recipe from Alma's mamma she got it from her
grandma..and her grandma  afore that.." 
     "Well sometimes its better to let them old recipes die, with them
that made em up."

[mariez]

Great to see double-drabbling!

A second one from me today...that picture really hit home! Please notice the date. We have a little bookend thing going on here.


July 15, 1976
Quanah, TX

Ennis opened the drawer, reaching for a clean tee shirt, then paused, and picked up the stack of snapshots that lay on the top of the dresser. These were the pictures they took when they finished painting: lots of pictures of the house, to show Hal;  Ennis in shorts, Jack smiling. At the bottom of the stack were a few of the two of them, taken by Tom Lawrence—standing, sitting, Ennis with his arm around Jack’s shoulders.

Ennis picked up one of the pictures of him alone, studying it carefully. He realized he had rarely seen himself in a photo. He looked at it, trying to be dispassionate…thinking of it not as himself, but some other man. He took in the long legs and happy grin, the blond hair. The picture was too small to see his eyes but Ennis lifted his face and looked in the mirror, gazing at his brown eyes, thinking of Alma’s brown eyes, so different from Jack’s.

His mind wandered to the memory of his wedding picture that had hung in the living room throughout his marriage. “I hated that picture,” he thought. “I looked like I was goin’ ta my execution.” He idly wondered what had ever come of it…it had disappeared off the wall after the divorce. He didn’t really care…he never wanted to see it again.

Ennis sorted through the rest of the pictures, pausing at the one of him and Jack on the steps. He looked at their open smiles to each other, his arm around Jack. “This is a more fittin’ weddin’ picture,” he thought, tucking it in the frame of the mirror.
(281 words)

Yes, that picture really did hit home. You're amazing, Leslie.  Truly. 

     " Jack, have you gotten enough to eat?"  " How did you like those
pickes."  "They had a very unique taste." "What were they?"  "They were
pickled mountain oysters."  "Mountain oysters, i ain't never heard  of
piclin mountain oysters Ennis." 
     "Well its a special recipe from Alma's mamma she got it from her
grandma..and her grandma fore that.." 
     "Well sometimes its better to let them old recipes, die with them
that made em up."

LMAO!!! Yeah, when someone describes a recipe as "unique" you know you're in trouble!   

Thanks again!

Marie

[MaineWriter]

Today's prompts come from our friend, and occasional drabbler, goadra:

• betrayed
• nest
• roses

Leslie

[MaineWriter]

Lazy L Farm
Quanah, TX
August, 1986

Jenny leaned over the fence, rubbing the soft skin of Twister’s nose. “I’m gonna miss you, big guy,” she said softly.

“And he’s gonna miss you too,” said Jack, coming up behind her.

“Oh!” she said, startled. “Uncle Jack! I didn’t hear you comin’.”

He motioned towards the house. “We got the truck all loaded, darlin’, and need ta get goin’ if we’re gonna get ta the airport on time.”

She nodded. “I know…I can’t believe I’m leaving…Part of me doesn’t want ta go.”

“I can understand that, but it’s time, honey…time for the lil bird ta leave the nest.”

“You know, Uncle Jack, that you saved my life. You and Daddy. Without you, I don’t know where I’d be today.”

“Well, yer daddy saved my life, so I guess it’s only right that I return the favor.”

“You were really serious?”

“I was completely serious. I had a gun and a plan. It was yer daddy who…well, you know the story.”

Jenny felt tears gather at the corner of her eyes. “Oh, Uncle Jack, the thought of not having you in my life…”

Jack leaned over and brushed the tears from her cheek with a gentle finger. “Well, I am in yer life and I ain’t goin’ away…even if you are far away at college in Massachusetts. You can just pick up the phone, any time ya want ta talk.”

She slipped her hand into his and turned towards the house. “Thank you, Uncle Jack. That means more ta me than you know.” She fixed her features and gave him a shaky smile. “And now, I s’pose we got ta get goin’.”

“We do, ‘cause you got a plane ta catch. Let’s go, lil bird.”


293 words