Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Six Sentence Story bloghop.
Denise is the host.
The prompt word is:
SHELTER
Now there’s a wall between us, somethin’ there’s been lost
I took too much for granted, I got my signals crossed
Just to think that it all began on an uneventful morn
Come in, she said
I’ll give ya shelter from the stormTrapped somewhere behind the vinyl padded dashboard, Bob Dylan was singing in his trademark, pour guitare et voies nasales, style as the driver noticed the lack of recognizable landmarks. Like a sleeper awakening in a darkened room, there was a feeling of being disconnected from the familiar, non-conscious knowledge of ‘where’ and, for the final push into the abyss, ‘when’.
That the car was stopped at a red light in a small town, offered no solace, as any validation of competency was limited to the sight of familiar architectural styles and logical civic order; the street had sidewalks lined with stores with plate-glass windows and there were parking meters.
A glimmer of something was kindled by the parking meters, but the pleasure was short-lived, as the fact the parking places were, for the most part occupied, implying the middle of a weekday; hurrying behind this insight, a memory of it being morning when the trip had begun.
The open road had beckoned, a siren song of a secret route to a non-judgmental territory, invisible on all maps, save one, one drawn in gin and desperate hope; the trip started joyfully enough, emotional dyslexia rode shotgun, spreading a colorful atlas on the seat between them, the promise of a place where no one would care to know what the driver felt the need to hide.
*
*
About clarkscottroger
Damn. Need I say more? lol
Potent last sentence. 192 proof.
lol
ty
Your last para blows me away.
Thank you, Miz Saxena
epic work and that last line….you da man
Thanks, Paul
Nice description of the open road offering “a siren song of a secret route to a non-judgmental territory”. I also liked the phrase “emotional dyslexia rode shotgun”.
(yeah, that ’emotional dyslexia’ showed up early and would not leave… sometimes we gots to go with the words that appear)
I liked this line
“… invisible on all maps, save one, one drawn in gin and desperate hope…”
Brought back memories of a troubled youth.
This one packs a powerful punch.
Bravo Clark. Agree with the others about that last sentence, especially for me the line: “spreading a colorful atlas on the seat between them” … but I’d have been happy to write any one of those sentences.
I like how the piece is set in that older time of vinyl dashboards and atlases, the small town and open road vibe. Love it.
Thanks, Ford.
It was fun*
Roadtrips, alone or otherwise, is surely one of the best of environments. And writing them is fun also because the effort to convey the scene totally prompts old memories and such… the street guides and atlaseseses.
*Tony Montana in Scarface
Kudos, Clark, I concur with the whole thread of comments. ‘Trapped somewhere behind the vinyl padded dashboard’ reminded me of when Barry White became embedded in the gap between the CD player and the fascia, never to be seen again. Fav phrase: “drawn in gin and desperate hope”. That spoke to me.
Thanks, Chris.
(Music is different in a moving car, innit?)
Man! There’s a whole Six right there… the effects of music and mood-altering substances not on the operation of the vehicle (‘well, we were young then’) but on the perception of the world (in general) and whatever was passing by in the side windows, approaching in the windshield or receding in the rearview mirrror (in particular)
I used to describe the attraction of cruising as being with friends (or alone) in a living room that moves.
lol
hey! i gots an idea for a time travel story that I think would be fun for the gang at the Six Sentence Café and Bistro to play around with…
Oh yes, all those fleeting glimpses of life and other lives. And a time travel story, you say? Hey, bring that one down to the Bistro…
So many fabulous phrases – and that universal seeking of ‘a secret route to the non-judgmental territory’.
‘…hurrying behind this insight, a memory…’ I love that image. And the whole of the last paragraph… Wow! ‘Emotional dyslexia’, ‘one drawn in gin and desperate hope’. Just wow!
Thank, Jenne
(ain’t some of the real, secret fun in these Sixes found in comments from Readers? When we write a description, a way of expressing something from one part (or another) of our lives and another person says ‘I know what you mean/I get how that feels/I’ve been there’
damn! to know another person has been in some of the same places (real and/or imagined) very cool