Wednesday May 30th, 2012

The exercise:

Let us see what we can do with: the rate.

The deck is done! Well, the decking is basically finished (we need like, a third of a board to reach the edge). Now we need stairs and a railing. And eventually we're going to connect around the front of the house to the front steps.

But for now, it's done!

Not only that, but I'm actually taking tomorrow as a day off. I honestly don't remember the last time I had one of those.

Mine:

Josie reached for the remote and turned the TV volume down when she heard the lobby door jingle open. From her stool behind the reception desk she watched the man approach, silently calculating whether he had more oil in his hair or mustache.

"Evenin' sweetheart," he called out, smiling widely enough to display his sparkling white teeth. "How much for the night?"

"Fifty bucks for a single, seventy-five for a double," Josie replied after a brief pause, during which she contemplated telling him the motel was full up. For the rest of forever.

"And what, dear angel, are your rates?" he asked, leaning a forearm on the desk and blessing her with a conspiratorial wink.

"I just told you," she said with her best imitation of a welcoming smile. "Fifty for a single and -"

"Oh goodness me," the man cut in before laughing too earnestly. "I do believe you failed to understand my question. You see, lovely lady, what I meant was how -"

"I understood you just fine, sleazeball," Josie said, her smile vanishing as she pulled the shotgun out from under her chair and leveled it at the man's mouth. "Now either pay for your room and get your key, or get the hell out of my motel."

3 comments:

Greg said...

A railing? What's wrong with a safety net that doubles as a child-hammock for sunny days? :-P
I wonder if anyone, when starting a job, measures carefully enough so that the size planks/tiles/standard width of wallpaper rolls actually fits perfectly? It always seems to come down to trying to cut things to the right size at the end.
Josie seems like a tough cookie, I wonder how she'd fare if her customer turned out to be Henri?

The rate
Acceleration
Is the rate of change of velocity over time,
And velocity
Is the rate of change of position.
Yet it seems my age is accelerating,
And I swear it never stood still,
So is this why, when I wake in the mornings,
Do I always feel over the hill?

Unknown said...

Er, I don't think Josie and Henri would get along very well...

<>

This form is called a Pun-Ku. I've been tooling around trying out some new stuff, just to shake things up. Four lines - with a 4-5-4-4 pattern. Lines three and four rhyme.


I'm not concerned
With those silly stars
To rate my skill
Comment at will

Marc said...

Greg - hmm, that sounds like much more fun that a boring old railing. I shall consider it!

And wonder no longer! I simply could not resist.

Hah, fun poem. It grows ever more true with each passing year too...

Morrigan - no, but they make a fun pair anyway :D

Neat little poetry form, though I feel it should have at least *something* to do with Punk music.

And yes, that poem just about sums up my feelings on the subject as well.