Friday, May 1, 2020

IGNORE THIS POST---Formatting garble

IGNORE: WEIRD FORMATTING GARBLE is marring this post.




If I take this post down, the garble appears on the next one.

So, I'll leave it up.


I've reposted the story below in the next post.


IGNORE: WEIRD FORMATTING GARBLE (AT LEAST ON MY LAPTOP) 
is marring this post.

Part III of the weekly drabble (roughly 100-words) fiction, "The Last of Master"


RECAP:

I. Hardy, the dog, eats his dead master (and some rats) and leaves his manor house.

II. A girl finds a wounded dog in a gutter. Deciding he'd be more useful as a rat-hunter than as dog stew, she carries him away.

_______________________

The Last of Master: III

The dog died, and the girl made stew.

That night, wiry hair began sprouting along the girl's spine and fringing her ears. She slept all day, dreaming her nails and teeth were growing hard and sharp.

She woke, her nose twitching.
Did she smell a rat?
With a quick motion, she caught and ate dinner.

“Impressive,” she said, looking at her claws.

“Child’s play,” said the dog. 

“I’d like to register a complaint on behalf of rodents,” said the most recent rat.

The girl scratched her ear with her foot. “Hm,” she said. “Maybe we could grow potatoes instead.”

“Wonderful soil on my estate,” said Master. “My family has practiced nothing but the best organic methods for generations.”

“We’re all here then,” the girl said. She picked up the dog collar and buckled it around her neck. 
“Let’s go, Hardy.”

“I prefer to be addressed as Sir,” said Master.
“The name’s Jill,” said the rat.

“We’ll discuss our name on the way,” said the girl.
After crawling out of the basement window, the lone figure trotted down the street, keeping out of the full moon’s light.
__________________________________

So. That was trickier to write.

When I read it out loud in the backyard last night, not everyone got it, but I think it reads more clearly in print?

This episode is closer to 200 words, but I never meant to limit myself strictly--the short form was meant to encourage me to write any fiction at all.

As it gets more complicated, I wonder if I should start to plot a whole story... I've just been making it up piecemeal.
I don't know, though. The story keeps surprising me, and I fear that once I know what happens, I'll lose interest in writing it out!

And, We've got two more weeks of the stay-at-home order... Maybe I should write a little more, before I have to go back to work? Or wrap it up?

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