CRACKER [5MinuteFreeWrite]

in #freewrite6 years ago (edited)


cracker.png

This is for @mariannewest and @improv's Freewrite Day 103. The theme for today is cracker. I wanted to give a shoutout to my buddy @sykochica for pushing me into this as well. Enjoy!


"She sho'nuff looks purdy, don't she?" Cletus mused while eating a crispy treat.

"Don't git no funny ideas, Cletus," Billy Joe interrupted, swatting his friend away. "An' don't git enny crumbs on it eifer! This har's valuable merchan'ise."

"So'ry, mister trimenjusshot."

"Don't yo' take thet tone wif me," Billy Joe warned. "Ah will snap off yo' bones, ya hear?"

"Pft!"

"Ah said, does yo' hear me, boy?"

"Ah heard."

Billy Joe leered at Cletus as he made his way around the precious cargo. He forced open the back of his pickup truck and he hocked up a loogie. "Now he'p me load this hyar up in th' truck."

Cletus gobbled up what remained of his snack and begrudgingly obliged. He bent down and helped Billy Joe lift the cargo. "This hyar thin' is heavy, huh?"

"Whut in tarnation did ah say about th' crumbs!?"

"Well, so'ry! W'd it matter though? This hyar is a-gonna splode ennyway!"

Cletus took one hand off and used it to wipe the crumbs. The weight was too much for Billy Joe, and the cargo slipped and landed on his foot.

"Yow!" Billy Joe screamed in agony.

Cletus lifted the cargo and tried to help his friend up, but was rebuked. He scratched his head as he watched Billy Joe writhe in pain. "Is thar ennythin' ah can do?"

"Jest stay th' hell away!" Billy Joe sobbed for a while, his face planted firmly on the ground. After a good three minutes, he stood up and walked towards the house. He dusted himself off, but he faced away from Cletus so as not to show any evidence of tears. "Load thet thin' up so we kin git gwine when ah git back."

"Alright, Billy Joe."

Cletus sat at the back of the pickup truck, wondering how he could get the hefty cargo up by himself. He took out a cigarette and lit it up. After a while he heard a sizzling sound, hissing from beneath him. He pulled his leg up, out of fear that it was a snake. Cletus lied face down on the back of the pickup truck, hoping to catch a glimpse of the source of the noise. To his surprise, the cargo whizzed past and made a beeline towards the house. What followed next was a combination of screams, dazzling lights and explosions.


redneck
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As you can see, I tried to use many different definitions of cracker there is without mentioning the word at any part of the story. Whether it's a thin, crisp wafer, or a fine example of something, or the breaking of bones, or fireworks, or even the derogatory term for white, rural Americans (I hope nobody becomes offended by this), a "cracker" has a different meaning for different contexts. When I wrote this, it was very raw. I added in the markdown after the 5-minute timer expired. Everything else was written in the nick of time. I hope it translated well! If you enjoyed the story, please consider voting and commenting on it. I would very appreciate it if you do :D



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Hahahaaaa...wait..hahaaaaa, many different definitions for cracker!!!!! LOLLLL, if anyone gets offended they're ridiculous and I'll tell them that- I loved this, I actually pictured a Louisiana bayou for the backdrop, somewhere near N'awlens (New Orleans lol!)

You know, I actually tried to avoid that accent. It's quite hard depicting the difference, but the Louisiana bayou has more of a Cajun twang doesn't it? I was aiming more for the Ozarks (I don't know if @therealpaul, or the fake one, can attest to authenticity of the accent from those thar folks) or Appalachian. Really though, I'm just glad it sounded like sumthin'. Much appreciated, dawlin!

this is just so good , went direct to the point ... Aced it man

I only had 5 minutes to write this, so I needed to get to the point quickly. Thanks for the high praise! I appreciate it :D

You really nailed it man

I had the hammer, so I thought that it was the natural thing to do.

This is a really great story! Now that I think of, I've never read any fiction writing from you before. You are really good, man!

