The scene: a tunnel deep below the surface.
The participants: two men methodically digging away using pick axes and shovels.
The moment: a casual conversation about the why.
Yancy: Hey Bob, I think the vein is done tapped out. We haven't struck anything in nearly two weeks.
Bob: Sure looks that way doesn't it.
Yancy: Then why in tarnation are we still doing it?
Bob: Because the company says so.
Yancy: But they're throwing away good money after bad.
Bob: Doesn't matter. We still have to keep digging. I know the pickings have been slime to none as of late, but the company still believes that there's still a few nuggets left in this vein.
Yancy: (kicks a few pieces of coal down a deep bottomless pit) Shoot, they ain't nothing left. We've been plugging away for nineteen months and I think we've reached the bitter end.
Bob: Yeah, but...(Bob stops speaking as the ground starts to violently shake and rumble beneath his feet)
Yancy: Bob! Look out!!!
Bob: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! (the force of the explosion sends Bob flying through the air at the speed of slow, until he comes to a stop face first into a wall of blubber)
Yancy: Woah! (sees a bunch a large boulders blow out of the fissure that appeared where Bob was previously standing) Bob, you gotta check out this pile of rocks!!
Bob: -------
Yancy starts to gather up the boulders and puts them into a wheelbarrow. As he puts each fifty pound boulder in, he reads the word that had been seared into the side of each one
Yancy: Let's see, this one says "writing", and another one over here says, "blogging", and this says...hmmm...can't seem to make out the word. Hey Bob, can you come over here for a minute?
Bob:-------
Yancy: Okay, I see that you're still inhaling some of that whale blubber, so I'll leave you be...hey, you know what, I think I figured out what the word is. The word is---
Just when Yancy is about to say what the word is, the ground shakes and another fissure opens up and swallows Yancy lock, stock, and barrel. Then, just as quickly as it opens, it closes up again. In the meantime, Bob is still inhaling blubber and turning the darkest shade of blue this side of the daytime sky. Suddenly, Bob stops inhaling the blubber and becomes as quiet as a blade of grass.
Who knew that the awful calamity that had befallen our intrepid miners had the seeds first sewn when the company decided to make one last effort to boldly go where no mining company had ever dared to go to before.
One again, the mine known as The Terrible G has cruelly regained its reputation as the most lethal brain ever to come out of the badlands of Southern New England.
Monday, December 28, 2009
13 comments:
Go on, give me your best shot. I can take it. If I couldn't, I wouldn't have created this wonderful little blog that you decided to grace with your presence today.
About that comment moderation thingy: While yes, it does say up above I can take it, I only use it to prevent the occasional miscreant from leaving thoughtless and/or clueless comments.
So remember, all of your comments are greatly appreciated and all answers will be given that personal touch that you come to expect and enjoy.
G. B. Miller
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Great story G . I just came to say hello but stayed a little longer as I was enjoying your posts so much.
ReplyDeleteG, you're supposed to drink the eggnog, not snort it, my man!
ReplyDeleteWhat inspired this?
ReplyDeleteAttack of the Brain!
ReplyDeleteFrigginloon: Thanks for stopping by to say hi, and I'm glad you were able to spend some time to peruse my blog.
ReplyDeleteCharles: if that was only true. I know I inhaled something that day, but what it was, I don't rightly know...maybe I was watching too much Ren & Stimpy that day...:D
R.K.: What inspired this was the fact that I need to dig a new tunnel for my creativity, as the current tunnel is starting to peter out.
Mama Z: Absolutely!
I admire your creative approach to your current writer's blockage. Seems like that vein has some life left yet ;)
ReplyDeleteTalon: Thanks. The blockage has definitely been more blog related than anything else. With my other stuff, I'm slowly chipping away at it, but it's definitely been a struggle as well.
ReplyDeleteI think overall it's been an issue of simply focusing my attention on just two things (blog and current novel), instead of the mulitple headaches.
In other words, writing by paralysis.
I find sometimes the more things I want to write about the less I seem to be able to say. I think to write a good post you have to have a clear vision of what you want to write about, and sometimes the mind won't play ball.
ReplyDeleteJoe: That is so very true for me right now. I've been stuck in sort of a mental drift for the better part of two weeks and it's getting more difficult to come up with something that meets my high standards.
ReplyDeleteThis particular post is a prime example of what I'm going through right now.
Surely a legend to rival the Tall Tale of Paul Bunyan of the NorthWest...
ReplyDeleteSome people might say that I'm a legend in my own mind. :D
ReplyDeleteYou know, I really like this story:) Very interesting and thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteJane: Thanks. When I originally wrote this, I was going through a brief dry spell with both my blog writing in my regular writing.
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, I was actually running out of things to write about. It's going to be a tough couple of months because the well is still a little dry.
However, the one thing I still got is my free-form fiction. And it will usually be based in some kind of reality like this one was.