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Home / Etcetera / Eight Hundred

Eight Hundred

Etcetera, Indie Ink

It’s IndieInk Writing Challenge day once more. It dawned bright this morning, and I suddenly remembered the challenge Michael at Innocents and Accidents, Hints and Allegations issued to me this week. It was, simply, “Eight hundred.”

 

I pick up my glass. Again. For the eight hundredth time. I finish it quickly and re-fill. The day stretched long and I crave a hard stop. I carry it with me, the glass, because it’s too hard to put it down. I carry it with me, all of it.

 

Too hard.

 

“Just stop,” he tells me.

 

“It’s not that easy.” I say back.

 

Because somewhere, long ago, before I was born even, it stopped being a choice. There’s genetic wires connecting me to other glass filler-uppers, to those that carried their solace, to grandpas begging grandsons to stop at the corner bar for a shooter. The grandson was 10. He wasn’t saved from the corner bar; his future still sits in front of a smoky mirror, toasting to life.

 

My dad. Always toasting to life.

 

It’s irony. Cheering what robs you of clarity and connection and emotion. Life.

 

“Just stop,” he tells me.

 

I pick up my glass.

 

Eight hundred and one.

 

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March 17, 2011 · 12 Comments

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Comments

  1. Karla says

    March 17, 2011 at 11:30 am

    I loved how you were able to convey so much in such a short piece. 800 speaks for itself. This was very well done!

    Reply
  2. Mandy says

    March 17, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    This was great… I agree with Karla as it relates to how much impact for such a short piece. Really well done!

    Reply
  3. Alexandra says

    March 17, 2011 at 5:57 pm

    I so enjoyed all the different ways you used STOP here.
    I truly did.

    Reply
  4. Slow Panic says

    March 18, 2011 at 3:22 am

    “I carry it with me. All of it”

    Love this post.. Thank you.

    Reply
  5. Lazidaisical says

    March 18, 2011 at 5:38 am

    Ok, it’s already been said, but your story conveyed so much with so little and perfectly evoked the somberness of this situation. Great job.

    Reply
  6. Michael says

    March 18, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    Well done. Excruciating, but brilliant. I bow humbly. *applauds*

    Reply
  7. Frelle says

    March 19, 2011 at 9:08 am

    its all true, too.

    Reply
  8. dani says

    March 19, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    beautiful work! thoroughly toughing

    Reply
  9. lifeNbits says

    March 20, 2011 at 9:57 am

    Writing is powerfull. So much said in a short composition. That is how you use 800.

    Reply
  10. Marian says

    March 20, 2011 at 11:17 am

    oh, i get it. i raise my glass to you.

    Reply
  11. Ferd says

    March 20, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    I’ll throw in my kudos.
    Open, honest, sometimes painfully raw,
    always with your own funky style: oblique/unique.
    Lovin’ it!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. The Week In Review: March 14-18 Writing Challenges says:
    March 18, 2011 at 3:45 am

    […] Michael challenged San Diego Momma: Eight Hundred […]

    Reply

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