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<\/a><\/p>\nI ended up with just under 800 words that, of course, spiraled right down into the usual grit. Language warning. As if you didn’t know…<\/p>\n
Jeopardy<\/span><\/p>\nJerry stuck his fork in the aluminum tray\u2019s tiny pocket of mashed potatoes, complete with fake bright yellow butter. The fork barely penetrated the outer skin before stopping.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cMa, you didn\u2019t cook it long enough.\u201d One by one he poked his fork in the thick slices of gooey meat, pile of corn, and some sort of dessert that was a repulsive shade of grey. He tried not to gag. \u201cIt\u2019s all still frozen.\u201d He gagged anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWhat is Burundi?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cMa, did ya hear me?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWhat is Belarus?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nShe heard him, he was sure of it. She just wasn\u2019t listening. Not during the Alex Trebek hour.<\/span><\/p>\nShe was sitting in the La-Z-Boy recliner that had borne the brunt of his father\u2019s emphysemic ass for their 42 years of marriage. When his dad had finally gotten tired of flicking lit cigarettes at his wife and her offspring, he\u2019d farted loudly, then laughed about it until he choked on his meatloaf and slumped over in death.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWhat is Bermuda?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nIt had been a Friday morning. Jerry had celebrated by fucking his first cheerleader. His only cheerleader. He couldn\u2019t remember the girl\u2019s name.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWhat is Bolivia?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nShe wasn\u2019t actually a cheerleader. He\u2019d made her one in his memory. A horny blonde with big tits instead of the pimply face with rancid breath. He gagged again, remembering it.<\/span><\/p>\nHis mother sat on the edge of the recliner, several once-oversized-but-now-wilted pillows propping her up as she focused on the box TV positioned barely three feet in front of her, its bunny ears askew. She\u2019d been declared legally blind years ago, but still wore the thick eyeglasses that left permanent imprints on the bridge of her nose. She also still wore the same pajamas under her house coat that she\u2019d worn for as long as Jerry could remember. He\u2019d never seen her wash them, just throw her blue housedress over them.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWhat is the Bahamas?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nJerry stood up and grabbed her TV dinner from the metal tray in front of her. \u201cJesus Christ,\u201d he said under his breath. \u201cMa, did ya hear me?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cJeremiah! Language, please!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nHe could set himself on fire and she wouldn\u2019t react if Alex was on TV, but take the Lord\u2019s name in vain\u2014even in his thoughts\u2014and she heard it every damn time.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cYou didn\u2019t cook them long enough.\u201d He took the two steps to the kitchen. \u201cAre you trying to kill us? You are, aren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI like them that way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWhat, frozen?\u201d Jerry shoved the trays in the oven. \u201cThere are easier ways to get rid of me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nHe returned to his seat to wait. She was staring at him, her tear-rimmed eyes magnified by the glasses and her lips puckering uncontrollably.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWhy would you say that? To your own mother? The woman who carried you for nine months\u2013\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201c\u2018\u2014nine months in her malformed womb, even when her doctors warned her against it.\u2019 Yeah, yeah, I\u2019ve heard it all before.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThe tears dried up and the puckering ceased as she turned back to the TV. \u201cJust doesn\u2019t seem like the kind of woman who would want to kill her own child. But I\u2019m sure you know best.\u201d Bitterness oozed from each word.<\/span><\/p>\nHe ignored her petulance. \u201cHow about I call about one of those home care workers again?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cYou will not!\u201d Dignity forced her hunched shoulders straight. \u201cI don\u2019t need some\u2013some floozy just hanging around here, watching me, waiting for me to die.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cMa\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cOr killing me herself so she can rob me blind.\u201d She turned watery saucer eyes to him again. \u201cIs that what you want? To find me in a pool of my own blood? All my earthly treasures\u2014your inheritance\u2014gone?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cMa, she\u2019ll just come for an hour or two each day, do a little cooking, maybe a little cleaning\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cExactly! Cleaning me out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201c\u2014and you\u2019ll have more time to enjoy Jeopardy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nShe frowned, as if considering the idea.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cAlex Trebek\u2026uninterrupted,\u201d he added gently as the show returned from commercial break.<\/span><\/p>\nShe barely nodded her agreement. \u201cWhat is laissez faire<\/em>?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ll call right now. See if we can get someone for next week.\u201d He stepped back into the kitchen and dialed the number from memory.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cNone of them Mexicans. Or the darkies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nJerry rolled his eyes. He was past gagging. \u201cYes, Ma.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI gotta feel safe in my own home,\u201d she mumbled. \u201cWhat is a propos<\/em>?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nJerry glanced over his shoulder at his mother before speaking into the receiver quietly. \u201cIt\u2019s a go\u2026 yeah. Monday.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWhat is coup d\u2019\u00e9tat<\/em>?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cRight. Bad ticker. Got it?\u201d He hung up, grabbed the TV dinners from the oven, and returned to the living room, hiding his smile. Soon he\u2019d be free.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWhat is d\u00e9ja vu<\/em>?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
July is nearing an end, which means my 30 stories in 31 days trauma—I mean, challenge is almost over. No, I will not be completing the 30 stories, but I am happy with what I have accomplished and might try this again in another month when I am not doing a billion other writing challenges […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"I'm still writing 30 #flashfiction stories in July. Today: Responding to @ChuckWendig's #writing challenge","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[61,16,6,20],"class_list":["post-302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-chuck-wendig","tag-flash-fiction","tag-writing-2","tag-writing-challenge"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/\u30fb-Banff-National-Park-September-28-2016-\u30fb.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4WVQN-4S","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions\/306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}