Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Doctrine’s contribution to the Six Sentence Story bloghop.
Hosted by Denise. Dominated by an endless drive to make all things Six, in this case, the exact required number of sentenceses
Stop the Presses! Unread this Six! Incorrect prompt word, deployed without reason, rationale or explanaiton.
(So, what say y’all just save this bad boy against the day the correct prompt word is written about).
Prompt Word:
LINK
“Has that bio-chrono missing link of a time traveler shown up yet?”
The voice on the intercom was that of the tall, thin man; his tone carried a remarkably-grating edge, one that the average person would have little choice but to interpret as unbridled hostility.
Fortunately for any internet-fiction critics, the setting, (of our tale), is the Six Sentence Cafe & Bistro where the odds of encountering ‘average people’ are laughingly scant; the risk of harm, trauma (rhetorical or emotional) or distress was readily accepted by the three Proprietors gathered around the bar, witnessing the first, (Spoiler Alert!! …and last), use of the aforementioned intercom.
“Nick, cher, tell me you didn’t get the intercom from that awful Sil’s Loans and Pawnshop,” Mimi’s voice had the calm intensity of an airline pilot advising his passengers to prepare for a rough landing; being the man he was, the Gatekeeper bowed his head ever-so-slightly, and said, “Nai agapité Miz M, I thought you would be pleased at how good a deal I got.”
The Bartender’s smile at the exchange evaporated, like suds in a kitchen sink after a Brillo© pad is rinsed, as the Sophomore walked in from the front entrance; looking a bit worse for wear, he threw a smile at the three and said, “Ssup,” laughed briefly and added, “Too bad our rhetorical greetings back in the ’70s didn’t have such elegant economy, it would have made life much simpler.”
“What?” a treble snap from the square grilled screen signaled the ‘Talk’ button being pushed by the occupant of the Manager’s office, “Send him down… now;” uncharacteristically harsh, the voice convinced the three Proprietors that not every conflict can be ameliorated by good-intentioned mediation.
About clarkscottroger
I like spending time with these characters, thank you.
Good observation: “not every conflict can be ameliorated by good-intentioned mediation.”
I read the second story first but now I understand the context of the second story. Link is pretty close to limit.
yeah, the second I knocked out this morning as soon as I discovered my error on the prompt word. (Funny thing about emotion and motivation: the 1st Six I spent at least 3 hours on, the 2nd? about forty minutes… lol)
It takes a lot of time and talent to tailor a piece to needs.
thanks, R
You are accurately continuing to uphold the mythos ( or pathos) of the Proprietors in any SSC&B Six you wrote, master Weaver.
It is easier said than done… and apparently not done even from those whose ability could.
If the Tall Thin Man, who bends Time to his will, who inks Metaphors to orgasm, cannot transmute an L prompt… then, I ask:
Who the f can?
Dude! (I mentioned to Frank that there was a significant quantitative difference in the time to write the first and the second Six. lol)
hope I got the language close to intended (in the Gatekeeper’s respectful acknowledgement of Mimi’s query). surprisingly scant reliable resources when it comes to foreign language, dialect and idiom (idiae? lol)
Both linguistic expression and, most important, portraying of Gatekeper’s presence are flawless.
cool
My friends, comes a time where the money saved is not worth it. Buy quality and save in not having to replace it.
and my favorite (probably archaic): ‘You get what you pay for’
Remind me who is that strange time-traveller? Could it be me? I’m sure that I use to be the Raconteuse. 🤔😄
actually, the Sophmore (who wandered aware from a WIP*) is kinda me from the past, specifically early-seventies college years.
* the first effort at story-writing ‘The Number You Have Reached…’
the interesting thing about this story is how it shows all the ‘Early Stages of a (Would-be) Writer’
lol (and this is not a mean laugh) I suspect everyone will identify with that**
**which, btw, is an example of how amazing the Wakefield Doctrine is, at least in personal terms…
where were we?
oh, yeah… the Sophomore. (one of the things the writing books all talk about is ‘Most of us, when starting out, go for the 1st person POV thinking. the reasoning being: ‘Well if I’m the POV, how hard can it be?’
(Orson Scott Card wrote in ‘Characters and Viewpoints‘…paraphrasing here: 1st person POV requires an engaging character. there’s a good chance you’re not that interesting)
lol
Good point (POV stuff).
What a pity though! It looks like that Raconteuse of me, has disappeared again.
hold that thought
(I wrote a fairly clever and insightful Reply, setting the stage for my taking the liberty of writing what we used to refer to as a ‘walk-on’ Six… but I lost the doc that I copied it to… lol well, by the time you read this, I’ll be about to hit ‘Publish’ on this 3rd Doctrine Six.*)
* hope it comes out the way I’d intended… lol but, all that said, the Raconteuse is in da house.
Damn! The tall thin man sounds like he’s pretty p’od. Wouldn’t want to be the Sophomore, lol (eegads – got to laugh at the irony of that)
Feels good having everyone hanging out in the Café.
yeah, next week’s should be an interesting Six
Full Disclosure: it’s no secret that my participation in bloghops is as much trying to learn good writin’ and such. It occurred to me recently that, the challenge of getting better at something involves leaving our comfort zone. And… and! the problem with that, is recognizing where it (our zones of comfort) is/are. I would submit that, speaking only for myself, sometimes a character simply shows up… with mannerisms, descriptions and hell, dialogue (cough>Lou Caesare<cough). Very grateful for that. But I suspect they can become the prompt to an expanding comfort zone.
so, anyway, we were thinking, ‘We all know the tall, thin man. Seriously wise and serene, but is that everything to him. Can’t say I can recall seeing him angry.
cha-ching!
that’s all we’ll say for now