It's been a couple of months since I've written fiction, so yeah haha! My whole agenda here used to be about encouraging the growth of fiction, but ever since fiction groups decided to huddle up without me, I kind of fell off from it. I appreciate the compliment! Coming from an awesome storyteller of flash fiction, that really means a lot :D

I learned from another freewriter on this particular day that the term "cracker" means someone who was descended from slaveowners (or maybe overseers?), and it refers to the crack of the whip.

Oooohhhh so that's why hillbillies are often referred as that, since most of them trace their roots back to the confederacy. That's a very interesting factoid! Learn something new every day.

I mean, I learned it from someone else's post, so take it with a grain of salt.

Count me in for two!

You like your facts salty!

I have been told to take it easy on them. Gots to avoid them kidney stones!

Too many facts make our days HEAVY.

Isn't that what TV is for?

I like yous stories, take care of every detail, very original! It is fun to read you. I tell you that i read her eating some cookies. Great friend!

Thank you! I appreciate you constantly stopping by :D It's nice getting back to fiction, I feel like the freewrites have been a great warm up for me.

Great fiction.

Cletus puckered but could only manage a spray of dry crumbs, then the cargo whistled past on the way to the house.

Well, I wouldn't use that as a cliff notes version, but yeah I guess that's what happened haha! Thanks for stopping by!

Great to see the mighty @jedau returning to the world of fiction. It was a great story. With a whizz-bang ending too.

A lot of personality coming through for your characters in such a brief piece. That's not easy, but it made it a delight to read.

It has been awhile, hasn't it? I didn't realize my writer's block stretched for far too long. This one took exactly 5 minutes to make, so I'm glad that it was at least coherent. Glad to be back! I felt like I have a chip on my shoulder taken out, and now I'm gushing.

Oh you know how much I love them characters, mate. I had them fully fleshed out before I started the timer that's why they felt so realized haha! Thanks for the high praise! Coming from a writer I admire greatly, that really means a lot!

BTW, did you see the Super Blue Blood Moon?

Didn't see it, but heard about it. Such a rare occurrence, but I tend to miss these things. To busy with my head stuck in a book, or writing probably.

makes sense to have a framework in which to operate, such as defined characters. Then let the story take your free write energy and time. Great planning, great result.

I've always been way too fascinated with the cosmos, that's why I'm up to date with these things. I'm surprised that I have yet to write a space-based story haha!

I'm glad it translated well! Whew! What a relief! I was quite nervous getting back to it after so long, especially since writing stories is far from riding a bike.

Speaking of Space based stories, I did write once, for Nano 2016. Just pulled that manuscript out and am nor finally giving it a fresh read in readiness for a second draft. Want to get a new feel for the overall piece, then decide whether to go slightly darker , or what way to take it.

In the meantime you'll have to catch up with the space stories.

I do have a lot of drafts in my notes, but I haven't gotten the time to fully revisit any of them. They're coming though, oh they're coming. Definitely excited to read your epic space opera! Nano 2017 was the one with the space-theme in their own page though haha!

I din't even look at Nano in 2017. I wasn't feeling very energetic around that time. So much better now, fortunately.

Revisiting a full novel for redraft is a time consuming endeavour, so not sure how long it will take. But I've been talking about it for so long that I wanted to take some action to break the impasse.

Tell me about it. I think I've spent more time editing than writing a novel. I'm still reworking my debut novel and it seems so far away from finished!

Hey @jedau, just wanted to quickly let you know that I have included you in a post here: Paying it Forward - Sharing Some Steemians That Have Been an Inspiration

I have it in my tabs, mate. I'm looking forward to reading it ;)

I like the way you avoided using the word cracker, but implied it as many times as possible - smart.

Thanks, man! I call it "evasive storytelling", at least until I could come up with a better name for it.

Fantastic! Evasive storytelling - I like it.

No copyright's pending, so feel free to use it haha!

And it is like you said. Quite a story came from the prompt :)
So glad you are writing with us!!

Thanks for having me! I appreciate it :D These are the kind of freewrites I used to do, but I'm sure I'll loosen up a bit in the next iterations and put up something like a plan to write a story. That'll be a treat and I'm looking forward to just babble on haha!

Looking forward to seeing what will happen when you allow yourself to be truly free :)

Haha! Only in #freewrite does WIP posts feel more genuine than fully fleshed out ones haha! :D

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