Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
Denise is the host of the Six Sentence Story bloghop.
Her challenge to us: write a story around, through, using and/or otherwise referencing the week’s prompt word. Oh, and that story? Six and only six sentences in length.
This week the word is:
Destiny
The clock on the wall of the recently occupied classroom now ticked off the minutes with a certain joy, in contrast to the previous six hours when it played the role of a mute prison guard who kept the wrought iron and wood desks filled with fifth grade students.
“Francis? It’s time to go home,” his teacher, Mrs. Ryan was the only person, other than his mother, who called Hunk by his Christian name.
Looking up from the book on his desk, Hunk Dietrich’s face had the expression of someone who, on a cross-country train, had fallen asleep between stops, the practiced acceptance that the world would always be unfamiliar to a certain extent. Carrying the ‘Mac-Map’ volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica to the book case, Hunk experienced an all too rare feeling of pride, as he was one of only three students allowed to take a volume home overnight.
“I read the part of the encyclopedia about Manifest Destiny last night…”
The young woman was staring out the windows towards the western end of the valley, her frown dissolving as she turned to smile at her favorite pupil; Hunk felt his heart elbow his lungs half out of breath.
(Note: this is a scene from a short story I’m writing about the life of one of the characters in my WIP, ‘Almira’. Actually this exercise is, like virtually everything I do around here is practice in the craft. I’ve gotten it into my head that, as part of the editing process, it would do me well to get to know as much about the characters in my story. And, I thought to myself, I thought, What better way to do this than write little, short stories about their lives before the events that make up ‘Almira’?
A little backstory on the the Six here and the rest of the story that will be coming out this weekend at the TToT. Hunk Dietrich (aka the Scarecrow in ‘the Wizard of Oz’) grew up in Murphysboro IL. And, literally twenty minutes after the scene above, on the 18th of March 1925, the deadliest tornado in the history of the country will appear on the southwestern end of the valley, the infamous Tri-State Tornado.
Hunk survives, obviously, but is forever scarred by the storm that leaves him an orphan. (Who will end up on the Gale farm in Kansas, all too soon).
About clarkscottroger
There has to be more to this story. What’s UP? Good six
Def more. (I’m out to write a short story about Hunk Dietrich’s experiences on the day of the Tri-State Tornado. Teaser: the tornado showed up in Murphysboro at around 2:30 that March day. The accounts I’ve read say that the valley were Murphysboro is located was filled with a fog or a mist just before the tornado…no one saw a thing coming.)
Despite the low end of the word count (for a short story) is only 1500 words, even I can’t bring myself to write a 1500 word Six Sentence Story…lol I’d totally run out of semicolons
Hunk is very likable and I am glad his given name is Francis :)
Hunk sounds like someone i would love to get to know.
I agree. Of the three farmhand characters, I like him from the start. (Well, a little identification going on, even back before the Wakefield Doctrine)
But what happens in the twenty minutes until the tornado?!? And I agree; flash fiction is a wonderful way to flesh out characters outside of the lines of the WIP, and to practice the craft. I like Hunk.
Funny you should say that…(“…what happens in the twenty minutes until the tornado“) just before coming here I was reading ‘how to write’ articles on the youtube. Kurt Vonnegut says (in one of a list of rules, ‘Start as close to the end as possible’). so I was thinking maybe I should start just as the tornado passes and reflect back to what lead up to it…. decisions, decisions.
(Spoiler Alert: since this was an actual real event* I know when the tornado hit Murphysboro and how quickly it moved on, up towards Indiana… the storm was, according to reports, moving at, like, 60 to 70 mph. very fast moving. Totally messed up the town. Highest death toll tornado on record.)
*I’ve come up with what I hope is an original new genre, ‘historical fantasy’ to describe this fiction in a reality grounded context
Nice job showing the relationship between Hunk and his teacher. These are likable characters.
ty
I’ve always liked Hunk Dietrich… this Mrs Ryan seems nice enough.