11 August 2006

730 Days, Part IV

He woke as the last echoes of the shrill scream faded in the dark. For three nights, that fish in the cell with Killingsworth had mewled pathetically. Tonight he mustn't have been able to muffle his own cries. For that, he'd be lucky to see another morning. Another nameless stranger come and gone; no one to mourn his passing.

Jonah looked at Marisa's photo for a moment, but that only reminded him her birthday was soon. He rolled to face the cinderblock wall, the hard steel bunk cold through the thin mattress. Javier - who could sleep through a riot, Jonah was convinced - slept soundlessly.

As he resettled, he saw flashes of the dream he'd been having before the screaming tore him from sleep's embrace. Mike and Becca, Memorial Day at Stinson, and the retriever they'd had since they were kids. It was one of those rare, really hot days where the fog had burned off by dawn. Mike's farmer's tan made him look like he was wearing a dingy white t-shirt, at least until he started to fry. Becca's hair was like the waves - smooth, deep, black, flecked with white. He always thought it was funny how black-haired girls had grey, no matter how young.

Munson was old by this time. They got him - Mike got him - from Mrs. Pearsall Memorial Day of '77. The Memorial Day in Cali would be his last. Jonah would have to bring him to the vet that August while Mike was on a cross-country run. Mike never got a chance to say goodbye.

4 comments:

Angie Pansey said...

You're a really good writer, but I think you already knew that.

I envy...me words no so good...

R.A. Porter said...

Yah...not so much. That's why I make myself write something almost every day. I'd not practiced in years, and my skills hadn't progressed beyond where I was at 17.

I've got, like, five projects all sitting at various stages of incompleteness right now. So...not only have my abilities not improved, but my focus is exactly where it was as a teen-ager.

But I make myself write, and have been using these stupid "730 Days" pieces as writing exercises. Sadly, my wife liked the first but hasn't been much impressed with the rest. I can only conclude I shot the entirety of my wad with the massive three-paragraph part one.

Still, thanks for the very kind words. Maybe the ego boost will help me find some foc...ooh, this is shiny!

Angie Pansey said...

So from your other posts and what I seem to have read between the lines here, you still have the mentality of horny teenage geek? One who's found a shiny object no less...

Seriously tho, I do enjoy your writing. Keep it up!

R.A. Porter said...

Yes, well, I never have grown up. Don't plan on it, either.