Friday October 7th, 2011

The exercise:

Four lines of prose about: an uncle.

Kat's brother and sister-in-law arrived yesterday afternoon, along with their three and a half week old daughter. My niece. I'm her uncle.

That's... going to take some getting used to.

They're in town for Thanksgiving weekend and were joined today by Kat's aunt and uncle from Calgary. Tomorrow one of Kat's cousins will arrive, and my sister Sue and her husband Jake will get here and stay in our guest room (everybody else is sleeping in Kat's parents house).

Should be a weekend filled with good company and good food.

Mine:

"When is Uncle Horny going to be here?" the little boy asked, his nose pressed against the living room window.

"Uncle Henri, dear," the boy's mother said for the third time that afternoon. "And I'm sure he'll be arriving any minute now, so you just keep looking for him."

She returned to the romance novel she was writing on her laptop, not feeling any guilt whatsoever for using her brother's non-existent arrival as a distraction for her hyperactive son.

6 comments:

Greg said...

Nieces and Nephews are the best kind of children – you can give them back to their parents when they stop being wonderful little angels and start needing nappies changed or feeding, or just general care :)
Glad to hear that Lessons in the Dust is getting revision! I shall look forward to status updates on it :)
Heh, does Henri influence everyone around him to be a little less nice? The image of a small boy with his nose pressed to the window is quite compelling.

An uncle
"Congratulations! You're an uncle!"
"Uh... you're single, so how can I be an unc–?"
"I found this baby just left alone in a pushchair outside the shops this afternoon!"

Marc said...

Greg - yes, exactly! All the fun, none of the hassle :)

I love how much you conveyed using only dialogue - I've got a great image in my head of that scene taking place.

Drake Davenport said...

Ok, I'm so far behind now. Should be more careful here...
---

A toy car!

Uncle Louie always brought me good gifts. I remember last year, he got me a bb gun.

I don't know why my parents didn't like him. He was so fun! But they always stopped talking when he was in the room. And then they'd make him leave. I only saw him a couple times a year.

They were always great times.

I remember one time my parents started yelling at him. Something about him hitting people for a living or something. They didn't like that he worked for this guy named Tony.

I don't know what he does for work, but it sounds cool. When I grow up, I want to be just like him.

Drake Davenport said...

No! I totally missed the prose thing. Sorry. There goes my story...

Drake Davenport said...

Jimmy always liked when Uncle Louie came for a visit. His parents, on the other hand, didn't. They would always argue with him about his job and how he worked for this guy named "Tony" and how he hit people or something. Jimmy didn't know what Uncle Louie did for a living; he only knew that when he grew up, he wanted to be just like him.

Marc said...

Drake - I like both versions, but I'm glad you missed out on the four line thing the first time around as I really enjoyed the extra details you were able to include in that take.

Either way, no worries - I'm never upset when people go over the 'limit' on Fridays, as I'd hate to be responsible for people stopping before they're good and ready :)