The butterfly wing steers the storm (431 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.5 on 19 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by skrapmetal (View user info) at 2008-04-05 18:17:51 EDT
It was 5:30 on Friday evening and Mike had just gotten off work at the hardware store in the small farming town he called home. The owner paid in cash and Friday was payday, so Mike was smiling. Mike was 17 years old, and had recently enacted what he thought was the smartest decision he'd ever made: he'd quit school to work and party. Hed already saved enough money working while most of his friends were learning history to buy his own car. It wasn't the sweetest ride in the world, but it was all his. He was smiling as he drove it through the numbered county roads over to his stepdad's house to pick up the party supplies for this evening's trip to the lake.
Mike's stepdad was considered 'cool' by Mike's friends because he'd buy beer for weekend parties. He always made Mike promise to avoid driving after drinking anything and insisting on his calling home for a ride rather than taking to the almost-desterted rural roads. Mike was smart enough to know that being in jail meant no partying, so he rarely failed to follow his stepdad's advice.
Today Mike stopped in to the house and made a sandwich, gave his dad $40 of his pay to cover the beer, and loaded the cases of aluminum cans from Sam's Club into the back seat of his car. Hopefully he'd not have to take any hard corners. Loose cans rolling around the car would be no good at all. In the trunk he put his tent and a couple coolers. The guy at the gas station on the way to the lake would sell him the ice and cigarettes he'd require. He was cool too - never asked for cigarette ID.
Mike left the house and drove away into the dusk along CR 565.
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Sheri was walking through the parking lot of her high school, talking on her cell 'phone to a fellow swim team member she could still see walking towards her own car after leaving the school together. Swimming practice was over and they'd changed and left the building, heading home on Friday night. She jumped into the car her dad bought her for her 16th birthday, still talking on the cell 'phone that her dad had bought her on her 13th birthday. It was nothing unusual for her to talk to her friends more than she studied or watched TV or talked to her family or even slept. As she left the parking lot, she told her friend that she had to say goodbye until she got home. Her father was insistent that she not use the 'phone while driving at the risk of losing the use of both items. Her family had lots of friends around the little school; it was likely that one of them would be out and her daed's friends were just the type to call him and tell him if she was misbehaving. She hung up and drove away.
She left the school and little town behind, heading out to her family's farmhouse for dinner. They had a big while house over 100 years old, up on top of the biggest hill on CR 565.
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It was getting darker, so Mike switched on his headlights. At precicely the same time, miles away, the automatinc sensor in Sheri's car turned on it's headlights.
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Mike knew that there was a cop that lived in the house at the bottom of the hill, so he always made sure he wasn't speeding as he went past there. He checked the speedometer... 45 mph, just the limit. Mike's second favorite song started playing on the radio, and mike switched steering hands to turn up the volume.
--
Sheri knew that her neighbor was a policeman and would always tell her dad if he saw her speeding or talking on the 'phone or doing anything at all wrong. She checked her speed and it read 45, no more than allowed by the sign at the bottom of the hill across from her neighbor's driveway. Even though she was late for dinner, she did not dare speed. Her cell 'phone rang and she knew it was her mother or father calling to see why she was late. She knew better than to answer, but she switched steering hands to get the 'phone from her purse.
--
User Reviews
Submitted by shadow (user info) at 2008-04-14 16:46:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
damn dude.
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-04-07 15:01:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by sideshow (user info) at 2008-04-07 14:43:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
File name! Good conclusion to the story....without the filename there is no closure!
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Whenever I hear someone say the word 'closure' aloud, I always get a mental picture of the speaker making finger quotes as the word is spoken. It's that kind of word.
Here's the other car http://www.ratpackcycles.com/Sheriscar.jpg
Submitted by sideshow (user info) at 2008-04-07 14:43:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
File name! Good conclusion to the story....without the filename there is no closure!
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2008-04-07 13:27:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
pontiac go boom
Submitted by Lib (user info) at 2008-04-07 12:52:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Hookhand (user info) at 2008-04-07 01:32:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Learn the difference between "its" and "it's" please
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2008-04-06 21:18:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
You should write after school specials.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2008-04-06 20:58:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2008-04-06 20:19:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by kuroneko_sama (user info) at 2008-04-06 19:26:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
was that a grand prix? i think the bartender here has the same car
Submitted by rorrim (user info) at 2008-04-06 04:37:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-04-06 03:40:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Excellent.
Submitted by sparkle_pink (user info) at 2008-04-06 03:19:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I recently finished a run of an opera that included the line "The flapping of the penis creates the wind." That was the first thing I thought of when I read the title of this post.
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-04-06 01:44:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by JustAnotherStudent (user info) at 2008-04-05 21:36:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Predictable as hell. And please stop with the 'phone bullshit. It's annoying.
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It was supposed to be predictable, so I'm glad you got that. My reports are science-based and there's no room for backstory. This was but an outlet for a backstory. The term "'phone" is a contraction of the word "telephone", and is correct in this useage. The word I think you want me to use instead of "'phone" is "phone", which means "a speech sound". One does not talk on a phone. One talks on a 'phone by the use of organized phones. NOTE: This reads as sarcastic, but it's meant to be only explanatory. Thanks for reading/rating.
Submitted by JustAnotherStudent (user info) at 2008-04-05 21:36:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Predictable as hell. And please stop with the 'phone bullshit. It's annoying.
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2008-04-05 18:38:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
It's like one of those math problems isn't it? What would be the force of an impact of two cars hitting head on assuming they were both going 45 mph.
Submitted by SkullBiter (user info) at 2008-04-05 18:35:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I like the part when you talk about the girl, what she has, and how she got it.
Submitted by Ltap (user info) at 2008-04-05 18:34:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I liked it. A lot.
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-04-05 18:18:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I am working on a case (not this one) that has me exasperated. I needed to stop staring at the physics and math for a while but not completely sever my train of thought from the subject. This helped.