George's Boat
I wrote this piece for a contest for the Alfred Hitchcock magazine. The prize is twenty-five dollars and the priviledge of having your story featured in the magazine. The prompt is a picture of a boat sitting on the grass. It had to be less than 250 words. Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. I probably could have posted it normally, but I'm just so fond of the lj cut.
George’s Boat
In 1956 George married a mermaid, or so he said. George said many things that were hard to believe, but he was always most insistent upon this fact. Apparently, the “mermaid” hadn’t been nearly as fond of George as he was of her. The neighbors were uncomfortably aware of this fact. George wasn’t. Often, the neighbors would wake to find their basements and lawns flooded. Standing beside his running hose, George would always give the same response, “She always loved the water. She’s sure to come back now.” It was useless to try to argue with that heartsick old man, not that they hadn’t tried.
So that’s why, the neighbors were pleasantly surprised to wake one morning to intact lawns and a white motorboat sitting in George’s yard. George had tied the vessel to a tall elm tree and let it rest in the ruined grass. Thoroughly distracted by his new possession, George stopped flooding his neighbors. From then on, he spent all his free time in the bow of the boat, looking out onto his yard as if he was staring into the depths of the sea.
Later, when the neighbors noticed George’s boat matched the description of a boat missing in a town not too far away, they said nothing.
George’s Boat
In 1956 George married a mermaid, or so he said. George said many things that were hard to believe, but he was always most insistent upon this fact. Apparently, the “mermaid” hadn’t been nearly as fond of George as he was of her. The neighbors were uncomfortably aware of this fact. George wasn’t. Often, the neighbors would wake to find their basements and lawns flooded. Standing beside his running hose, George would always give the same response, “She always loved the water. She’s sure to come back now.” It was useless to try to argue with that heartsick old man, not that they hadn’t tried.
So that’s why, the neighbors were pleasantly surprised to wake one morning to intact lawns and a white motorboat sitting in George’s yard. George had tied the vessel to a tall elm tree and let it rest in the ruined grass. Thoroughly distracted by his new possession, George stopped flooding his neighbors. From then on, he spent all his free time in the bow of the boat, looking out onto his yard as if he was staring into the depths of the sea.
Later, when the neighbors noticed George’s boat matched the description of a boat missing in a town not too far away, they said nothing.