March 2, 2012
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fire
bluemooncat enormous thing. (really) short story using the words: virgin, stone, trombone, attendance, pretzels, rusting, camp fire.
Tired. Tired of goldfish and pretzels. Tired of playgroups and PTO meetings. Tired of constant attendance on every word in a small voice. Tired of the brain rusting like an old car in a junkyard.
Emma took the latest Sandra Brown crime novel and a glass of red into the back yard. She put these items in the Adirondack chair. Stacking twigs and entwining newspapers, she set a camp fire. The fire blazed hot and high, protected by the stone circle. As she stared into the fire, Emma knew.
She went back into the house for a few items: the multitude of child-rearing how-to books crowding her bookshelf and a notebook. Her child-centered existence she ripped page by page and tossed into the purging fire. Page by page, she reclaimed her life. The ashes sunk to the ground.
The sparks filled her eyes- purpose and dream and desire and creativity. She opened the virgin notebook and began writing.
The neighbor girl practiced her trombone.
Comments (32)
I like this. Imma gonna build me a fire in a stone circle and make my sacrifices. I’ve already got the red in hand. LOL!
@songoftheheart - but what are you going to sacrifice?
No sacrificing the neighbor children, no matter how loudly they play. There’s laws. :)
She went back into the house for a few items: the multitude of child-rearing how-to books crowding her bookshelf and a notebook. Her child-centered existence she ripped page by page and tossed into the purging fire. Page by page, she reclaimed her life. The ashes sunk to the ground.
Fantastic paragraph here…
@vexations - really? thanks.
@gayXianmom - she plays really well. for the trombone.
mmm, sure
I love this. it’s good flash fiction. conflict crisis resolution all in a tiny story. and i love the end, I can see it in my mind.
pretty cool little layout of a story, c. ~ The neighbor girl practiced her trombone. ~ gotta remember that, it goes in the burnt orange and navy blue one. ; )
@be_the_rain - 3 trombonists in one block since we’ve lived here. doesn’t that seem odd to you? who the heck plays the trombone?
@anvilsandedelweiss - thanks!! why did you pick trombone anyhow?
@promisesunshine - I honestly just pick strings of words that come to me in any random moment. I like to see how they get used, lol.
@anvilsandedelweiss - you take random to new heights. just saying.
nice nice nice. I really like this, Carrie!
@plantinthewindow - tanks.
recognize your fire festival?
great work
@godfatherofgreenbay - thank you.
I like it, it feels real to me. So much in so few words. I am terrible at short stories. Brevity is not my talent. This, I like.
@leaflesstree - and i thought it was ridiculously short and couldn’t figure out how to make it longer.
how was the trombone playin, anyhow ???
I’m pretty much on board for any kind of pyromania. Good story. You’d get more from me if I’d finished my coffee first.
@distractedbyzombies - i hear that. both the pyromania and the coffee. my cup is empty.
@roscoes_farm - she’s great, of course. everything my neighbors do is perfect.
ahahahahahaha…EXCELLENT! You know *I* like this. I have an entire shelf of books devoted to telling me how to be a better parent. I don’t want to burn them, though. I’d rather drown them.
@ordinarybutloud - water. fire. it’s all cleansing.
shoot. i could make paper from old books. WHAT was i thinking?
oh. i’m assuming you meant the books….
@promisesunshine - uh, yeah. YEAH, definitely referring to the books.
Gonna have to play firefight Halo in a few minutes. Yayay!
@ordinarybutloud - sure. firefight Halo. i know what that is. not. but have fun.
@promisesunshine - you can Google it. That’s what I do. There are 5 billion Youtube videos of teenaged and post-adolescent men playing Halo. It would be fascinating if it wasn’t part of my immediate Saturday schedule.
@ordinarybutloud - oh, i will. i am the google queen. never know what the heck anyone is talking about.
@promisesunshine - I think you can’t be the google queen, because I am the google queen. I think you can only be a regional google overlord, as I must be also. In which case, we should think about finding the google queen.
@ordinarybutloud - where does one look for the google queen? and what happens to a regional google overlord when she oversteps her boundaries and searches for the queen? and why is this giving me an idea for a story? (that i will never write)
@promisesunshine - in the google castle, of course.
That really is short, but everything that needs to be said is said. And not only said, but said powerfully.
@onestepcloserto_perfection - i have a brevity thing going on. i think i’m afraid.
@promisesunshine - There is nothing wrong with brevity as long as everything gets in there.