Welcome to July! The mid-month of the northern hemisphere summer (based on the traditional school calendar that still has a hold on so many of our schedules). This year, July also happens to be sandwiched in between two 5-Saturday months. Which means, here at ck’s days, it is in the middle of two 5-part short stories. And if you have been a reader of this little blog for a minute or two, you know I write short stories during the 5-Saturday months and you probably also picked up on the fact that when they are so close together like this, I tend to combine the stories into a 10-part short story. Much like that last sentence, the stories tend to get stretched a little thin. But I digress, let’s talk about last month’s short story first.
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Plan B: Chapter V
Chapter V: Plan C
Lizzie took a deep breath when she heard the back door open. Her talk with Matt had helped her immensely to calm down enough to think rationally. And then screaming at a train with him had drained her reserve. She was exhausted but restless. All she wanted was to climb into bed and make this day end but she knew it wasn’t over quite yet. She still needed to talk to her dad and he was just coming home.
Chuck walked in slowly and saw her sitting at the kitchen table. He nodded his head and sat down opposite her. Neither of them spoke and they could not make eye contact with each other.
“How’s Sharon?” she asked finally.
Continue readingPlan B: Chapter IV
Chapter IV: Good News/Bad News
Lizzie rested her forehead on her steering wheel. She couldn’t move. Her car was parked downtown facing the train tracks and she needed a train to come by. A big, loud train that would drown out the scream that was inside of her needing to get out. This is how she took care of overwhelming problems in high school. The fact that the last time she remembered coming to this exact spot was when her mom passed away was not lost on her.
Continue readingPlan B: Chapter III
Chapter III Movie Club
Lizzie stood outside the library door Friday night wondering how this could possibly be her life now. Instead of a hip New York club she was waiting for someone to open the library, the li-bra-ry door of all places. On a Friday night. “Someone sure hates me,” she said and glanced upward. As soon as she did though, the thought occurred to her if she was still back in New York she would probably be working and still wouldn’t be at a hip New York club unless she was waitressing there. “Fine,” she mumbled to no one in particular. “I get it, I get it.”
Continue readingPlan B: Chapter II
Chapter II: Home
Lizzie stepped off the bus and looked around. How was it possible that the small chunk of town she could see looked simultaneously different and yet the same? It was the same place she could remember growing up but with subtle changes. A Wal-Mart inhabited the old Kmart building. A Jimmy Johns was where the old A & W building used to be but that building was gone and a new one stood in its place. Some kind of boutique was where Hallmark used to be. But main street was still the same road. Probably the same potholes, she thought to herself. Although the traffic light itself seemed to be updated to the latest standards. It all felt slightly unfamiliar yet familiar enough she knew where she was. The place she never expected to come back to live.
“Is that my Lizzie?” she heard a voice behind her ask. Charles Carter was not a small man and his booming voice matched his physique.
Continue readingSongbird: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy B. Chapter V
CHAPTER V: VH1 Behind the Music
“Is your homework done?” Amanda asked her daughter Millie even though she knew the answer.
“I am just getting to it,” Millie replied rolling off the futon.
“I bet,” her mother said and picked up the remote. “Let’s get rid of the distractions, shall we?” she aimed it at the television but stopped before turning it off.
“Whatever happened to Jimmy B.?” the unseen announcer in the television show asked. “This is VH1 and you are watching Behind the Music, stay tuned.”
Amanda sat down on the futon.
“Mom?” Millie asked. “What are you doing?”
“I loved Jimmy B.!” she said. “You know, he was my very first concert.” She looked at her daughter. “I was probably about your age.”
Continue readingSongbird: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy B. Chapter I
CHAPTER I: School
James Bernard Peternelli sat in the chair quietly. Just as his mother instructed him to do. Of course, everything James Bernard did was donequietly. That is why he was sitting outside the junior high school’s principal’s office. He could hear his mother’s raised voice as she spoke with the principal and guidance counselor. Did he understand the meeting concerned his fate at the school? The school officials didn’t think so but his mother certainly did. That was why the two of them were at the school. His mother was determined to prove he had every right to be taught in the public school.
Continue readingStory behind the Post: The Christmas Dinner
December was a 5-Saturday month which meant another 5-part short story on my little blog. The premise of the story came to me in the form of a Chevy commercial. I had been toying with a similar idea for some time that never materialized. But after watching the ad on social media, my own thought began to sprout.
Continue readingThe Christmas Dinner: Chapter III
Chapter III
Amy brushed her hair while looking in the mirror above the dresser. “You sure you’re up for this tomorrow?” she asked.
“Of course,” Stewart said while lying on their bed. “A big old family Christmas is what Christmas is all about.” His words came out but he sounded congested.
She looked at him. “You sound horrible.”
Continue readingThe Christmas Dinner: Chapter II
Chapter II
Amy stood at the kitchen sink washing dishes. She watched the gentle snow fall outside. In a few short hours, the house would be filled with family gathering for Christmas Eve dinner and there was plenty that still needed to be done. But she couldn’t bring herself to work on the meal. Somehow, she had managed to get the turkey in the oven but that was all her energy level allowed. It was all she could do to hold back tears as she thought of her conversation with her husband last night.
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