Weekend Freewrite "Music and Games"

"Then play, please," Jonny said. He sang "Dig my grave with a Silver Spade"... Jonny listened attentively all the way through the song. "I'd never heard that one before," Jonny mused. "Do you know any other songs besides that one?" So he sang "Cool Water." "My dad used to play that one on a record," Jonny remembered. "I like that song. Do you know any more like that?" So he played "Tumblin' Tumbleweeds" and "Ghost Riders in the Sky" and "Prairie Moon."

"Those are all nice old songs. Western songs," observed Jonny. "Do you know any other kinds of songs?" So he played "The Entertainer," and "The Stars and Stripes Forever", and Pachelbel's "Canon in D," and "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Hey Jude" and "Somebody to Love." Jonny just sat and smiled and nodded and kept time with his loafer-clad toe.

"Have you heard enough music yet?" he asked Jonny. "I could play all evening, you know. I can play for hours and hours. And if I get tired of playing the harmonica, I can bring in my guitar, or my piccolo, or my autoharp, and play on those. Do you play an instrument, Jonny?"

Jonny sighed. "Nope. Never learned to play anything but the radio."

In a rage, she puts her finger through her hair. Paul, who was waiting for a reaction, goes on. "Aw, give Jonny a break, Sue," he said patiently. "You knew he was going to say that. He always does. It's part of the game we play every week."

But Sue was in a really bad mood. She didn't like any of the songs Paul had just played, and she didn't want him to keep playing. Certainly not if he got out that horrid autoharp. And what if it got to be 2:00 a.m. and he and Jonny were still doing their music thing, and Paul got out his banjo? That would be the absolute worst. No, the accordion was the worst. It was hard to tell which one was the worst. Anyway, Sue didn't want to hear any more music.

"Okay guys," she finally spoke up. "Can we do something different now? I'd even be willing to play Monopoly if you'd like to, and you know it's not my favorite game. I'd even play Risk with you. Or Axis and Allies. Whattya think?"

Paul and Jonny considered Sue's offer. They really enjoyed their weekly music sessions, and Sue was always there with them. She had to, because she was the one who drove Paul to Jonny's house. Paul was blind. And because he was blind, he didn't know Jonny looked like a complete blithering idiot. He sounded normal enough, but he always had this half-crazed look on his round, moonlike face. And he usually looked as if he hadn't brushed his teeth for a few days.

Furthermore, Paul had a twisted ankle. He got it when he missed the bottom step going down to their basement. He was using his cane, and he knew exactly how many steps there were, but he got distracted when the cats got into a fight and went hurtling past him, nearly knocking him off his feet. He was getting around pretty good now, but he still hurt.

"Okay, let's play a game," Paul said, and Jonny nodded his agreement. "You pick, Jonny. It's your house. What games do you have? Anything interesting besides Monopoly?" Jonny considered this for some time. Sue watched his round face begin to twist and contort slightly, and she saw the evil grin begin to spread across his placid face, revealing yesterday's bits of broccoli between his teeth. Paul, of course, didn't see this. He just waited patiently for Jonny to decide. "Let's play 'Kill Sue,' " he said, and his voice had a peculiar, nasty tone they hadn't ever heard before.

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

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A weekend freewrite is extra-challenging. You get three prompts and write 5 minutes on each prompt, creating one story. Each prompt is in a separate post. You look at the first prompt and write five minutes. Then you look at the second prompt and work it into the story and write five minutes. Likewise with the third prompt. If you haven't tried a weekend freewrite, you should!