Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Wakefield Doctrine’s contribution to the Six Sentence Story bloghop.
Hosted by Denise, there is one rule: Six (no more, no less) Sentenceses to the story.
Previously, in our serial story…
Prompt word:
CARD
Being careful not to change my posture or breathing rhythm too drastically, I raised my eyelids just enough to take in the sight of Diane Tierney behind the wheel of the car that hopefully would deliver me back to the Land of the Rational; almost immediately, my attention was highjacked by a wide, granite rectangle approaching on the right side of the road, it’s face, carved lettering: ‘Hobbomock High School’.
Memory is a funny thing.
Were it simply a collection of facts and information, it would be both manageable and efficient, unfortunately it is anything but; memory/memories are less an old-fashioned library’s card catalog and more like a Busch Gardens zoo with an aggressively incompetent staff consisting of manic-depressive animal trainers, hebephrenic tour guides and exhibitions that, at random intervals, lowered the fences separating wild animals from feral humans.
This is especially true of memories created in the years separating childhood from adulthood, the scorched-earth, psycho-social battleground known as adolescence.
“You’re coming down, that’s good,” Diane’s voice was a synthesis of concern, curiosity and genuine affection; overcoming my obsessive desire for privacy, I decided to not be selfish and responded,
“That’s the hellhole where I endured four years of socialized torture, aka my old high school.”
She laughed, “Well I, for one, am glad you survived.”
About clarkscottroger
Socialized torture, I agree.
Love the treatise on memories. This is perfect for the personification prompt at dVerse in poetic form.
;]
Tough times, but if you wind up with a true friend after all, it may be worth the struggle. Very relatable, Clark!
surely better than the alternative
Nice description of memories where “the fences separating wild animals from feral humans” are lowered. “Hobbomock” is also a great name for a high school.
That card catalog furniture makes me wonder how we found any information at all.
thanks, Frank
the high school name is from a WIP from a couple of years ago, the word itself is interesting (as we often say, half the fun of writing is the research we put it, especially for names and proper nouns) e.g.
ikr?
Oh yes, some very awkward times in those years. I am trying not to remember – just saying.
know what you mean… but, don’t tell anyone, but I’ve found, as a clark, there’s (content) gold in them thar hills
yo
lol
55-year high school reunion, I reckon. Nightmare. At least Diane Tierney has an eye on him. He (or is that you) seem incapable of doing anything involving one’s eyes.
here’s a shocker: Have not attended a reunion of any demographic (high shule, universitat nothin’)
good question about the protagonist, allow me to retort:
how can any truly fictional* character be anyone else?**
* and even ‘real life’ people/characters are but our experience of them…
** Full Disclosure: totally borrowed (or at very least attribute lineage) to Fritz Perls Back in grad school days, he was my favorite (though, not being a scott, I could never pull off his therapeutic technique) …but in the arena of ‘dream interpretation’ (every college sophomore’s second-line of dorm room seduction) was perfect: You are not only everyone in your dreams, you are everything. How can fictional characters be anything too foreign or alien
It’s good to know this isn’t strictly a scottian thing.
Diane is a character we thought we knew, wondered about, then discovered slowly, there’s a bunch of stuff we don’t really know about Ms. Tierney. Except she has a soft spot for our protagonist. Who else to come to Ian’s aid.
“hebephrenic tour guides” – a pretty accurate description.
this is true
I recently stood and watched as my dreadful old high school was demolished. I smiled!
yeah
(too bad the fricken ‘what-is-it-you-think-you’re-getting-paid-to-do teachers/enablers probably not there (not counting, the clarks (among the staff… i.e. possibly librarian, one of the custodians and totally not the gym teachers)
I loved high school. Of course, I attended three different ones in as many years so I was constantly in the state of reinventing myself which was half the attraction.
excellent