The exercise:
Write about: the wire.
Back in Kaleden again. Most of the last couple days were spent putting up drywall in our bathroom, which is now more or less done. The tub surround still needs to be installed, the hole around our new bathroom fan needs to be properly finished, and Kat and I need to pick out a new light to go above the sink.
Other than that... oh, I guess we'll need to do some painting as well, where the new drywall shows.
We've got another two and a half weeks here in Kaleden, and then we're going on a big trip to the coast and island, so hopefully by the time we get back from that and are living in Osoyoos full-time again, everything will be finished.
Fingers crossed, and all that good stuff.
Mine:
I hurry across the parking lot, wire clothes hanger in hand. The salesman in the department store had parted with it with surprisingly little hassle. Well, I suppose he's not getting paid enough to care what I need it for. I didn't even need to bore him with my sad sack story about locking my keys inside my car.
It seems like there are more cars out here than people in the mall. More are arriving every second too, circling for open spaces like four-wheeled vultures. If I had more time I'd grab a coffee and sit and enjoy the show.
I'm headed for the back corner of the lot. Despite its distance from the nearest door, there are few unoccupied spaces even out here. In this heat, anyone hauling shopping bags this distance is liable to drop dead from a heart attack.
But all I've got is this hanger, which I'm bending into a new shape as I move. I spot the red pickup truck with the dented rear bumper and breathe a sigh of relief. Still there.
I slow my pace and look around to see if any nosy parkers are lurking. Expecting and finding none, I smile before dropping to my belly and sliding under the truck. I'll wait here for as long as it takes for its owner to return.
And when he does, I'll wrap this wire around his throat and squeeze until I'm able to forget about seeing this truck parked in front of my ex-wife's house two nights ago.
It might take a lot of squeezing.
2 comments:
Well done with the drywall! It sounds like you're going to go back to a nicer house than you left :) Even the painting doesn't sound so bad (and I'm no fan of painting; having to avoid streaks and brush-strokes and all the rest turns it into work instead of fun.)
I was a little concerned about where your coathanger might be going given you've been reading Stephen King lately, but it was much less gory than I was expecting. I still think he's influencing you though :) I did the little details, including the lie about what it was for, and the ingenuity involved in picking a garotte that's readily available and going to be really hard to remove.
The wire
"The red wire's connected to the... solenoid. The solenoid's connected to the green wire. The green wire's connected to the... power source. Boom goes the bomb in the night!" Charlie was singing under his breath as he rewired the smoke alarm, and Amanda looked at him as she came closer. He felt the weight of her stare, and looked up.
"Poor choice of song, Charlie," she said. "What if a customer came in?"
"How would they get in?" he said. "You need a passcard just to get through the outside door, and then you're in the outer office and you shout at them when they're legitimate customers."
"I don't shout!"
"Alright, you've never learned to use an indoor voice."
There was silence while Amanda glared at him some more, and then she dropped a pile of paperwork on his desk.
"Finish it by lunchtime," she said, her voice almost dripping with venom.
"Hang it up in the outer office," said Charlie, handing her the smoke alarm.
As she stalked off, slamming the door behind her, Charlie picked up the paperwork and slipped out the back door. The bomb he'd wired in had a fifteen minute fuse, and he was pretty certain he was down to eight; just long enough to get in his truck and get away from the office.
Greg - yeah, there are still some lingering King-effects going on :P
Well, Charlie certainly is an intriguing character! A very smooth one at that, too.
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