The two-day beard in the passenger seat smacks the driver on the back of his head.
“What the hell was that for?”
Two-day Beard crosses his arms. “The rabbit, you jackass.”
“I missed him.”
“He ran.”
The driver frowns. “When’d you go soft?”
“Shut up.”
“’fraid it was the Easter Bunny?” The driver laughs. “Like you was ever good enough for the Easter Bunny to leave a basket, right?”
Two-day Beard lifts the pistol from his lap. “I just don’t like nobody killing something what never hurt ‘em, is all.”
Another rabbit skirts into the road. The driver’s foot drops on the accelerator. For a moment, the headlights have the furry thing trapped, but it vanishes into the grass as the car passes. The driver laughs again, opening his mouth with the laughter.
“Fuck you,” mutters Two-day Beard.
The car slides between a few more trees and skids to a halt at the edge of the lake. Both men climb out and slam their doors in near synchronicity. The driver jiggles the keys on his way to the trunk. He inserts the key and clicks the trunk open.
“The truth about rabbits, buddy,” he says, “is that they’re just rats with long legs. Like our friend here.” He nods to the trunk.
Two-day Beard scowls as he puts his hands under the body’s arms. “You gonna help with this guy, or write poetry?”
___________
If nonfiction is your "thing", I have a short piece up at Flash Fiction Chronicles about my road to loving flash.
Next week, I'll be writing a piece of flash based on a title submitted in the comments to this post, ala Name Your Tale . (Check out the site...crazy...they write 100 word stories based on reader submitted titles.) I won't promise it will be any good or exactly 100 words, but I will throw something together from a randomly selected title from those added to the comments below. C'mon. Have fun.
11 comments:
Love the hardboiled edge. Well done. In terms of titles . . . got nuthin. Hard pressed to title my own stuff.
On the other hand, having just typed it and read the above . . . I'll go with "Hard Pressed."
Hey, loved the piece of flash.
In light of the story, I'll pull a line out for a title...
"Rats With Long Legs"
As important as they are, titles really aren’t my thing; they either come to me in a flash or don’t come at all and I settle for something inane.
So, off the top of my head: Flaw Plan.
...the wheels are already turning...I might have ideas for the next two months.
Nice article, Aaron.
My title... "Vintage Sunshine".
My title suggestion: "How Many Times Do I Have To Tell You That The Dog Ate My Homework, Madonna Spit In My Face, And Aliens Abducted Me Three Times But Only Probed Me Once?"
Now have fun with THAT ;-)
Nice Cate.
Robert...I think that is a piece of flash all in itself.
I like to think the driver will one day die at the hands (paws?) of rabbits.
I agree with Nat, and I love Cate's title pretty hard.
That was a really fun flash bit, and highlights the point you made in your article. I absolutely love flash for the same reason, and I think that's why I find it so scary to write, but so awesome to read. (Like poetry!)
I LOVE the next to last line. That worked perfectly.
I missed this on Friday! I'm glad I remembered to pop by and read it. Lots of fun. :)
No one wants me to title anything. I can't even come up with decent titles for my own stories.
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