If you’re scrolling down your dash, don’t read this until you read the Tree and the River story that I posted not long ago unless you don’t care about seeing spoilers.
![onlyonemee replied to your post: Tell us a story!
The tree and the river. Go!
Aww, man! I just did a story!
OK, fine, I’ll do another. Let’s see what I can come up with.
Before I get going, the photo above is from http://marilil.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/discovering-the-wonders-of-palawan/ — I didn’t want to enter it into the Source section of the post since the story is not from there, but that’s where I got the picture of the tree over the river.
OK, story time again.[[MORE]]
Nikki walked out on the tree limb overhanging the Yazoo River. Fred shimmied along behind, too unsure of his balance to go out over the water with such confidence.
“Come on, slowpoke!” called Nikki. “By the time you get out here it’ll be time to go home again!”
Fred worked up his courage enough to crawl out as Nikki giggled.
“You sure are cute when you’re being a wuss, Freddie.”
“Umm, thanks?” replied Fred. He kind of hated when people called him Freddie, but Nikki had called him that since they met, back when they were six years old. After 15 years, he didn’t mind so much when she did it. He actually kind of liked it coming from her.
He caught up, and the two straddled the log facing towards each other but not making eye contact. Fred was watching the sky through the leaves above, and Nikki was watching the water.
After what seemed an hour, Fred broke the silence. “You know, Nikki, there’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
Nikki sighed. There had been something that Fredd had been meaning to ask her for the past three years, but he’d never worked up the courage to actually ask it. This dance had played out countless times in countless places. She knew that she’d ask Fred what it was that he wanted to tell her, and then he’d say “Oh, it’s nuthin’ Nikki, never mind” and that would be that.
It happened every couple of months.
Nikki wanted to just grab him and kiss him, and tell him that the answer was yes, but every time she was tempted, she’d start wondering why Fred kept changing his mind about asking her out. Was it her hair? Her breath? What was it about her that kept driving him away?
So she had dared not force the issue. She thought she’d rather spend a lifetime not knowing than to find out for sure that Freddie didn’t want her. But she didn’t want to discourage him, so she gave her usual answer.
“What do you want to ask me, Freddie?”
Freddie looked around. It was all too familiar to Nikki. Then, without thinking, she took his hand.
“You always say that, and you never say what you mean to say. Now we are going to sit here until you say it, Freddie. I don’t care if we have to sit here for a week. Whether what you have to say is good or bad, I want to hear it. Heck, after all this time, I need to hear it.”
Fred felt himself go cold. He’d started this conversation dozens of times. He’d rehearsed it thousands more. But every time he started, his heart would drop into his stomach and rise into his throat, seemingly at the same time. He couldn’t bear to have Nikki reject him.
But this time had gone differently. Nikki had always accepted it when he said never mind before, and looked annoyed at him. He’d always taken the look to be disapproval, but somehow that didn’t seem right. Fred thought for a moment, and realized that there was a chance that the look he had seen dozens of times was a look of disappointment.
After all, she still hung out with him, didn’t she? And it wasn’t like she didn’t have other boys interested in her. She wasn’t the most popular kid in school, but she wasn’t an outcast either. And she’d stepped in when Tommy Wilson had tried to fight Freddy, so she maybe didn’t care that he was actively unpopular.
He met her gaze. She was smiling, but her eyes told him that she wasn’t joking about staying here until he worked up his courage.
“Well, you see, Nikki…that is, er…”
Fred swallowed.
“You can do it, Freddie.”
She was firm in her demand that he say what he’d been too afraid to say, but she said this with such gentleness that Fred took a deep breath and got ready to blurt out his love for Nikki and just see how she reacted.
“Nikki, I—”
There was a snap, and the world became a blur, then came the sound of a splash as the limb crashed into the water with both people on it.
Fred fell off, and when he surfaced Nikki was still sitting on the log, laughing.
“You sure are cute when you’re sopping wet, Freddie.”
Nikki held out her hand and Fred took it, and she helped him up onto the log. When he was facing her again, she held tight to his hand.
“Say it, Freddie.”
“What?
