Flash fiction exrecise: Part 6

Here it is -- Part 6 of the long-awaited flash fiction exercises series of posts. This is another form 2006. I could have sworn that I had some exercises that were older. Most of my flash fiction -- like all flash fiction -- is typically just one scene. This one is unusual in that it changes locations. I do have the prompt. Here it is.

IT WAS A PLAIN, NOTE SIZED ENVELOPE HAND ADDRESSED WITH A 2 CENT AND A 27 CENT STAMP IN THE RIGHT HAND CORNER. NO RETURN ADDRESS. WHEN HE OPENED IT, HE FELT A CHILL TO THE BONE. BLOCK LETTERED IT SAID "CHECK THE PERSONALS IN THE TIMES TODAY..." HOLY CHRIST! THAT WAS HOW HE USED TO GET HIS ORDERS A LIFETIME AGO....

Not many ways to go other than adventure when you get something like that as a prompt, so that's what I did.

It was in the middle of a stack of envelopes on the kitchen table. Chances are she never saw it. Well, not chances. Guaranteed she didn’t see it. If she had she would have opened it. She would have opened it and it wouldn’t have made any sense, but she would have asked. And after she asked he would have had to make up some story.

Or she could have just thrown it away because it was just an envelope with a block-print J on the front and a slip of paper with “Post 01/12” written on it. She wouldn’t have had any idea what it meant. But to him it said everything and it represented everything that he didn’t want her to know about him. It was his past, a past that he thought he’d left behind. A past that he was embarrassed by and ashamed of and a past that was everything he no longer wanted to be.

----

Everyone, including Boss, thought his request was funny. He’d asked to be let out and everyone chuckled.

“This is a one way door,” he was told. “ You can stumble into this work, lots of people do, but you can’t stumble out.”

That was a no and it’s what he expected. You don’t get out of this line of work, but he had to ask. But then Boss surprised him.

“But I like you. Always have. So I’ll tell you what. If you can disappear then you’re free to leave. Try to just blend in and fade away. We’ll give you a couple of years to do it. Start over. Get yourself a new name and a new life. But know this, if we find that we need you, we’re going to come looking. And when we find you -- and we will -- there’s no running. No trying to get away. Just recognize that we gave you a chance and you blew it. Agreed?”

Two days later his apartment was bare. He’d started over. He wasn’t Joe. He was Craig, part-time college student and construction worker with a small apartment just outside of downtown Dallas. He was eating tacos from the stand across the street and going to movies and shopping at the mall. And he was meeting people, meeting ladies. He was falling in love and getting married and starting a family and graduating from college and forgetting about his dark past.

Forgetting until he saw the envelope with the J on the front and the letter inside. It was how they used to contact him, a confusing ad in the personals that made sense to no one but him. They found him and he knew he couldn’t run.

Flash fiction reboot

I am realizing that I haven't recently posted any of my flash fiction pieces saved on my hard drive lately. I'll try to put another up later tonight. Not sure what's remaining but I know there are a few. I haven't been putting them up in any order so what's left aren't the dregs of the bunch. So something should be coming later this evening.

Wow. A true Lego Maniac

When I was a kid I liked Legos. Fun to play with. Great for really stretching your imagination. I had a friend who used to make the most awesome creations. He would have rooms with trap doors and little switches on one wall that would make something happen on another wall. Like breaking a branch and causing the net to appear from the jungle floor and scoop up whatever bad guy was standing on it. They were really cool and completely impressed the 12-year-old me. Heck, thinking back on it the 35-year-old me is still impressed.

Then I saw these.

I don't know what to say. I don't think that I could do something like that. The amount of detail and brain power needed to create something like that astounds me. Check out the Flickr pics I linked to. Darn impressive.

Missed deadlines

My wife had given me a goal of submitting a story for publication by March. I missed that and by a mile. She reminded me of that this morning. It was a reminder that I needed.

I haven't been good with the writing lately. I've been meaning too. I've been thinking about quite a bit about a couple of stories, but can't seem to find the time to put those ideas on paper. Or, honestly, I can't seem to make myself do it. I have the time. But like I mentioned in one of my first posts, sometimes after dealing with words all day at work, the last thing I want to do is come home and deal with more words. But I know if writing is something I want to do I have to make myself put those ideas on paper.

So, I am promising to myself -- again -- that I'll be better about writing. I'll make sure I finish something and get it prepped for submission. And this time I'll do it with my own deadline. I am giving myself until September. End of September, just to be safe.

I'm back

Hi, blog. Remember me? I'm Jarrett. It's been too long since I've been here. Way too long. Especially if I am trying to make this a regular habit.

Here is an interesting link to make up for my absence. Three things about the moon.

A bit of an indulgence

If you'll permit me, I need a moment to bask in the glow of first place. My Royals, the lowly team in KC that for the longest has had little to shout about, they are in first place. They are getting there thanks in no small part to the arm of a kid who's not yet 25. Zack Greinke has won his first 6 starts of the season and last night he shutout the White Sox, striking out 10 and dropping his ERA to a minuscule 0.40.
I link to Joe Posnanski's blog over there on the right. He's a columnist for the KC Star and one heck of a writer. You don't have to like sports to enjoy reading him. At least I don't think so. He was at the game last night. Here's his report.