Faulkner Made More Sense...A Short Story

The Weekly Writing Prompt!

It's Sunday night, a good time to write a bit of flash fiction. If you'd like to give it a shot, too, it's easy! And fun! Basically, go to the sites listed below and check out the picture and write a short story about it. Here are the official rules:

1) Use the above photo and five randomly-chosen words in your story.

2) Keep your word count 500 or less (or a few more words if they're needed...).

3) You have until next Tuesday night to link up your story.

4) Use the Blue Link to add your story at Leanne's or Tena's websites--follow the instructions.

5) Have fun, don't stress, and let those creative juices flow!

 Here Are The Five Words:

Milkshake

Sausage

Button

Pumpkin

Grasshopper

Come on! Give it a try! Here's my attempt!

Faulkner Made More Sense

"Hey Chuck, what you watching?" Sean said as he entered the living room after spending the past two hours cramming for a American Lit final. His brain needed a rest and Sean figured some mindless TV just might do the trick.

"It's Eastern European football," Chuck said, his eyes never leaving the screen.

"Oh, you mean like rugby?"

"No," Chuck said. "Well, kind of. It's more like American football than Australian or New Zealand."

"Really, how so?" Sean said as he sat down on the second-hand couch the college roommates bought at a yard sale at the beginning of last year. "Do they score touchdowns?"

"Yeah," Chuck said and reached for a bowl semi-filled with pretzels on the coffee table. "They call them Pollydonks. They're worth three points, except if you cross the goal line upside down, it's worth nine and it's called a grasshopper."

"You serious, Chuck?"

"Oh yeah! It's so much fun to watch. Sometimes teammates will lift a player completely upside down and carry him across the goal while he's holding the fitzoiy."

"The what?" Sean asked.

"The fitzoiy. Oh, yeah...I forgot. It's what they call the ball, a fitzoiy--it's an Estonian word which means "pumpkin."

"Now I see it," Sean said as they showed a player running with a large orange pumpkin-resembling ball. "Oh, what just happened?" Sean pointed to the TV as players ran to the center of the field and formed a line. They then ran like a snake around the pitch.

"Oh, they're forming a sausage line."

"A what?"

"Yeah, it's a sausage line. They do this to try and psych out the other team."

"No way!"

"Way! Oh, man! Look at that! They're doing a milkshake! They're actually pulling off a milkshake!"

"What the frick's a milkshake?"

"That's when the sausage line forms a circle and completely surrounds four of the other team's players--that's called a button. But when the other team then forms their own sausage line and surrounded the button--as long as the fitzoiy's not involved, they call that a milkshake, and they just did it, see?"

Sean had no idea what was going on. "But, why do they call it a milkshake?"

"Just watch!" Sean leaned into the TV as something he'd never seen before occurred on screen. As soon as the larger sausage line completed their circle, everyone on both teams ran into the center of the field. The referee grabbed the pumpkin and hurled it into the center of the players. As soon as it was caught, everyone in the circle threw the player up in the air then each team tried to carry the player toward their own goal line.

"That's a milkshake!" Chuck said.

Sean stared, his mouth agape. "I think I'll go back to Faulkner...he made more sense."

Word Count: 471