Short Story Moments
Excerpt from
The Waiting Game
Channing pulled her straight brown hair down around her fingers and chewed on the ends nervously. The smell of beach waves wafted around her face as she tugged at her hair. Her coconut shampoo reminded her of the summers she had spent on the outer banks as a child. She would give anything to be there now instead of the lobby of her doctor's office.
"Channing Sales?" A nurse, with a crown of hair and a giant bald patch gestured for her to enter the back room of the waiting room.
Channing stopped playing with her hair and smoothed it behind her ear. She followed the nurse back to the weighing station. As he moved in to adjust the weights, she could smell a trail of stale smoke breaks.
"Second room on the left." He gestured, a smoke trail lingering after he rushed away.
Channing made her way into the room and closed the door behind her. The familiar crinkle of the white protective paper greeted her as she sat on the patient’s table. The smell of a floral plug-in tried hard to cover the stench of whatever emergency had happened earlier that day. Channing pushed that thought away as she pulled her hair back into her mouth.
Excerpt from
Rail Yard Blues
The darkness faded, and the sound of a train thundered across the field to the left of me. I was lying on my back, and my head pounded. I slowly opened my eyes to a piercing brightness. The train's spotlight was casting a wide birth ahead of it. Making sure to alert anyone near it was coming (as if its massive size and earth-shattering rumbling weren’t enough). The light was so bright that I felt my pupils bleach open and pulsate against the blur of nothingness.
I put my hand in front of my face to shield my tired lids and remembered I had been knocked out by that jackass Simon. He had lured me here to meet him with the promise of photos of a cheating husband. Instead, he punched me and ran away like a boy on the playground at recess. I had fallen near the rails behind the lumber yard. There was lumber stacked and ready for shipment and odd bottles littered everywhere.
The train ripped past me, blowing my hair and anything loose around me into a frenzy. I got to my feet and stood up against the blast of air. I closed my eyes again and opened my arms - welcoming the rush of air around me - washing me clean of rail yard dust. I smiled and stepped back from the rail line. I would need to find Simon and teach him a lesson in manners. First, I needed to find some Advil and a shot of Tequila.
~~~~~~~
I nodded to the bartender and accepted my shot of tequila with my right hand. I took the lemon in my left and exhaled in preparation. I said a small prayer to the Gods of “liquid might” and put the salty rim of the glass to my parched lips. In a slow but sharp head tilt, I threw the fire down my throat. Its sweet yet pungent flavors swirled with the blood in my mouth like candied pennies. It cleaned my teeth as it swept through my mouth and throat and then went down to my belly—a heat wave of liquid courage. I squeezed the lemon, enjoying how it danced across my tongue with the salty residue from the shot glass. I savored its sour, salty mix-up and swallowed, satisfied.
Excerpt from
Your Kiss
McKenzie pulled her trash can up from the side of the curb and grumbled about raccoons under her breath. A gust of air kicked an empty yogurt cup down the street, and she let go of the trash can to chase after it in her house shoes. The smell of freshly cut lawns drifted around her as she jogged along the curbside of her neighborhood.
"Seriously." She mumbled, trying not to step in anything unfortunate as she rushed to keep up with the plastic cup. It had rained earlier that day, and puddles lined the quiet street.
The empty cup stopped short of the wheel of a deep purple pickup truck sitting in her neighbor Devin’s driveway. As she reached out to pick it up, she noticed the truck's engine was running, with the muffled sounds of Journey blaring from within.
McKenzie leaned in and saw her newest neighbor Devin slumped over on his passenger side seat. The driver’s side was empty. He appeared to be singing and crying to himself. McKenzie stood up and looked around her neighborhood. She was technically the president of her HOA and could use this moment to introduce herself to the newest member of the Rolling Pines Crew.
She popped the driver’s side handle to see if it was open, and it released, to her surprise. She slowly opened it, "Hey, Devin?"
He was startled, which was unusual for a man of his size. He reached out to turn the radio down, and it became apparent that he was drunk. "Soorree." He slurred. The smell of cologne and booze mixed as he tried to speak.
