Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Entry #46

“Thirty Years of Marriage”
by Anna Hood


An old Dodge pickup huffed along the ribbon of melted blacktop that is Highway 1A, the driver, Pete Gonzales, groaning, cursing the busted AC, shifting his ass from side to side, vinyl sticking to his aching back.

“Gettin’ too old for this shit.” He must have lugged ten tons of concrete blocks up a ladder that day.

Pete was hoping his old lady wasn’t having a bad day. He loved her, God knows they’d been married thirty years, but she always got a little testy with the heat. He couldn’t blame her, he was a bit snarly himself, but just once he’d just like to go home, have a cold one, kick his boots off. Chill.

She met him at the door. “Sorry,” said she. “Another damn bill collector. I tried Pete, really, but he just kept pounding and pounding so I finally had to let him in.” She started to cry. “I know you work so hard and then you have to come home to this.”

He took her into his sweaty embrace, stroked her hair, “Never mind,’ he said, “this heat’s enough to drive anybody nuts. Where is he?”

“The porch.”

Hand in hand they walked to the porch. Each grabbed a bill collector leg. “Let’s leave him in the garage; we’ll bury him later when it’s cooler,” she said. “Tomorrow I promise, I’ll try harder.”

“You’re doing great Babe. I’m proud of ya. Just think, only one today. Damn heat does it to everybody.”

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

HAHAHAHA. Can't help but love the characters. Sort of an updated, weird version of Arsenic and Old Lace.

anna said...

Hi K L
thanks for reading my silly little story. I have tried to post something to your poem. It is great! full of imagery and mystery. Next time I shall send a poem -- if i can ever figure this place out

Jaye Wells said...

This was wonderful. Dark but endearing.

anna said...

Thanks Jaye for taking the time to read and especially for the comment
Appeciate it! Now if I can ever find my way I would love to read your piece and respond
anna

Anonymous said...

I like this a lot.

Jade L Blackwater said...

This is just beautiful! Thank you so much for my first good laugh of the day - I can seriously identify with these characters!

anna said...

thanks so much for the response!
It's a fun piece

HELP!! can anybody tell me where
to find a list of posted stories?

Anonymous said...

Anna, click on the archives link on the right for June 2006. That'll pull everything up.

Fun story!

Anonymous said...

Anna,

This is amazing! I never expected the ending. Your characterization is wonderfully written, and in so few words, I felt as if I knew them intimately. Excellent writing!

anna said...

Hey Jim, thanks so much
will try!! thanks for reading
Jas you too! i'll be damned if I can figure out how to send a thanks
to somebody back in the line

anna said...

Jim, If you are out there - dear lord! - I can't find any archives
button. I know I saw one somewhere
but sure can't figure out how to get there. Terrible for everybody
to see how dumb I am LOL

Anonymous said...

Anna, if you click the title of the blog at the top of the page, it will take you to the most recent post. On that page, you'll see an index of everyone's entries. Enjoy!

Scott said...

Hey Anna, this was really cute.

anna said...

Hey Scott! thanks for reading and
taking the time to comment.

cesarcarlos said...

Talk about those busy days when the temperature just doesn't help. And yet your story was... very cool. :p

Anonymous said...

Ahahaha. Your characters are fabulous. Loved it.

Lisa Jordan said...

Now that's love, pure and simple. lol. nice twist at the end.

Anonymous said...

Anna, deliciously dark story! I really liked the premise.

Great feel in the narrative flow. The mix of dialog and description were very well done. High marks in pacing, entertainment, and storytelling.