Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the weekly, Six Sentence Story bloghop.
Hosted by Denise, it offers the opportunity to undertake the writing of a story that involves the prompt word but is of six (and only six) sentences in length.
This week’s prompt word:
LINE
“Looks like you’ve run into a bit of a learning opportunity,” the voice moved past the ten-year-old’s right shoulder, bounced off the canvas shelter and took up residence somewhere in the dense undergrowth.
As if aware of the arching eyebrow and the beginnings of a curl to the boy’s lip, the crossbow of a snide remark arming itself, the voice added hastily, “Ok, how about a concerned neighbor witnessing a special moment in a boy’s life… no, now that I hear that out loud, lets go with ‘the voice of experience’.”
“I better not see a picture of this on Instagram or Twitter,” his age spoiling the admonition with a tinge of hope as he pulled on the handle of the wagon in a futile attempt to get it out of the ditch and on to the path; sadly, the load of wood had other plans.
“Er, of course not, I will offer some wisdom you’ve probably not yet encountered,” without waiting for approval, continued, ‘the path of a successful life follows a line that often skirts the possibility of failure; what do you think you should have done to avoid this….” his pause as self-assured as one taking the time to tamp the tobacco in a Meerschaum.
“Probably should’ve been running as I approached the ditch, that way…”
“That is one of three ways,” the old man’s voice faded in and out; at once sternly authoritative, followed by a slightly pompous tone and finally an introspective mumble, “you could have taken the time to mark the path, or, you could have looked at what was up ahead;” sensing a growing skepticism, the man concluded, “You’re right, the best path is to cultivate an awareness of your surroundings in the present, doing so you avoid the distractions of the future along with the consequences of haste, thereby allowing you to chart the most beneficial route through life.”
Bonus use of prompt word:
Now the boys all thought I’d lost my sense
And telephone poles looked like a picket fence
They said, “Slow down! I see spots!
The lines on the road just look like dots
(Charlie Ryan 1955)
About clarkscottroger
Leave the kid alone! lol The (astute) roger just can’t resist the captured audience of a child :D
“beginnings of a curl to the boy’s lip, the crossbow of a snide remark arming itself”
Great bit right there. Fun Six!
yeah, totally failed with the secondary character (combination, at one point, of Mr. Miyagi (‘Karate Kid’) and Wilson (‘Home Improvement’)
Most of us know where we went wrong, it’s setting it right that becomes the trouble.
tru dat
Left to one’s devices it’s eventually a lesson learned. Nice six!
All we need do is take a breath and look
learn from everything. great six.
thanks, man
The wise elder passing on his life’s experience to a 10 year old. Hope he listened. Can never go wrong with a story with a moral.
Hard to tell (about the receptivity of the 10 yo)… though I might be tempted to argue that the boy is closer to the old man at this age than he will be in a few years (which will put him way far away, at least until he gets over adolescence)
Good lessons for this upset wagon six (love the photo) and at least the wheels haven’t come off.
“I better not see a picture of this on Instagram or Twitter,” … yikes, yes, that moment when someone pulls out their phone and is already counting the likes.
lol (Full Disclosure: I had to think about that element of the story. Totally not in my frame of reference. How liberating this fiction writing thing is, no?)
Don’t tell anyone, but this week’s Six is totally an example of rhetoria veritas. To my credit, as I stood looking at what the Second Law of Thermodynamics and gravity made me do, I thought to myself, I thought, “Hey Learn-to-Write-at-Home-Earn-Big-Bucks’ moment here. Lets take a photo and pretend it happened to someone cool.
lol