Well, I had to take my laptop in for repair last Friday, and I still haven’t heard back about it.
I miss it so much.
So, also, that unfortunately means I don’t have a laptop to work on during the day. Luckily, my sister has been lending me her work laptop at night, but by that time I can only focus on getting schoolwork done. But, of course… that all means this blog is gonna slide into the gutter for a few more days.
And I really do have some posts I wanna write regarding my newly published novel… but, as of right now, that’s not really possible. Unless I use my phone, like I am right now, but I hate it and I get way too many typos on this screen to track for a long post like that.
Good news, though, I had this short story made from a writing prompt in my drafts, and I had just finished it at the park a week ago, so now I’m gonna use it as an emergency content post now.
So, here’s the prompt…
Write a short story that is set in Detroit in 1956, in which a car floor mat plays a crucial role.
And… here’s the story!
“Did you get the stuff?”
“Shut up, Ranni, they’re onto us!”
Jaesoph grabbed Ranni’s arm, whipped him around, and continued to sprint alongside the sidewalk, now dragging him close behind.
“But, boss-” Ranni began.
“Nah time!” Jaesoph shouted right before the two turned a corner to run down a long, thin alleyway.
After a quick moment, the two slowed to a stop.
“Where…” Jaesoph continued, turning to the other man he had been pulling along. “Is… thah car?”
“Ah,” Ranni replied. “Ah… don’t remember where… Ah parked it…”
“You…” Jaesoph started, glaring his head over Ranni’s. “You… nancompoop!” He brought his palm up to thump his companion’s head. “Nah what are we gonna do?”
“Uh… uh…” Ranni looked Jaesoph quickly over. “Ah ain’t got an answer right nah…”
Jaesoph slapped a hand across his cheek.
“Ambecile!” he shouted.
Right then, a sharp gunshot rang out from somewhere in the far distance.
Both men screeched aloud.
“Ah… Ah’m not ready tah… tah d-die, b-boss!” Ranni began to sob out, and then collapsed to the pavement in tears.
“Well, if yah do… then it’s yah own fault!” Jaesoph screamed.
Suddenly after that, a tall and tan, white-bearded man appeared on the scene.
“Were yews looking for this?” his raspy voice questioned.
The two other men snapped their eyes toward him.
“S-Semuel!” they called out, in-sync.
He held up a black, carpeted floor mat, sopping and dripping with mud.
“Hee-hee-hee...” Semuel chuckled out.
“H-He found thah… thah car, b-boss,” Ranni stuttered.
“Awe, shacks…” Jaesoph mumbled.
“Thet’s right…” Semuel said. “I found yer car… and I found theh stuff!”
Semuel squeezed brown liquid from the floor mat with both hands, and then dropped it, forcing it to slap against the concrete below; splatters of mud from the collision splashed up at the faces of the men standing across from him.
“He dadn’t…” Jaesoph remarked, wiping a streak of wet dirt from his cheek.
“I ded,” Semuel replied, flipping one mud-caked palm over to showcase a tiny sandwich baggy left behind from the mat he had dropped.
Both Ranni and Jaesoph gasped.
“Th-Th-Thah crackets!” Ranni stammered.
“Thet’s right,” Semuel claimed. “Yer crickets…”
He peeled the bag open, reached in, and whipped out one small brown bug in his fingers.
“And I’m genna take ’em to Rochard!” he added.
“You wauldn’t…” Jaesoph argued.
“But I well…” Semuel nodded.
“Nat if Ah have anything to say about it…” Ranni grumbled.
Semuel paused for a moment.
“Whet was thet?” he questioned.
“Ah said…”Ranni began to repeat, and then trailed off.
Until he lunged forward at Semuel.
Semuel screeched out as he slammed into his body and grabbed at the insect he still held.
“Get eff!” he shouted while Ranni clawed at his arm.
“Ranni, stap!” Jaesoph commanded from behind, though he remained still.
The other two men continued to struggle for control over the cricket and the small baggy.
“Let ga of it!” Ranni ordered.
Suddenly, Semuel snapped his hand backward, and both the plastic bag and every bug it contained, as well as the one enclosed between his fingertips, flew from where they all stood to the wide, dark street behind him.
Immediately, all three froze, and then turned to see where the sandwich baggy had landed.
Before any single one of them had a chance to move, a large black van sped down the road, promptly crushing the contents and flinging them even further down the avenue.
Jaesoph twisted toward Ranni, then thumped his forehead with his thumb and screamed out at him.
“Adiot!”
Well, there it is. I know, not much… but, at least it’s something. I had fun writing it, too, so I know at least one person in the world enjoyed it.
Hopefully I get my laptop back very soon and can post some more stuff!
-iKari
Kari Lynn M. 