BROTHERS
Jake could beat Billy every time in a fist fight, but Billy was
smarter and was always talking Jake into trouble. Once Jake came in from the
woods covered in dirt, crying, “Billy made me dig a tunnel but it collapsed
and I got buried.” Billy just shrugged.
Years passed and Billy’s saloon parked beside Jake’s truck
proved Billy had the better job, but the brothers still got drunk together
after work.
Until one night Jake staggered home alone.
“Where’s my Billy?” Mam shrieked.
Jake just shrugged. “We were drinking in the quarry and a
heap collapsed – Billy got buried.”
Word count = 100
Thanks to http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/ for this week's photo prompt. My first thought was to write about a race but then this darker idea took over. I hope you like it - and please leave a comment to prove you've read it!
Hmmm... very dark. But what else would you want a car like that for?
ReplyDeleteDigging ditches? Working in a quarry?
DeleteWhat goes around comes around, I guess. Doesn't sound like there's much love lost between them.
ReplyDeleteNot all families are loving.
DeleteDear Liz,
ReplyDeleteBilly has a knack for getting buried, doeesn't he? Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Um - it was Jake who got buried the first tiime. He got his own back perhaps - or it could have been an acc ident.
DeleteAh...well that makes more sense. I see it now. Karma has a way of coming back around, doesn't it?
DeleteIt does. Did you ever read The Water Babies? There were two old women - Mrs Do-as-you-would-be-done-by and Mrs Be-done-by-as-you-did. Morality for children but it translates to adulthood :)
DeleteOh dear, rather a sad ending. Or maybe, as they say, what goes around comes around.
ReplyDeleteOr as we said in our hippy days - That's Karma, man!
DeleteHmm... Seems a little more than good ol' sibling rivalry going on here. Good story.
ReplyDeleteThanks Caerlynn - brawn won over brains in the end.
DeleteOh so sad.. a little Cain and Abel here?...
ReplyDeleteI almost titled it that but decided that would give the game away!
DeleteJake didn't seem too upset. Me thinks it wasn't an accident.
ReplyDeleteYou could be right - Jake probably knew his way around that quarry.
DeleteOooh, dark chill to the end of that one, Lizy. Björn took the words from me.
ReplyDeleteBjorn has a habit of finding the right words!
DeleteHmmmm ... Billy wasn't so bright after all I guess.
ReplyDeleteNobody's that bright when they're drunk!
DeleteLove it! Keep them coming Lizy. Hope the cyclists have moved on and the residents weren't tempted to bury them alongside Billy :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Nicola - and ye, we are tempted, we just don't succumb :)
DeleteJust desserts I guess. Was Jake waiting for the right moment?
ReplyDeleteI guess he was - though he went a bit OTT!
DeleteOh dear. Sweet revenge. Moral - don't drink and dig.
ReplyDeleteI'll remember that next time I'm tempted to do some gardening after a night out!
DeleteOooh, sinister! Bad, bad Billy...
ReplyDeleteHelen
Or bad, bad Jake?
ReplyDeleteI think Billy deserved it. Or at least sort of. Maybe Jake can get his job!
ReplyDeleteLooking on the bright side, perhaps Jake will!
DeleteThat's really sad. I love how you make a point in so few words :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks ros - these 100-worders are a complete contrast to the novel I'm updating.
DeleteVery dark indeed. Glad my sisters like me.
ReplyDeleteMe too, Alicia, though Kate and I sometimes fall out, it's not for long!
DeleteI like the balance in your story - the repetition of the burying incidents and the 'shrugged' response of each brother in his turn. Jake waited a long time, but he had his revenge. He's a cool customer.
ReplyDeleteThank you for noticing those points, Margirene! You know what they say about revenge.
DeleteBrotherly revenge - like Cain and Abel? Yes, dark!
ReplyDeleteLily