“I told you, we’re going to sit here until you say what you’ve been meaning to say for years. I said it and I meant it. I don’t care if we float all the way down to the Mississippi River and past New Orleans into the gulf. We’re not getting off this log until you say it.”
She was being firmer than she had been before the limb had snapped, but he saw a sparkle in her eyes, and took a deep breath.
“Nikki.” He took a deep breath. “Nikki, I love you. I have loved you since I was old enough to know what the word meant. I don’t know what I would do without you in my life. The thought of not being with you literally scares the b’jeezus out of me. But I worry that I’m not good enough for you, so I’ve never been able to say it.”
Nikki squeezed Fred’s hand, then leaned forward and put her lips on his.
The tree limb floated along with the young lovers on board. It didn’t matter where the current took them, as long as they had each other when they got there.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/b37738da9c2e9e852bd2f002931ff362/tumblr_mksacmG8hx1qcrcj1o1_1280.jpg)
onlyonemee replied to your post: Tell us a story!
The tree and the river. Go!
Aww, man! I just did a story!
OK, fine, I’ll do another. Let’s see what I can come up with.
Before I get going, the photo above is from http://marilil.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/discovering-the-wonders-of-palawan/ — I didn’t want to enter it into the Source section of the post since the story is not from there, but that’s where I got the picture of the tree over the river.
OK, story time again.
It may be time to bring back the writing challenge soon. I did one day of it back in January and then stopped, but I’m starting to get that itch again.
It’s been a while.
A couple days ago I posted that the date for the finalist announcement in the writing competition had come and gone, and I had not heard anything, so I figured that I didn’t make it.
Today, it was confirmed. The finalists were announced, and I didn’t make the cut.
Well, looks like this will be the final update on the writing competition that I entered back at the beginning of the year.
Yesterday was the day they said that finalists would be announced, and I haven’t heard anything.
I may still eventually finish the tale that I started and submitted as my entry (which is here). I got some decent feedback on it, and I won’t be tied to a certain theme or length like I would have if I had been selected.
Of course, it won’t win me the $1,000 grand prize either, but you can’t have it all.
Well, since not a single person clicked “read more” on day 1 of the writing challenge a few days ago, I’m calling it off.
There’s no point in writing if nobody wants to read it.
30 Day Writing Challenge - Day 1: Re-write a classic fairy tale
[I don’t know how long ago it was that Denise mentioned wanting someone to write a story about what happened after the Beast from Beauty and the Beast became human again. I’ve kicked around ideas from time to time, and finally decided to put one down for today’s challenge. It’s not exactly a re-write, but it’s close enough.
Since there is some disagreement on whether the Beast is named Adam or not, I’m going to call him Barry. Hey, when YOU write the story, you can call him what YOU want.]
Challenge time!
I was followed by someone tonight who is in the midst of a few 30 day challenges, and I think it’s high time I do another one. Or two. Probably two. Not three, though, because the other they are doing is a photography challenge, and I rarely leave the house these days.
First is a 30 day writing challenge, because I want to write more (about things other than politics). I may start doing these more regularly than I have (I think I’ve done two [1] [2] since I’ve been on tumblr), since there are a lot out there.
As is always the case with challenges, I don’t commit to doing it for 30 days in a row. It may take me 30 days, it may take me 100. I don’t tend to force these things.
The second challenge is a drawing challenge. I stink at drawing, but it might be fun. So below the cut are the lists for these two challenges, which I snagged from ohsopedestrian.
Just a quick update on that writing contest that I entered a few weeks ago, with this beginning of what will be a longer story if I continue it.
Originally, the deadline to enter was January 6th, and I was supposed to know by the end of this month if I’d been selected to participate in the competition.
But now the entry deadline has been pushed back to February 3rd, and I probably won’t know if I’ve been selected or not until the end of February.
So if you’re waiting for more of that story, the wait will be a bit longer. Since the competition involves writing around a certain theme every week meaning that I would have to let that theme dictate how I tell the story (and, ultimately, what direction the story takes), I can’t pre-write it.
I just wanted to update everyone since a few of you expressed interest in reading more about Thomas. It’s going to be a while before that story goes anywhere.
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