Roadside Diner - Flash Fiction

I love to start with a writing prompt and let my imagination run wild.

Today’s writing prompt from Wake Up Your Muse: “Don’t order the Blue Plate Special,” whispered the waitress.

2:00 AM, somewhere in the middle of Oklahoma. I pulled into Henry's 24-hour Eatin' Hole, praying hard that Henry served high-octane coffee. Two days on the road had left me red-eyed and worn out. Still, I wasn’t ready to stop for the night. I wanted to put as many miles between me and that conniving snake, Luke Amari as I could.

How is it possible that two entirely different men could occupy one body? One was my sweet and considerate fiancee and the other…I shuddered to think of it…a member of the infamous New Jersey crime family. I can’t believe that Luke and I had sat together every week watching The Sopranos-me unaware that the series was based on his real life mafia relatives.

The diner was nearly deserted except for one guy, sitting on a stool at the counter, shoveling what looked like a pile of slop, smothered in gravy into his mouth.

I grabbed a seat several stools from him and ordered a cup of black coffee from the gum-chewing waitress wearing a stained, uniform. Her name tag read Mitzi.  “Anything else, sweetie?” she asked, “We have a couple pieces of Boston cream pie left. It’ll go great with your coff…”

A strange gurgling sound interrupted her sales pitch. I looked over in time to see the guy to my left face down in his plate of slop.

“Henry, call 911,” the waitress yelled through window behind her that served as a pass through for orders.

“Now, what?” called a husky voice from the kitchen.

“Well, I don’t know, Henry. I’m not a doctor, but from the looks of this guy passed out in his plate, I'd say it's an emergency, so for pity’s sake, would you please dial 911 and tell them to get out here?”

She turned to me again, order pad poised in her hand and said, “Now, what would you like to go with your coffee, dearie?”  Then she leaned over and whispered, “Don’t order the Blue Plate Special.”

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The Smelly Jewel Caper

Today's Monday's Muse prompt from Wake Up Your Muse is: He stuffed the bag of jewels inside the fish, wrapped it and put it into the freezer

Here's my story using the prompt...

The Smelly Jewel Caper

Photo courtesy enricomaria,
rgbstock.com

Griff slit the rock bass open along it's belly, dug out all the innards, then stuffed the plastic baggie full of jewels into the cavity. He wrapped the fish in clean white freezer paper, taped it shut with masking tape and wrote "Rock Bass" on the front, then threw it in the back of the freezer, piling the rest of the frozen goods in front of it.

"We're almost there, Duke," he said to the old hound dog lying in front of the screen door.

Fishing had been great lately and his catch was piling up. Soon he would have enough to buy that boat he'd always wanted and spend the rest of his life on the open seas instead of trolling the waters around his shack in the Everglades.

One more heist ought to do it and then he'd take his haul down to Shady Sam's hideout and sell them.

Footsteps on creaky boards outside startled him.

"Griff, you in there?" came a voice from his front stoop.

"Who's there?" he called, reaching for his shotgun.

He kicked the dog outta his way. "Thanks alot for the warning, you mangy mutt!"

"It's the sheriff, Griff. You better come on out of there."

Griff reconsiderd, sat his shotgun behind the door and stepped out onto the rickkety porch.

"What can i do for ya, Sheriff?" he asked.

The sheriff eyed Griff hard and steady for a minute. Griff shuffled uneasily back and forth, ran his fingers through his unwashed hair, then smoothed down his wirey beard.

"I hear you been pullin' in more than your limit, Griff," said the Sheriff. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to confiscate your catch."

Griff knew the jig was up. Sheriff Roscoe was no fool. If he knew about the fish, he knew about the jewels and Griff knew better than to mess with this Sheriff. Many a fisherman had become gator bait by crossin' Sheriff Roscoe Black. He was as crooked as a dog's hind leg.

Griff stepped aside as the sheriff opened the screen door and crossed the room to the old refrigerator. He emptied the contents of the freezer into a burlap bag he'd brought with him, climbed in his jeep and then drove away, taking Griff's dreams with him.

"Consarn it!" he muttered. "That'll set me back a bit."

Duke gave him a questioning look.

"Well, at least he didn't get the stuff we stashed in the outhouse, did he, boy?" Griff said.

He reached down and nudged the old hound, who had found a another place to lay.

"Come on, boy. Let's go fishin'. I hear they're hittin' pretty good in Key Largo."


For more fun writing prompts go the prompt generator at WakeUpYourMuse.com
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(Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)

Wake Up Your Muse

Need a little something to jumpstart your writing? How about a fun summer writing challenge and a chance to win a Wake Up Your Muse coffee mug?

In celebration of my upcoming release of Wake Up Your Muse - 1001 Story Starters for Fiction Writers, due out in October 2011, I'm is hosting a short story challenge.

Just hop on over to http://www.wakeupyourmuse.com, select one of five writing prompts from my book and enter to win.

You can also check out the Wake Up Your Muse writing prompt generator on the site.

Have fun and keep writing!

Jan