A flash fiction take on relationships. (Image by RustedBrolly)
Like Talkin’ to the Smoke
The three of them sit around the camp fire. It is shaman time, and well.. Ma and Pa are dead tired, so the lanky son throws on another log, gazes at the smoke rising and starts to grin.
Pa lifts his droopy eyelids. "What y''all got wigglin'' there, boy?"
The boy lets his grin wiggle some more. “Just thinkin’. Ya know, sometimes relationships are more about how long you can stay tired, than about feeling anything like bein’ energized or somethin’."
"What you talkin'' ‘bout, boy?" Ma says softly.
"Just, that whether you''re the guy or the gal, it''s kinda like talkin'' to smoke... ya know, tryin'' to make this gettin’-together-thing work, that is." He watched the smoke disappear up in the bows of the pines.
"What kind of thinkin’ is that?" Pa grunts.
"Just noodlin’ around, but ya ever think about what keeps a mule goin'', Pa? He don''t like to plow, but he likes carrots. So you hang a carrot out there in front of him, ya know, big stick roped round its neck, pokin'' out there between his ears."
"That''s sweet, dear," Ma says with a proud smile.
"So, anyway, the mule gets exhausted without the carrot, but mule with a carrot...now right there, y''all got yourself a relationship, ‘cause with a carrot, mule’ll spend a long time puttin’ up with tired, right?"
Boy smiles at Ma. “Just like you with Pa, ya know?”
Pa looks over at Ma. "Boy''s turnin'' into some kind of weird, don’t ya think?"
‘Naw. He’s just gettin’ ready to do some oat sowin’ soon, aren’t ya dear?”
The boy shrugs and continues watching the curling gray rising from the fire. "Relationships...like talkin'' to smoke."
Perplexed, Ma and Pa gaze up at the smoke.
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Love ya!
Jane
I agree with Richard. Would make a great short.
Ron