Kristy scooted her canvas chair closer to the fire crackling on the ground, holding her hands to the flames. The forest clearing seemed preternaturally quiet without the normal rustling and chirping during normal camping trips. The flames hypnotized her until a hand bearing a brown bottle obstructed her view. “Here ya go, lil’ sis. That’ll warm you up.”
“I’m only sixteen, Derek,” she protested as she took the offering.
Her big brother shrugged it off as he sank into his own chair. “Grandpa gave me my first one at twelve.”
The mention of her grandfather brought pain to her eyes. “Do you think anyone will find out?”
“Don’t see how. If they do, I’ll take the fall for it. Go ahead, drink up.” He suited action to words and guzzled a long pull from his bottle.
Kristy placed the mouth on hesitant lips. The carbonation and sour taste fought against her gag reflex to travel to her stomach. Derek grinned at Kristy’s scrunched features. “It gets easier the more you have. Keep going.”
Kristy pinched her nose and gulped down several swallows. “That’s horrible.”
“It’ll put hair on your chest.”
Kristy rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “I don’t think any future boyfriends will appreciate that too much.”
Derek refused to answer. The two drank in silence; several bottles created a small pyramid next to each of them, though Derek’s stood a little taller. He broke the comfortable sibling silence with a soft chuckle. “Grandpa told the best stories.”
Kristy frowned, but didn’t interrupt. “Do you remember that one he told about how he met Bing Crosby in a bar? He said they got rip-roaring drunk and staggered out into the street.”
Kristy’s mouth curved upward of its own volition. “Grandpa said, ‘It looks like a winter wonderland out here.'”
“And I’ll be damned if old Bing didn’t take that and make a Christmas classic. I never saw a dime!” they finished together.
Kristy chuckled as another story came to mind. “What about the one where he took Dad to see Santa?”
Derek burst into a hearty guffaw, slapping his knee. “And he got into a fight with a midget because he said, ‘I thought elves were supposed to be cute.’ Ha! Remember how he’d have us hold onto his leg and he’d drag us around to show us what the fight looked like?”
Kristy snorted as the memory took hold, choking slightly on the drink she’d just taken. Derek hurried over and pounded on her back during her coughing fit. “Try not to choke to death on liquid, genius.”
“B..bite me,” she hacked out.
“I’ll leave that to those imaginary boyfriends of yours.” Derek stretched, arms wide. “Well, time to break the seal. Be back in a minute.” He headed into the tree-line, leaving Kristy wiping her eyes of tears and thinking of her grandparents.
Grandma kept busy by going to book clubs, gossiping with the women at the salon, and baking. Lots and lots of baking. I’m going to go up two sizes if she keeps going at this pace. She thought of the delicious pies, cookies, and breads that Grandma brought over almost daily. Totally worth it.
Derek stomped back, shivering. “It’s colder than a witches c-” He glanced at his sister. “Coffee,” he finished.
Kristy laughed at him. “I don’t think that’s the saying.”
“Well, virgin ears and all that.”
Kristy raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I’m a virgin anything?”
Derek threw up his hand. “Don’t want to hear it. Please allow me my delusions,” he said as he retook his seat, affecting a mock shudder.
Kristy smiled. Her brother always knew how to lift her spirits, but she could feel the melancholy and worry start to descend again. “Do you think anyone will find out?”
Derek sighed. He leaned forward and stared directly in her eyes. “Grandma has a life now. One not filled with beatings and intimidation. The bastard’s dead, Kristy, and I told you, if anybody finds out it was us I’ll take the fall and say I acted alone. So quit worrying.”
Kristy felt tears come back for entirely different reasons and took a long pull from her beer.
Word Count: 700
This week’s prompts: The video “Winter Wonderland” (seen above) and the sentence “Grandpa told the best stories” to be used anywhere in the story.
Head over to Speakeasy and read some great writers that are only improving week after week. Write up your own and join in the fun.
Hope you enjoy!
Happy Reading and Writing!
J. Milburn
Another wonderful story. 🙂 I played the video while reading. I am happy I read it because..well its good…but also I always forget to check The Speakeasy. Should go write for that now.
Thank you! I always have to remind myself to check as well, although this week was a bit easier since it was my sentence 😉 Look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Very good sentence since it triggered a family memory for me. 🙂
[…] sentence “Grandpa told the best stories” provided by the wonderful and very talented Jeremy. You can click on his name to see his entry for this weeks prompt. You will not be disappointed. […]
Woah! The ending had me gasping!
Thank you! My goal was just that and I’m glad it worked 😉
This is excellent, Jeremy. Loved it 🙂
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
I like the conversation between the two. And the ending- the realization about what she was worried about is so good! Great story!
Thanks, Janna! Hope you had a good weekend visiting with your parents and welcome back to internet-land 🙂
I loved this line, “He suited action to words and guzzled a long pull from his bottle.”
Great job, I loved the way you incorporated the song with the Bing Cosby story, that was a brilliant idea.
Thanks! That’s actually one of the first things that popped into my head, and helped bring the whole story together.
Love the twist at the end Jeremy! I had to go back and re-read it after that.
Ok, I NEVER saw that ending coming! What a twist! Read it thrice 🙂
Great story! loved the ending
I enjoyed your story thanks.
I really enjoyed this indeed! Good work!
You used the prompt so effortlessly. Totally loved it 🙂
Beautiful story. I can’t imagine the pain and fear *sigh*
Those two had a nice little banter going and some funny, colorful sayings too.I enjoyed this one. 😉
Eliz
Finally, I’m glad, at least my comment showed up here… My comments are missing on all the other WordPress blogs; do they really dislike Blogger blogs? 😆 I posted my #139 on my Blogger blog. I have two blogs. Anyway, I just wanted to add that I’m glad the bastard got his just desserts. Great twist to the story.
Elizabeth
The spam filter catches your comments. From what I can tell its the number of links. If it has two or more then the filter activates. I try to check, and its usually pretty accurate, but some do get spammed that shouldn’t. Thanks for reading and for commenting, especially since WordPress is making it difficult for you 🙂
My eyes are still bugging out. Wow, I didn’t expect you to go that direction. That’s just bold writing and very smooth dialogue I might add. Great job!
Thank you! I’m glad the dialogue worked, sometimes I have a tendency to go overboard.
Not this time. You did a great job on it.
Ooh, love where you took this! The foreshadowing at the beginning was a great way to set the stage for that punch of an ending. Very nicely done! And you did a fantastic job with the sibling interaction – it was comfortable and believable.
[…] second place is Jeremy, with his well-crafted story about siblings with a dark family secret. And rounding out our top […]
Son of a bitch! What a story.
p.s. your dialog between teenage brother and sister was so believable.
Thank you, Ted!