Author Topic: Snippets from The  (Read 5862 times)

Offline Front-Ranger

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Snippets from The
« on: December 14, 2008, 01:48:49 pm »
I don't write much fiction...but every once in a while I add to two novels-in-progress I started over a year ago. One is called A Boy and His Truck. So far, it has neither a boy nor a truck in it. The other novel is called The. It is about a male named The and a female named A, in part. Here is a snippet:

The was in a snit. Day had dawned clear, cool, and breezy. The woke weary from night’s thrashings. Sun was already high, sky was already turning hazy. Angry for missing dawn, The shuffled through sand down to water’s edge and doused his face with splashes. He then hugged his midsection, gripped by cramps no doubt brought on by rancid meat he consumed yesterday…or was it two days ago? Blur of days gone by vexed him, and his spirits fell a notch.

He staggered to a driftwood snag and his belly clutched up, spasms sending ribbons of chunky mucus over wet sand. Weakened, The dropped down and kicked sand angrily over, bent and snatched at a patch of rice grass, chewed it to quell sour taste. But it didn’t help. A cloud threw a shadow and a breeze kicked up.

When had he eaten last? The’s brow throbbed as he searched his memory, but dreams from last night interfered with thoughts and rendered it all a jumble. A shell fragment beckoned to him, and he grabbed it and gashed a line in soft gray deadwood. There. He would return here each day and master time. He dragged his time log to a safe spot in among trees, out of reach of waves and pecking birds.
« Last Edit: December 14, 2008, 04:48:36 pm by Front-Ranger »
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline LauraGigs

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Re: Snippets from The
« Reply #1 on: December 14, 2008, 03:07:00 pm »
Oh that's cool, Lee!  It moves like film imagery, to me.  Very crisp.

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Snippets from The
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2008, 07:39:23 pm »
Why thank you Laura. Part of the reason it's crisp is because...well, I'll let readers guess. Here's another snippet:

Suddenly exhausted, The flopped down half in, half out of water and was lulled by ebb and flow until he felt a cool shadow fall over his back and neck. Listening intently, he froze, even stopped breathing. There was no animal smell or sound. He braced himself for an attack but when it didn’t come he slowly rolled over, squinting up at a dark figure silhouetted in blinding sunlight. He looked down at her hands and saw they were empty, which made him both relieved and disappointed. He saw her small brown breasts and her long neck shrouded in long shreds of brown hair. Her face was too shadowed to see except for her hawklike eyes staring at him intently. A rough brown tunic was draped over her hips, in shreds like her hair. After a long minute, she stepped back, revealing long brown toes frosted with sand, and stepped back again, and then, she was gone.

Had he slept and dreamed this woman into life? The frowned against oppressive sun shockwaves and fought urges to fall asleep again. Sighing, he hauled himself into a crouch and staggered for shade, to where his time log sulked. Still only one mark on it. Day stretched on endlessly, punctuated by the cool woman’s shadow. But that was how they all were. Only danger or hunger made an exclamation point in any of his days.

He remembered first danger, when his father sailed away and never returned. He remembered again when his mother was taken away with his brother, how he hid in a beach cave formed by half-submerged rotting logs. How he survived on grubs found in their crumbling bark.
"chewing gum and duct tape"