Jillian Chantal

I wrote a 1500 or so Young Adult short story for this week’s word prompt of EVERGREEN. The sentence came to me when I read the prompt but I didn’t have a story to put it in so I made one. It’s only going to be a short story and I’ll share the whole thing later in the month. Here’s the link to the other stories.

The girl kept swinging as he approached the set of six swings hanging from the tall metal frame. He glanced around the park. They were the only people in the vicinity. Thornton stood beside the metal bar closest to the swing she was in and shading his eyes from the sun that was now a bit higher in the sky and blocking his view, he tried to get a good look at her. She seemed to have on the same skirt she’d worn the week before and it fluttered and snapped in the crisp October air.

She appeared to notice him and slowed the pumping action of her legs to allow the swing to come to a stop.

As soon as the swing was still, Thornton approached her. She smiled at his out-stretched hand. “I’m Thornton Flannery. I saw you last week—”

She paled and shook her head.

“It’s all right. I don’t want to hurt you.”

She seemed so scared, he wanted to comfort her and let her know that he meant her no harm. He pulled out the package of gum and holding it out to her said, “Evergreen”—he smiled at his own nervousness—“I mean wintergreen—gum?”

She shook her head again and shuffled her feet in the dirt.

Concerned that maybe she was mute and unable to speak to him, he asked, “Can I help you communicate? Can you understand me?”

The girl’s smile was sad but she still didn’t say a word.

I took some time off from blogging/writing because I had the trial from hell at the day job and was so tired when I got home, I couldn’t move but that is over and I’ve heaved a huge sigh of relief. I finished the train story before the gear up to the trial but I still have to get back to it and polish it and I haven’t started anything new yet.

Here’s the link to the other posts for the week

This week’s word for Tuesday Tales is HARD, ROUGH, and DIRTY. It’s actually a challenge to have hard, rough and dirty all in one sentence but I couldn’t do it so I’m cheating by using three sentences especially since this is not a new work.

Since I’ve had a hard time focusing lately, I actually found an old little piece I wrote for a friend last March. We were at a scrapbooking event in Atlanta and when I needed a break from cutting and pasting, I jotted this short tale down for her for a fun diversion. Her nickname is Margarita Margie and her husband’s nickname is St. Christopher. She also doesn’t like salt or sugar on the rim of her glass. I thought this was a fun tribute to her and she said I got their relationship totally down. Hope you like it.

Margie’s Story:

Christopher turned to his best friend, Jacob and whispered. “See that woman over there? I’m going to marry her someday.” He nodded toward the woman seated at the bar in the Agave Gecko Cantina with her back to them.

“Marry her? You don’t even know her. What makes you think she would even look at you twice? Jacob picked at the label on his bottle of beer.

“Because I’m handsome and devilish. What woman could resist that?”

“And you don’t have a huge ego either, do you?”

In response, Christopher shoved his chair back from the table. He strode over to the bar and stopped beside the blonde woman. He tapped on the wooden counter. “Whatcha drinking, beautiful?”

The woman glanced up. “Let’s see. That’s a hard one, isn’t it? I’m in a cantina called the Agave Gecko. It’s a cantina and I have a glass in front of me with a pale green drink. Can you take a wild guess what I’m drinking, smart boy?”

“There’s nothing on the rim. Looks like a margarita but there’s no salt or sugar on the edge.” He ran his index finger across the condensation on the side of her glass.

“Call me crazy but I like my drinks pure and unadulterated.” She picked up her cocktail and moved it out of his reach. “Almost as much as I like my drinks free from strange men’s dirty, grubby paws.”

Christopher snapped his fingers at the waiter. “Bring the lady another margarita, nothing on the rim.”

The bartender poured another drink and placed it in front of the woman. He said, “Is this guy getting rough with you? Want me to get the bouncer to heave him out into the snow, Margie?”

“Ooh, so Margie is your name?” Christopher said at the same time as Margie answered the bartender.

“No. Let him stay.” She looked up at Christopher. “You might as well sit down if you’re going to be buying my drinks.”