AW Blog Chain

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Welcome to the June blog chain. Ralph Pines preceded me in the chain and Pezie will follow me. The complete list of participants is at the end of my post.

This month’s prompt: Setting the Scene

Write a location description, and make us feel as if we are there. No dialogue, no introductory comments, just a location. We’re the tourists, you’re the guide.

I have a confession to make–this is NOT my cup o’tea. I am more of a dialogue girl. Any-who, this is an excellent exercise for me, a needed exercise.

Without further ado, welcome to the setting of my (Iris’s) YA novel. I’ve taken an existing scene and edited out all the dialogue and replaced it with prose, and now that it’s done, I rather like it being dialogue-free.

Rex stands to dispose of his food tray. Wordlessly, he cocks his head. His grin is a effective enough leash, and with a sigh, I extricate myself from the institutional picnic table. I trot alongside him as the watchful scowls of a few classmates escort us out of the cafeteria.

Down the hallway to the exterior door we walk. It’s a closed campus but we’re allowed outside. No one, not even a smoker, has opted for this limited form of freedom. Why would they? It’s pouring down rain.

Rex herds me outside anyway.

The grass beyond the sidewalk swims beneath a glassy surface broken only by kamikaze raindrops. The rain has spared no section of sidewalk, blowing in sideways to soak even the walls and walkway under the eaves. We pause and stare into the grey gloom.

I feel like I should apologize for the weather to this New Yorker who stands by my side. That’s what we do in the Pacific Northwest—apologize, always apologize for the drizzle and clouds, for the constant lack of sun that will grip your soul and squeeze out every morsel of joy if you show a moment’s weakness.

In the gloom, I sniff the air that smells of mineral-laden tap water with a twist of mildew.

Rex steps to the edge of the covered area and stretches a hand out to catch a few raindrops. He repeats the gesture with two cupped hands and laps up his catchings. I watch his chest expand as he breathes in deeply. His exhale is loud and satisfied and he murmurs something about how refreshing it all is. I snort back my disdain. He won’t think that after he’s lived here awhile.

With that same enslaving grin, he retreats and says we should move to the front of the building.

Again, I follow. Beats spending the last few minutes of our lunch break in the oppressive kangaroo court of student opinion.

We walk in a silence as heavy and ponderous as the bruised skies that press in on us.

When we turn the corner, Rex slides his back down the wall and sits on the sidewalk, the first dry patch I’ve seen. The wind has overlooked driving the wetness toward this compass point.

I slide down in similar fashion and sit next to him. We’re somewhat hidden behind a grouping of rhododendrons nestled near the based of a monolithic evergreen that creaks and sways in the wind. Come May, the stalwart rhodies will explode in a riot of crimson and cotton candy pink.

Our thighs and arms brush, but neither of us adjusts to make more room. In the corona of Rex’s warmth, I sit and watch the liquid sunshine.

The participants:

This month’s prompt: Relationships

Show a character’s approach to relationships in a short scene. Use your characters’ interaction to show the dynamics of their relationship, show how they’re growing together or growing apart, or just have silly fun.

Character descriptions at the beginning are forbidden this time around–let them speak or act for themselves!

I was preceded in the chain by Yoghurtelf and will be followed by Aimeelaine.

While I can’t tell you about the characters, I’ll just say this is a scene I’ve whittled down from my / Iris’s in-process young adult novel, working title Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (and no, it’s not about gays in the military).

*****

Ellen and Rex

By the time I climb to the top of the iron geodome, Gracie and Lizzy have locked onto each other while their mounts, Rex and Tyler, attempt to maneuver them into strategically advantageous positions.

“I think you can take ‘em both. ” Mark throws down his cigarette butt and gives it a quick twist with the toe of his shoe. He presents his back to me and says, “Get on.”

“Come on, Ellen!” Lizzy yells. She and Gracie have broken apart but their horses are snorting and pawing the ground, ready to charge again.

“Uh-oh, uh-oh, here come Ellen and Mark. We can take ‘em can’t we, baby?” If Gracie’s little girl voice cracks my reluctance, Rex’s theatrical snarl pulverizes it to smithereens.

I lower myself onto Mark’s offered back. He’s large and strong and takes my weight as if I’m no heavier than a gym bag.

We hurtle toward our opponents. I use my leg like a jousting pole to knock Gracie loose. She struggles to stay on Rex’s back but manages.

Like the good mount he is, Mark spins and charges me in for another attack on Gracie. Lizzy takes the other side, and between the two of us, we easily unseat her. Rex laughs and extends a hand to help her up.

“I want a new partner!” Gracie shoves Rex away and stomps toward Tyler and Lizzy. “Switch!”

Mark taunts them. “Doesn’t matter if you switch or not, we’ll beat all of you, no matter which way you pair off!” He prances around in a tight circle and I can’t help but chortle.

I lightly pound a fist against Mark’s chest. “We’ll kick your ass, no offense, Rex, and you too, Gracie. My steed is fearless!”

With a grim look on his face, Rex marches over to Mark and I. “It’s a three-way switch, so we’ll see about that. Get off him, Ellen.”

Well, someone’s a bad loser, methinks. “Fine,” I say, and squirm free from Mark’s grip. I hope my glee over the switch up isn’t too obvious.

Rex plucks me away, and still holding my hand, spins his back toward me. I hop on. He’s warm and firm and sports a slightly damp spot on the back of his t-shirt. I inhale where his shoulder meets his neck. His scent is all boy—a little sweat, a little shampoo, and a hint of shaving cream. Spicy. Earthy. Rex.

“Hold on tight, Ellen, because we’re going to be an unholy blend of cunning strategy, power and beauty.”

“Yeah? And what will your contribution be?”

I like teasing him. His neck is next to my mouth. If I were a vampire, I could bite him. If I were a poet, I could whisper melodious adorations. If I were his girlfriend, I could give his earlobe a gentle nip.

But I’m none of these. I can only recant my taunt with, “…other than being the best mount in the stable, of course,” and wonder where in the world I’ve dredged up the chutzpah.

We attack. Rex steers me first toward Gracie and I handily drop her to the ground. Lizzy isn’t as easy because her mount is both strong and ferocious. But if Mark is a grizzly bear, Rex is a badger. He’s agile and relentless, and in no time, he’s maneuvered me into a position that allows me to pry Lizzy off.

“Victory lap!” Rex runs around the perimeter of the playground with me clinging tightly to his back.

I bounce with each downbeat, a vibrato in my tuneless hum. I don’t want to let him go, don’t want this moment to end, but he isn’t mine no matter how much I might wish it.

You had your chance. Your chance you had. Had you your chance. Your chance had you.

The words collide and reassemble in my brain, their cadence in sync with Rex’s movements. But their meaning never changes.

He slows to a walk and we rejoin the others where I imagine he holds me on his back a little longer than necessary. Foolish girl.

*****

The complete list of blog chain participants is:

Claire Gillian

Darkly Romantic Curmudgeon

AW June Blog Chain — “Settings” — The Pacific NW

AW Blog Chain May — Character Relationships