The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!

[Clyde-B]

     Wylie sighed, poured two shots, downed one.  He talked about the loneliness of Lightning Flat, about college, sex, drugs, the nothingness of it all.  Trudy had latched on to him.  It wasn’t what he wanted, but it was comfortable. 
     He didn’t want his biography filled with an eternity of days spent alone.  He’d rather be ranching, changing shitty diapers, wiping snotty noses, tiny hands sticky with grape juice.
     Ennis smiled.  If he’d done anything good in this hardscrabble life, it was Jenny and Junior.
     “There more to love than that, Ennis?  Not for guys like us.”
     Ennis thought of Jack.


     100 words

[mariez]

     Wylie sighed, poured two shots, downed one.  He talked about the loneliness of Lightning Flat, about college, sex, drugs, the nothingness of it all.  Trudy had latched on to him.  It wasn’t what he wanted, but it was comfortable. 
     He didn’t want his biography filled with an eternity of days spent alone.  He’d rather be ranching, changing shitty diapers, wiping snotty noses, tiny hands sticky with grape juice.
     Ennis smiled.  If he’d done anything good in this hardscrabble life, it was Jenny and Junior.
     “There more to love than that, Ennis?  Not for guys like us.”
     Ennis thought of Jack.

"Guys like us" - not "boys like you."  Excellent, Clyde. 

Marie

[mariez]

Happy Friday    Let's try:

• carefree
• erode/erosion
• subtle

Marie

[Cameron]

(Maybe part of ‘The Journey”, if it does go on….)

On the Beach

Ennis stood at the edge of the water, he watched the waves roll in.  He watched the sand being carried away.  The children were still running and laughing, their lives were so carefree.  He looked out to the water, still glittering in the setting sun. 

He didn’t understand at all.  He thought it had been all over.  He thought Jack was gone.  Yet, he had come back to him.  He had spoken to him, he had touched him.  Ennis walked over to the rocks jutting out into the water.  He climbed to the top of the rocks.  The water lapped and danced against them, slowly eroding them away.  He looked back at the sand.  The people were leaving as the darkness fell. 

Soon he was the only one left.  The wind was swirling, speaking to him in its subtle way.  He looked to the water, then he turned to begin to go.  But off in the distance, a figure was approaching, slowly walking closer and closer to him.  Ennis stopped, and watched, and waited.

[cwby30]

Afternoon, Marl.

Well, felt like I was at the beach with Ennis, could feel the wind coming up and the light going down, and felt a shiver at seeing the figure walking towards us.  It fits right into The Journey. 

And, none of this "if it does go on" business, please!!!!      You've started a wonderful story, and I for one encourage you to keep on writing and let it flow through you to us. 

Have a great weekend. Maybe spend a few hours and have a picnic at the seashore, if it's near enough. 

Thanks again. 

[mariez]

.....  The wind was swirling, speaking to him in its subtle way.  He looked to the water, then he turned to begin to go.  But off in the distance, a figure was approaching, slowly walking closer and closer to him.  Ennis stopped, and watched, and waited.

I really like the way you worded this.  And I'm with cwby - what's with this "if"?  You can't leave us hanging!   

Marie

[mariez]

A Final Twist

October 5, 1962

The highlight of the night for the unmarried girls, Alma was smiling as she was pushed toward the teeming apple bushels. She carefully selected her apple and grasped it in one hand as she turned the stem with the other, the gaggle of girls chanting along with her … A… B…C… D… one final twist, and E!…. she was holding the stem triumphantly amidst the laughter and applause.

Ennis stood awkwardly in the corner among the other boys, but apart from their carefree banter, watching with the sense of inevitability he had long ago accepted as his lot in life.

~~~~~~~
100 Words

[Clyde-B]

     Smoking, drinking, becoming buddies is a ritual as ancient and popular as booze itself. 

     With its questions:   
     “Ennis, how come you never come up a Lightnin Flat with Jack?”

     Its confessions: 
     “On that cliff, holdin Jack’s ashes, I thought... if I just take one more step, it’s over.”
     “But, you didn’t.”
     “No, couldn’t do it.”

     Its regrets: 
     “Uncle John called him just a dreamer, but Jack got out a Lightnin Flat.  Tried for his dreams.”
     “How bout you?”

      And its hopes: 
     “Here’s to Jack’s whiskey spring.”
     “And his damn bluebirds.”

     The circle of warmth growing, the distance between them fading.


     100 words

[MaineWriter]

Hello everyone,

For today:

• rubber ducky
• pennant race
• Colt 45 Malt liquor

Have fun!

L

[fernly]

from 9/28 and 10/4
I just can't seem to drabble promptly... (sorry, couldn't resist )
but at least it's 100 words this time


Neglect/Essential

“Neglect....peril....soul....essential.”  The minister droned on and on, and Ennis' head tipped further and further forward. Alma pressed her fingers into his arm, whispering, (though he would have called it hissing if he'd let himself think about it) “Ennis, listen,” and he jerked back up, clenched his hands together. Maybe would have looked to someone glancing over like he was praying, unless they looked longer, saw the rough knuckles wrench and torque, one hand against the other, or looked closer, saw some of the scrapes and cuts from the week's work break open and begin to slowly bleed.