Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Six Sentence Story bloghop
Hosted by Denise
This week, we return to the Case of the Missing Fig Leaf. When last we saw Ian and his companions, they’d made good their escape from the Eibingen Abbey.
Prompt word:
DETOUR
“So Stacy, your revised curriculum vitae, ‘Fought off killer nuns trying to mind-wipe friends‘ in the section covering work experience…”
“Nah, I was thinking more along the lines of, ‘Conference participation/voluntary religious out-reach‘, captures more of the multi-cultural, murdering nuns vibe, don’cha think?”
We managed to get Anton, still worse the wear from the drugged darts, to the door of his room at the Hotel Nassauer Hof, where despite a smile of assurance, looked like a depressed five-year-old’s self portrait in finger paint, with characteristic charm, he laughed, “Muss das Ketamin ausschlafen, probiere die Mitternachtssuppe unten in der Pianobar;” taking his advice, Stacy and I met downstairs to share PTSD stories.
“You mentioned law school, but what do you do for fun and relaxation,” despite it being one-thirty in the morning, I couldn’t help noting Stacy’s pupils dilating about 20 percent and, just behind them, the emotional kaleidoscope tumbling colored trapezoid on black-and-white triangles; despite being on my second coffee, I must have been still under the influence, but recovered, just in time, “No, nothing like that, god! my ex was an attorney, ain’t gonna habeas that corpus again.”
“You’re asking if I have a boyfriend,” she laughed with a certain amused slyness, “Well, kinda, my kid brother’s roommate… we only went out once, I told you and Anton about it, this really exclusive downcity club… no, they called it a Bistro, anyway I almost didn’t want to at first, considering how young he is, but there’s something about him that seems to be the opposite, that makes you think you’re dealing with a much more mature…” the previous twenty-four hours was finally catching up to Stacy; and, as often happens with the young, stress and exhaustion manifested as an uninhibited playfulness, along with what my father once referred to as ‘a speed-rap’.
“He got a name…”
“Of course he has a name, it’s…” her phone skittered across the table, inanimate alarm at an in-coming text.
Laughing in tired surprise, Stacy grabbed her phone and began to read, her happy attention decaying into concern, “I got to get home, something bad’s happened,” sliding towards the open end of her side of the booth, she touched my forearm briefly, “How old did you have to be, Ian, before you learned the difference between ‘the road less traveled by’ and a pain-in-the-ass, time-wasting detour?”
About clarkscottroger
I believe I detect a well-worked-in walk-on for the kid. He might be a little out of his depth with Stacy. Shame though, I must’ve missed meeting her.
Previous two or three episodes will provide a telling in sight… here, let me get the links to them:
Read (this time the order is reversed) in order:
Stacy one
https://wakefielddoctrine.com/2022/02/03/six-sentence-story-the-wakefield-doctrine-234/
Stacy two
https://wakefielddoctrine.com/2022/03/30/six-sentence-story-the-wakefield-doctrine-242/
Stacie Three
https://wakefielddoctrine.com/2022/05/05/six-sentence-story-the-wakefield-doctrine-247/
yeah, someday I’ll decide how to spell my MC’s name
As usual, i’m left rereading and pondering.
Pondering can be fun (as long as it’s not a multiple choice test)
Love that last line, such a great question.
ty, da
“Of course he has a name, it’s…”
Aagh! Stacy doesn’t tell Ian but we know who it was!
Love the criss cross weaving going on working the characters from the Six Sentence Café and Bistro into the world of the Case of the Missing Fig Leaf and vice versa.
can’t for the life of us, remember the kid’s name… damn you, First Person POV!!
I have to say, Clark, that your musical taste is way better than your arithmetic…
taste is easy, exacution, not so much
I liked this line
“No, nothing like that, god! my ex was an attorney, ain’t gonna habeas that corpus again.”
thank you.
Crossovers, Clark. I love crossovers! :D
especially the ones we create before we are aware of it (finding connections in seemingly unrelated narratives well after the fact of writing)
Sometimes the links are there, other times we just need to find a bridge!
There are many paths that lead away between the lines… sometimes even between the words!
half the fun, yo half the fun
So I went back and read the other Stacy stories too – thanks for the link – and I have to say, you have a better relationship with Google translate than I’ve ever had! I exercised my rusty knowledge of German and couldn’t fault the translation. And the crossover with the boy… I reckon he’ll have a tough time with Stacey – I guess I can’t spell her name consistently either! But she has other things on her mind. Suspense…
Yeah, (referring down to Tom’s comment about ‘crossovers’… I believe the initial connection was evidenced in the first introduction to the Sophomore… (he’d made a reference to Stacey/Stacy/Stacie* by mentioning his roommate’s older sister.)
*oh man! just remembered this awful awful cool thing that Frederick Pohl did in his wonderful ‘Heechee Saga’ where when his MC was in analysis, would be referred to by different forms of his name (Robert)… damn!
Nice use of the word “decay” in this phrase: “her happy attention decaying into concern,” I also like how Stacey is building her resume.
Thanks, Frank
…part of the fun/practice/trying to learn to write good are the all-too-rare times when I find replacement words for the ones that I tend to ‘always use’